Found a case of 100 led-bulb @ $5 each, any good? Pic included..

[Colesdad]

Is this any good? I know it's an extremely open ended question.... But I'm starting my very first grow soon and came across a case of 100 of these, at $5 each. Of course I know I'll need multiple, but I haven't seen any of these used as grow bulbs. I've seen all kind, but not an led-bulb. Just curious.......

My plan is one or two plants in a closet. It's a huge closet but I can of course make a smaller grow area. Didn't know if they are a waste of time and money or if they are usable.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Graytail]

Aw crap, I made a nice post all about CFLs ...

... but these are LEDS ...

"never mind"

 

[Antics]

I think LED bulbs are better suited just for illumination. That might be why you haven't seen them used as grow bulbs.

I have some LED bulbs that I used in my house to upgrade from a GU10 bulb, and tested them on my plant. I left the bulb sitting against leaves for a couple days and have no burn marks, which tells me they lack intensity which is needed to grow Cannabis. That bulb would best be suited for Flowering only due to the color scale as well.

What is your lighting budget?

 

[shuffledemon]

Yeah LEDs are not like CFLs - you can't get them from just anywhere. You will need plant/grow specific lights. Why?

Strength and spectrum. Plants need a different spectrum of LED light than you get with standard bulbs.

Check out my grow journal if you are interested in my setup.

Thanks.

 

[Colesdad]

Thanks guys. I knew that there are specific led "growing" bulbs. I also knew you could use cfls, but wasn't sure about this one because it looked to be a hybrid .

This is why I love , because everyone is so helpful, especially when it comes to newbies (like me!).

And, antics, as far as my total budget goes, it's about $400. I wanted a hydro setup, probably a rdwc. My grow area is 3/5, with 7ft ceilings. I can always make my area smaller depending on size of the grow, my plan is 2 or 3 plants, or more depending on the cost of set up. I read your journal and may do cfls, but I'm thinking of led also. I'm considering led because I AM increasing my grow to a larger area once it becomes legal in my state. Sooooooooooo, basically now my lighting budget is about $200ish.
What do you recommend.? Invest in an led now or just use cfl to start with my first grow? If you had $400 what would you do?
I'm so excited to start growing!

 

[ibaba]

Thanks guys. I knew that there are specific led "growing" bulbs. I also knew you could use cfls, but wasn't sure about this one because it looked to be a hybrid .

This is why I love , because everyone is so helpful, especially when it comes to newbies (like me!).

And, antics, as far as my total budget goes, it's about $400. I wanted a hydro setup, probably a rdwc. My grow area is 3/5, with 7ft ceilings. I can always make my area smaller depending on size of the grow, my plan is 2 or 3 plants, or more depending on the cost of set up. I read your journal and may do cfls, but I'm thinking of led also. I'm considering led because I AM increasing my grow to a larger area once it becomes legal in my state. Sooooooooooo, basically now my lighting budget is about $200ish.
What do you recommend.? Invest in an led now or just use cfl to start with my first grow? If you had $400 what would you do?
I'm so excited to start growing!

3000k is fine for plant lighting, it is warm white and provides lots of red and enough blue. there are many people using only this color of white to grow amazing plants. make sure you get enough bulbs. dont worry about penetration , put bulbs on top and around the plants as they grow. it will work fine ! search the web for 3000k LED grow,

If you use these try to take off the frosted cover and expose the LEDs directly this will increase output a lot

Only downside is many small bulbs is not as efficient as a couple of big ones.

 

[Antics]

Well, straight facts here from my experience...

If I had to do it all over again, I would have just bought an LED. As I slowly bought CFL bulbs to add to my grow, I was nearing the $100 mark.
I already had a bunch of fixtures, clamp lights, etc.. so I saved money there. If you were buying all the light fixtures, wiring, etc.. expect to spend $200 or so on just CFLs.

And don't get me wrong, they grow plants decently, but they lack power, and penetration into the canopy, and they constantly have to be adjusted to be within a few inches of the plants.

To fit into your light budget, you'll want to check out 420 sponsor Led Grow Lights for indoor plants-Top Led

If you have questions about the product specifically, Sara is always very helpful.

You won't be able to send a PM until you reach 50 posts, so keep that in mind, but you can always contact her through the TopLED website.

When you need to upgrade and have a bigger lighting budget available, there are a bunch of sponsors who have some amazing technology in their lighting.

In your place with $400,

I'd pick up this light here: reflector led grow light 96x3w (Which is one that I'm looking at currently, for when I have the budget to upgrade my lighting)

Leaving you with $235 left give or take.

About $30-60 for a nice 2 part or 3 part nute system, and I'd go with a soil grow, because I have ZERO hydro experience lol. Someone else would have to guide you through those purchases.

You'll need a PH meter, digital is best (about $20)
And for harvesting, you'll want to have a good jewelers loupe, or microscope with at least 30x magnification. Which should be about $5-$10.

 

[Graytail]

For people starting, on a budget, I have to mention that one of 420's sponsors has a very attractive closeout price on their 200 watt (draw) full spectrum panels - $105 each. For a 3x5 space, you'd only need three of them to grow very nice produce. You could could get by with one or two of them, just to get going. They're significantly cheaper than those 7 watters, they're full plant spectrum, and they've been used by many 420 members with great results.

Old Model LED Grow Light - Led Grow Lights

 

[Antics]

For people starting, on a budget, I have to mention that one of 420's sponsors has a very attractive closeout price on their 200 watt (draw) full spectrum panels - $105 each. For a 3x5 space, you'd only need three of them to grow very nice produce. You could could get by with one or two of them, just to get going. They're significantly cheaper that those 7 watters, they're full plant spectrum, and they've been used by many 420 members with great results.

Old Model LED Grow Light - Led Grow Lights

LOL that's the light I was originally looking at, and someone else on here was too, and I believe it was KingJohnC that suggested the reflector series as being an upgraded version, so I wanted to suggest the best light possible to fit his budget.

Colesdad: You can go with either suggestion. Either LED light will be better than spending a ton on CFL bulbs. Your yield will improve as well.

 

[Graytail]

LOL that's the light I was originally looking at, and someone else on here was too, and I believe it was KingJohnC that suggested the reflector series as being an upgraded version, so I wanted to suggest the best light possible to fit his budget.

Colesdad: You can go with either suggestion. Either LED light will be better than spending a ton on CFL bulbs. Your yield will improve as well.

 

[Colesdad]

Awesome info guys, especially for a new grower. Yeah, I think I'll go led seeing as how I would spend the same amount of money, and save me from spending an hour in Home Depot starring at bulbs and sockets!

Will I get the same amount of " lighting coverage" with 2 old style or 1 new style? My plan is to veg long enough to get some decent size /larger plants so that harvest will be big enough to share with family members. We are battling everything from MS to brain tumors to migrains to stomach cancer. My goal is to have a plant circumference of about 2.5 feet. I plan on scrog method. Thus my one light vs two light question.

I'll probably scratch the rdwc method if you think I would be fighting warm water Temps. I decided against dwc because of water Temps too. I've thought about soil, but I'm worried about recovery time for my plants if I jack something up, my thinking is soil would be less forgiving. Is it?

What about hempy buckets? Seems to me this set up seems fairly easy to maintain, and using less nutrients than an rdwc. Lucky, I have a hydroponic store down the road to buy all my little things like meters and such. I would like to buy a nutrients "kit" and not have to make a decision on what is needed /recommended /optional. I've yet to travel down the road of looking for, and researching, nutrients. I do, however, know how important they are and not to compromise on quality. When it comes time to buy them, I'm certainly going to purchase from a sponsor here.

 

[Graytail]

One 200 watt light will easily cover 2.5 sqft.

The old model is closeout cheap and has very good performance, so ...

I'm a soil guy, so I'd recommend soil anyway especially for a small grow like that. Hempys work really well though, too.

 

[Colesdad]

For people starting, on a budget, I have to mention that one of 420's sponsors has a very attractive closeout price on their 200 watt (draw) full spectrum panels - $105 each. For a 3x5 space, you'd only need three of them to grow very nice produce. You could could get by with one or two of them, just to get going. They're significantly cheaper than those 7 watters, they're full plant spectrum, and they've been used by many 420 members with great results.

Old Model LED Grow Light - Led Grow Lights

Hmmmmm. I'm looking for the $105 200w old model led. Can't seem to find it. I found this
LED Grow Light 200x3w
But it says it cost more than $105. Am I looking at the wrong one?

 

[Antics]

These are the old models: Old Model LED Grow Light - Led Grow Lights

The first number is the number of diodes, the second number is the wattage of each. The light you're talking about has 200, 3 watt diodes, That's a 600w light there.

There's a 100x3w for $104.99 100x3w led grow light

You could MAYBE get two of those into your budget, especially if they're running any promotions or deals for 420 members! I'll go take a look now...

EDIT: Not seeing anything for a discount.. I'll Ask Sara in her topic here for you: Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

 

[Colesdad]

These are the old models: Old Model LED Grow Light - Led Grow Lights

The first number is the number of diodes, the second number is the wattage of each. The light you're talking about has 200, 3 watt diodes, That's a 600w light there.

There's a 100x3w for $104.99 100x3w led grow light

You could MAYBE get two of those into your budget, especially if they're running any promotions or deals for 420 members! I'll go take a look now...

EDIT: Not seeing anything for a discount.. I'll Ask Sara in her topic here for you: Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

I see, said the blind man...... Now I get it I also followed the link to Top Led thread and saw that you asked Sarah to come help me. Thank you very for that.

Sarah, I haven't enough post to send PMs yet. Hopefully if you send me one FIRST I can reply and we can speak that way. I'm looking to get 2 of the old style 100x3.

 

[CO Finest]

.

 

[k0ncept]

This is where I am stuck, in choosing the correct light.. I have a space where I could easily put a 3x4 or 4x4 tent for flowering and another area for veg, its the 4x4 im worried about.. I don't want or cant afford to make a mistake when choosing the light.. So I want to ensure I can grow quality med for myself and my epilepsy, I have had no income for over 6 months, and I am at the point I need to get this going or I wont simply be able to keep purchasing my meds. So I need to pull the trigger asap.. What would you use "on a budget" to get maximum yield from say a 3x4 or 4x4? Should I do 2 of the 3x reflector panels or the one big one with 4 panels? and would that be enough?

 

[Graytail]

I have a 4x4 and I've been growing for about a year, and I've been through CFLs, HPS and now LED in that space. So I can give you some rules of thumb, and some personal wisdom.

I grew very nice buds with 600 watts of HPS. That's only 37.5 watts/sqft, which is on the low side of acceptable. I was able to produce good stuff to about a canopy depth of 12-15 inches, producing about 1 oz/sqft, one pound per 4x4.

If HPS at 37.5 watts/sqft works well, then 30 watts/sqft of multiple spectrum LEDs will do just as well.

So, for a 12 sqft space, you'll need at least 360 watts (draw power, not rated power), and for the 4x4, you'd need at least 480.

Those 3x panels draw about 300 watts, so two would rock a 4x4 at 600 watts and 37.5 watts/sqft, so you're definitely going to have enough light at that watt level. I currently am running a 540 watt LED panel. If I had it to do again, I might get four small panels instead, for better flexibility and light distribution. I was eyeing two of those 3xs myself for awhile.

 

[Colesdad]

Got the closet cleaned out. I need to figure something about the doors, certainly not light proof! Probably a thicker mylar type tarp thing with velcro on the sides and then be able to roll it up to work inside. Next step is cutting holes. One at the ceiling for exhaust and lower left, through the wall at the bottom for intake.
Any ideas about the opening, or you think the tarp thing is good enough?
How in the hell to I get these pictures to stop posting side ways?

 

[Mars Hydro]

100x3w and 60x3w are the best we can do now, we can not give more discount. I am really very sorry. if you have tight budget, yes, our old model 100x3w is the best choice for u .

I see, said the blind man...... Now I get it I also followed the link to Top Led thread and saw that you asked Sarah to come help me. Thank you very for that.

Sarah, I haven't enough post to send PMs yet. Hopefully if you send me one FIRST I can reply and we can speak that way. I'm looking to get 2 of the old style 100x3.