Highly Impressive LED Bloom

[HydroGrowLED]

So several months ago I released my production model Penetrator series grow lights. One of my first customers was a close friend of mine who happens to be a fellow medical patient here in WA state. She's been learning how to grow for the last 2-3 years now and has become rather good at it. She started off with 4, 126W Units (504W LED) over a single 2' x 4' aeroponics unit that my company manufacturers (coming soon to the website). They had 4 plants: AK47, AK47, Ice, and Strawberry Cough x White Rhino in the unit. 1 AK, and the SC were put into bloom around 7-26-09. The other two plants entered bloom several weeks later.

Several weeks after she had received her lights and begun using them, I was invited over to see the garden and was amazed by her progress. I asked her if I could begin taking pictures of her grow to show to people online, and she said yes. These results have been posted for the last several weeks on other forums, but I'm now on 420 so I wanted to share them with all of you as well.

The following pictures were taken 8-22-09:

 

[IMA]

WOWZERS man that looks great man good job

 

[HydroGrowLED]

These pictures were taken 8-26-09:

 

[HydroGrowLED]

These pictures were taken 9-1-09:

 

[HydroGrowLED]

On the day the following pictures were taken, my friend added a 5th 126W unit to her tray, making a total of 630W.

These pictures were taken 9-4-09:

 

[HydroGrowLED]

The next series of photos will show you how the light is dispersed from each unit throughout the grow area. We turn one unit on at a time to show you just how much each plant receives. You can tell that because of the narrower footprint of the 60 degree LED's, each large cola you see is generally exposed to only 1 light, and at maximum 1.5 Enjoy the demonstration.

These pictures were taken 9-10-09:

--------and yes, that was a 32oz bottle of peroxide---------

 

[HydroGrowLED]

The picture with the GH bottle shows one of the lowest buds on the Strawberry Cough plant. The rest just show how much everything is swelling up.

These pictures were taken 9-14-09:

 

[HydroGrowLED]

So I took a vacation and came back to take some pictures. I was disappointed to find out that the AK47 had been cut about 1.5 weeks early! Luckily the SC is still growing strong, but it's a shame that AK didn't see her full potential. In one pic you'll see the absolute bottom buds of the SC plant.

These pictures were taken 9-25-09:

 

[HydroGrowLED]

So my friend kept a few ounces from her previous AK47 harvest under her HID setup (3800W) and we compared similar sized buds from the HID harvest and LED harvest. The LED plants grew quite a bit denser as can be seen in the images below. The total dried yield of the AK47 was 7.5 ounces even with being cut early!

These photos were taken 9-29-09:

 

[HydroGrowLED]

By the way, the Strawberry Cough and two other plants are still blooming. The SC will likely yield 12-16 ounces, with the other two plants yielding several ounces each. All in all my friend should see nearly 2lbs from her LED setup, and her trays weren't even full! Imagine if the space would have been filled where all light was being absorbed by a plant. The SC will get cut in a few days, and I'll update with the weight once it's cut and dried.

 

[HydroGrowLED]

Huh... I thought people might have had more of an interest

 

[DroJo]

Huh... I thought people might have had more of an interest

Its not that no one isn't interested, but your grow is using 5 units, although 630 watts of lighting spectrum that the plant can use is awesome, the thing is each of those units cost $399.99, so someone would have to shell out $2000 for lighting for 4-5 plants is not appealing to either the hobby grower or the commercial grower..

I wish you the best, I really do, cause marketing LEDs is going to be an uphill battle for ya

 

[HydroGrowLED]

630W LED = 2lbs Yield, and she was in now way growing with these lights to the maximum potential. Her garden was not filled, and there was a lot of area where a plant could have absorbed light, if it would have been placed into bloom. With the garden filled, or a Scrog method, she could have easily produced 3lbs+ (but hey, that's the next grow).

So here's the breakdown:

$2,000 LED lights (3lbs easily possible), No bulb replacement or ballast replacement for 6 years. 630W Power consumption. For most people to achieve those types of results they need 2, 1000W lights with ventilation, ducting, and probably A/C. For a decent 1000W setup, with a quality bulb and vented hood, you'll pay about $400-$600 (higher if digital). Your ventilation will be another $200, and you'll need to replace $200+ in bulbs annually. Let's not forget you'll also use 1370W more power (not including A/C or ventilation). That's $1000-$1400 for lighting equipment, not including A/C.

So your average electric savings month to month with LED would be about $60-$80, x 12 months = $720-$960 more per year. Add that to your bulb cost, and your HID costs $920-$1160+ per year more to operate.

Let's do a first year analysis:

Startup LED: $2,000

Startup HID: $1000 - $1400 (+A/C if necessary)
Cost difference to run HID/year: $920-$1160+
1 year HID Cost: $1920 - $2560 (not including A/C)

LED Pays for itself within 1 year, and you get healthier plants, denser plants, and less room for error, as you eliminate the biggest stress factor to most gardeners: heat. Then you save $920-$1160 per year, year after year after year. For someone who thinks longer term, it is easy for them to see why LED is the best investment they can make for their gardens. Of the 100+ units we've sold to people all over the world, all that are reporting back are only telling me how amazed they are with these units. In my own personal garden, I save $160 a month in electric because of my switch to LED. My annual savings combined with what I would have spent on bulbs, is over $2,000. So think about how much you dish out every month in electric, because it adds up fast

 

[McBudz]

I'm very impressed with the bud quality/density/yeild.

I would have loved to see a single light over that area and see what it would do. It would give me a better idea what kind of growth I would expect for plants that were not directly under the fixture.

I feel like I would need 10 of those at least in my 8'x4' tent to see results like that.

I'm still onboard to see the results and am keeping an open optimistic mind

 

[Kwsmoke]

The results are very interesting, if I had the liquidity I would definitely try it out. Something to keep in mind I suppose. I think it's great that companies like this are actually trying to improve their standards. As we all know, the first manufactures of LED's that flooded the market failed dismaly. They just seemed to be cheaply made and without a lot of research into the absorbsion of nm.

However you guys seemed to have "cracked the LED code" so to speak.

I just might have to save up and see for myself........

 

[HydroGrowLED]

I'm very impressed with the bud quality/density/yeild. I would have loved to see a single light over that area and see what it would do.

That's why I'm doing the stand-alone 126W bloom test on my other thread Also, if you browse back through the pictures, I did a series of 4 where I turned each light on 1 at a time, to show you how much light those buds are actually receiving. The largest buds up top, are generally only receiving light from a single 126W. The smaller buds down below are exposed to light from about 1.5 light units. So the results you are seeing are not from a plant that had access to 504 or 630W, you're seeing buds that had access to a single light, at most half of a second light.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

very impressive results!

 

[DroJo]

630W LED = 2lbs Yield, and she was in now way growing with these lights to the maximum potential. Her garden was not filled, and there was a lot of area where a plant could have absorbed light, if it would have been placed into bloom. With the garden filled, or a Scrog method, she could have easily produced 3lbs+ (but hey, that's the next grow).

So here's the breakdown:

$2,000 LED lights (3lbs easily possible), No bulb replacement or ballast replacement for 6 years. 630W Power consumption. For most people to achieve those types of results they need 2, 1000W lights with ventilation, ducting, and probably A/C. For a decent 1000W setup, with a quality bulb and vented hood, you'll pay about $400-$600 (higher if digital). Your ventilation will be another $200, and you'll need to replace $200+ in bulbs annually. Let's not forget you'll also use 1370W more power (not including A/C or ventilation). That's $1000-$1400 for lighting equipment, not including A/C.

So your average electric savings month to month with LED would be about $60-$80, x 12 months = $720-$960 more per year. Add that to your bulb cost, and your HID costs $920-$1160+ per year more to operate.

Let's do a first year analysis:

Startup LED: $2,000

Startup HID: $1000 - $1400 (+A/C if necessary)
Cost difference to run HID/year: $920-$1160+
1 year HID Cost: $1920 - $2560 (not including A/C)

LED Pays for itself within 1 year, and you get healthier plants, denser plants, and less room for error, as you eliminate the biggest stress factor to most gardeners: heat. Then you save $920-$1160 per year, year after year after year. For someone who thinks longer term, it is easy for them to see why LED is the best investment they can make for their gardens. Of the 100+ units we've sold to people all over the world, all that are reporting back are only telling me how amazed they are with these units. In my own personal garden, I save $160 a month in electric because of my switch to LED. My annual savings combined with what I would have spent on bulbs, is over $2,000. So think about how much you dish out every month in electric, because it adds up fast

Very poignant rebuttle. Well one things for sure, those where hugge colas.

 

[borntorun]

I'm sold. I'm going to order two for our indoor winter grow starting soon. Do you know if anyone has tried using your LED's overhead and used CFL's on the side?

One other thing I would like to know is if you were going to buy 2 126W would it make sense for a couple hundred bucks more to just get the 318W? I guess coverage is what I'm getting at. will one 318 offer more coverage then 2 or even 3 126W units?

You are right about the heat issues for the plants but another big factor is the fire issue when using the HPS or MH and as you know in small communities like Island County where you are, there are the issues of having a spike in electric bill being reported to the local LE.

 

[IMA]

I want to know if the people readin the journal get 15% off code 420mag