New Grower First 5x5 Tent Grow - WHAT LED LIGHT TO BUY????

[Burr_nit]

@Burr_nit you sure you wouldn't rather build your own lamp lol?!!

Ahaha thanks for thinking about me buddy!! I do have to tell you I have finally bought some lights?!?! ..can you believe it?!?!? I won't give it all away at the moment because what fun would that be!? Lmao


And @truth_830 .. I couldn't even tell you the amount of hours I have put into researching lights and talking with the fine people of AFN and messaging random growers about their experiences with their lights.. it's actually kind of absurd when I think about it ahaha!!. I actually even drove myself a tiny bit crazy. So, with that being said I truly believe growing great buds comes down to the grower bro! They're so many freaking lights to choose from out there it's ridiculous. If you put love into your plants they will love you back. Yeah sure, It's all a learning process but that's what makes it fun. Enjoy the ups and downs it's only going to make you a better grower. Another thing I have discovered is these LEDs that are out right now is just the beginning, we're not even close to the tip of the iceberg when it comes to light development.

I've seen some forums , as I'm sure you have, and growers going back and fourth and arguing about how their light is the best in the world blah blah blah. I can't stand it, here at AFN people are much more inviting, accepting and appreciate all growers. But my point I'm making is... do what you think is best for you. You can gather as much info as you want, cause there is a ton of people here to help and I'm beyond thankful for that, but in the end, grow what you want to grow and how you want grow! I have two plants I'm growing right now in a 2 x 4 x 6 with amazon Viparspectre light and I love my plants and the way they are turning out! But that's neither here nor there.

If your going to buy LED, I think one of best deciding factors is warranty and companies who back their product. PERIOD! There are major horror stories out there about growers who pretty much get F%$^d over because a company is shady and give them issues about sending product back,. Look into return policies, and canaspecific lights. Use those factors as starting points. That's my best answer. I am NO master grower by any means, but just giving you my input. I hope all works out!!

Happy Growing brother!!!

 

[truth_830]

Amazing! Can I use white full spectrum diy cob to veg and flower?

 

[White Punk on Dope]

Absolutely you can cob from start to finish. I do 24/7.

 

[pop22]

You sure can! And you'll have the nicest plants you've ever seen!

Amazing! Can I use white full spectrum diy cob to veg and flower?

 

[jingo]

The thing that stops me from going after the do-it-yourself Cobbs. Is that if you want performance information you really have to kind of calculate it yourself too.

For instance, for me to evaluate Cobbs I would need to know the ppfd at several different distances from the light and I'd have to know the pattern, the square footage. Unfortunately with cobs I think I have to calculate all that myself.

Then I would have to look at the spectrum's and trying to determine for myself which ones were really necessary and which ones weren't. And trying to decide whether I could put that together better than the lumigrows I use.

Plant organs are like human organs. They have been identified and named but we're a long way from knowing their function. In fact, just because a plant has a receptor site does not mean we know how much light it requires and research on cannabis and LEDs is just barely getting started.

The thing that I have never really been able to wrap my brain around is the penetration. For instance, if I were to take 100 watt HID bulb it would have a predictable penetration. It would be much less than a thousand watt HID bulb, but it would not be a simple multiplication of 10.

What a cob light appears to do is take a whole bunch of 100 watt HIDs and bunch them together and expect the penetration of a thousand watt hid.

I used HID lighting as an example simply because most Growers will understand that concept. But, if you replace the hid with LED chips of 1 watt. Then group 50 1 watt chips together as a cob wouldn't that be the same thing?

So then with a group of chips you're left with a circumstance where you could get a lens that would magnify the intensity straight down and give you penetration. But it wouldn't spread the light out at all. That's the thing that I don't understand like Ive seen pictures of commercial grows where they used Cobb lighting but they're doing a sog Style with a cob over each and every plant.

Idk

 

[White Punk on Dope]

Well jingo sometimes you just gotta live on the edge and trust those around us that have used the "Force".
Cob lighting as you know is not widely accepted yet but it is growing (no pun intended). Trust the "Yoda's"
here on AFN as they have spent many hours growing and honing their growing skills. Try this experiment.
Take off your shirt and hold flashlight up to it and see how much light shines through. Then hold up that shirt
next to the headlights on your car and see how much light comes through. Higher concentrated light is going to
push harder. What could be better anyway. More light and less heat. Your plants will reward you for your efforts.

 

[BigSm0]

Warranty is important. But I think the amount of light you receive per watt of energy is the most important. This is one thing most people don't even know exists.

 

[pop22]

all that information is out there for you to save you the trouble. And there are dozens of data sheets you can calculate this information from. Multiple forums have been at this your a few years now. LER, QER, PF/W, UMOL/W, its all there, here's an example:

And again, watts are a totally useless metric for judging horticultural lighting but now its stuck in people's minds and needs to be forgotten....

And the proof is in the grow, not in a bunch of numbers! I'm science minded, but there is a time to put away calculations and start growing! Because knowing all that data won't mean a damn thing unless you figure out how to tune the rest of the environment so that the plant can use all that light. air exchange, nutrients and levels, RH etc are more important than data on a light!

The thing that stops me from going after the do-it-yourself Cobbs. Is that if you want performance information you really have to kind of calculate it yourself too.

For instance, for me to evaluate Cobbs I would need to know the ppfd at several different distances from the light and I'd have to know the pattern, the square footage. Unfortunately with cobs I think I have to calculate all that myself.

Then I would have to look at the spectrum's and trying to determine for myself which ones were really necessary and which ones weren't. And trying to decide whether I could put that together better than the lumigrows I use.

Plant organs are like human organs. They have been identified and named but we're a long way from knowing their function. In fact, just because a plant has a receptor site does not mean we know how much light it requires and research on cannabis and LEDs is just barely getting started.

The thing that I have never really been able to wrap my brain around is the penetration. For instance, if I were to take 100 watt HID bulb it would have a predictable penetration. It would be much less than a thousand watt HID bulb, but it would not be a simple multiplication of 10.

What a cob light appears to do is take a whole bunch of 100 watt HIDs and bunch them together and expect the penetration of a thousand watt hid.

I used HID lighting as an example simply because most Growers will understand that concept. But, if you replace the hid with LED chips of 1 watt. Then group 50 1 watt chips together as a cob wouldn't that be the same thing?

So then with a group of chips you're left with a circumstance where you could get a lens that would magnify the intensity straight down and give you penetration. But it wouldn't spread the light out at all. That's the thing that I don't understand like Ive seen pictures of commercial grows where they used Cobb lighting but they're doing a sog Style with a cob over each and every plant.

Idk

 

[pop22]

And if you want the best commercial light, go Fluence ( formerly BML ) their lights are first class all the way, so spend it if ya got it! LOL!

 

[White Punk on Dope]

See what I mean by "Yoda's"....jingo you must trust the "Force".......