the best led grows I've recently seen have come from 15w diode homebrew units-still expensive to make.As the diodes climb higher and higher in wattage, and stay stable, I think - and this could be many years away-they're talkin 5 now, that leds could be up to par with an hid system.But what I'm thinking is as the wattage climbs so will the heat-not as much, but it will still be an issue to address.Anyway the led vendors telling people they dont need to vent the heat away from their units are full of crap.Heat is heat, and in an enclosed space it builds up no matter what.See what happens if you put a plant in a plastic box with a couple hundred watts of light and no active ventilation.I just wish they would tell the damn truth.
Having grown with both- it's still hard to say.The proper way to do it would be a head to head grow of equal wattage-same strains-etc.Then we'd know exactly each is capable of.Then with the same strain-do a combo grow with equal wattage to the previous grows, only 50/50-led/cfl.But if someone asked me which I'd recommend-I'd say save yourself 500-1000US and get some cfl's, with the initial savings-who cares if leds are slightly ahead?
Well we all know how inportant yield is right?If we dont have it we cant smoke it.Leds dont give up very high yields, but they do deliver a quality product.But IMHO this cant be done with blue and red alone-cant proveit, I can only go by my observations-=for whatever thats worth.Enter white-all encompasing white light.I noticed HUGE improvements after adding white-I guess some of those accused "wasted" wavelengths are being used by our beloved plant.So now the theory is that red and white are the ticket.The lumigrow-which claims to be the best thwere is uses only red and white-so, we'll see.So basically the cfl's are there to beef up the budding process-you could use more led's- but how much are you willing to spend?
I know it seems nuts but I'm just basically on a mission to get big fat hid buds without hids, and I'll keep chuggin til I get it.peace
thanks natural, good to see you're still around.Well we're halfway there, and my conclusion on 1w led units is that unless your smoking needs are minimal, you shouldf add a as yet unspecified amount of cfl.Now I cant confirm or deny any claims made as to the effectiveness of the 5w+ diode units, as I've yet to test one.On the bright side, I've seen prices drop sharply on ufo's-just in the last month- seems they'll be going the way of ole T-REX pretty soon,Pic updates in 2 hrs.peace
Very good grow BF! I just wish I'd gotten another of the first UFO I bought the second or reddish light was a waste of money:>P
I hope when your taking lights out pics, that you have not interrupted the Dark cycle.. I know its hard to take pics when lights are on, but dont do it in the middle of the dark period.. just tone the lights downs and snap Looks good though..