lighting [SOLVED] Will plants grow and fruit under LED lights?

[TheImpatientGardener]

I solved the mystery!
 
These are some "old" plants. I was a negligent owner and let them sit in cups for MONTHS, rarely potting them up. I potted the one in the back left (my T-scorp) about 2 weeks ago (it was soooo root bound, there were roots everywhere!) and then BAM! It shot up and now it has tons of little flowers starting to bud and a couple flowers already showing!
 
My other plants are looking healthy too! My tomato plant shot up a good 24 inches in the same time frame and is flowering too! Also included as a bonus, my tiny Bhut Jolokia plants are starting to show some buds too, though they need to be potted up as well.
 
Overview: Crappy pic I know.

 
Tiny Bhut starting to flower.

 
T-scorp

 
Again (small flower hiding in this one!)

 
I just wanted to share with you guys.
 
Now the real question, will the fruit set? Or did I wait to long into the cold season!?
 
Find out next time!
 

 

[Sarge]

The biggest question I'd like to ask is what type of leds are you using? I would assume a full spectrum unit with big wattage and if thats the case those buggers are damn expensive.

 

[TheImpatientGardener]

The biggest question I'd like to ask is what type of leds are you using? I would assume a full spectrum unit with big wattage and if thats the case those buggers are damn expensive.

Yeah they were kinda pricey. One of them is 270W "full spectrum" which has 7 bands, no UV, and far infrared, which is pretty much useless. You really dont need a lot of bands to be effective though, only a few key bands. I paid about $200 or so for the first one.
 
The second light I use is a 240w light that I had "custom" made from a seller on ebay. These are the specs I requested:
UV 380nm x1 120 degree
IR 730nm x1 120 degree
8000Kx2 90 degrees
660nmx4 120 degrees
425nmx8 120 degree
450/460nmx4 120 degree
630nmx4 60 degree
630nmx26 90 degree
630nmx30 120 degrees
 
From what I've read, some plants like tomatoes do a little better with some long wave UV (~390nm) and most plants may benefit from short wave IR (~700-730nm). These specs were just a shot in the dark and if I had to do it over I would probably mix more "full spectrum" LEDs (the white LEDs) in there to hit all the bases. Overall I'm happy with both of my purchases. I paid about $170 for the 2nd light.
 
Both lights + my fan draw about 277w (this is typical of LED lights, they will never draw the rated power for a number of reasons but fear not, they are operating close to the output of full draw). I havent experimented with grow areas but I'm pretty sure I could get maybe 50-150% more grow area out of the lights, I'm just keeping them low. Later I'll be moving them farther apart to test the effective fruiting area. I'm happy, this is a set of lights I will hopefully never have to replace and prices are only going to keep going down

 

[Sluggy]

I've made several small LED panels (50 - 75 watt,  1 w diodes) and am working on a bigger one with 3 watt diodes that should draw about 150 watts.

Still in experimental phase here, but for what it's worth, my findings are :

C. Annuum will flower and fruit relatively easy under LEDS given the right circumstances. The peps do take longer to ripen though. Tomatoes are also defenitely flowering but it's still too early for fruit at this stage. Let's see in a month or so. 

C.Chinense seem to be trickier. One Naga Scorpion is defenitely flowering, but there's also been quite severe flower drop, which I however attribute to aphid attacks and spraying (plant is stressed).
Reapers are budding left and right, but the buds never really develop into flowers (yet).

Then I "discovered" remarkable differences with cannabis plants. (Most of the LED info comes from the cannabis grower community) : 

1)
Cannabis clones are basically "baby plants" that need a few months to grow into adult plants,
This does not hold true for chillies. Chilli clones are "miniature adult plants" that will take off from the stage the mother plant was in when you took the clone. 
In other words if the mother plant was budding, the clone will also immediately grow buds and flowers. It's already mature as well, just smaller. 

2) 
Blue spectrum is said to be good for vegging cannabis, but whether that counts for chillies as well remains to be seen.
Chilli (Chinense) clones under blue-ish light definitely do NOT shoot up ! To the contrary, they grow very short, and branches grow flat and vertically, Strange !  
Chillies that were grown from seed under blue LED light don't really grow tall either, but tend to be more bushy and stocky in my experience.  They do look sturdy and healthy, though. 








 



 

 

[willard3]

Whether LED's will raise plants was solved long ago by Smokemaster.

 

[biscgolf]

i was reading an article just yesterday where researchers in florida are experimenting with increasing certain plant attributes (in this case nutrition) by using different color LED's. maybe it is a key to growing a hotter pepper as well. http://txchnologist.com/post/67654632356/coaxing-super-veggies-from-tuned-led-light

 

[cruzzfish]

I forgot the exact spectrum that peppers grow at best, but I have florescent lights that maximize that one, so you could theoretically get LEDs that do the same thing.

 

[smileyguy697]

These plants were pruned and stripped of almost all leaves. I have 20 buckets under 4 4ft 2 lamp t8s with 32 watt 65k bulbs running 8 hours a day. I'm doubting they'll pod up but I'm still amazed!

 

[smokemaster]

A hard subject to answer.
My grow I'm sure is different than other grows.

I build my LEDS for MY grow.
Other light sources ARE better in specific grows.

I only grow a couple plants past starts and putting out a few pods for pure seeds.

For my growing conditions,LEDs are the only thing that does what I want and need for my grow.
Lots of great starts and a couple monster plants to entertain me...

Saying LEDs OR any light source will do anything is questionable.

Too many different things in the equation.

Any light source,in general can grow mature pods.
But you can't use a flashlight to get even 1 plant to grow.

To me the color spectrum you have looks cool.
The degree of angle means you can't cover much area.

Wider the angle,the more LEDs it takes to get the Lumens you need per sq.ft..
Most star Leds that work best are ones that might be the same angle but higher Lumen.
Or a lot placed closer together...

Red and Blue Leds are becoming extinct or soon will be I think.

I think since White LEDs in specific K are cheaper and higher lumen,they ,red and blue panels will soon be outdated.
Red and Blue in plant specific wave lengths are not getting higher outputs per LED in Lumens.

LEDS are going to be like Fluoros but in much higher Lumens and eat up less powers per Lumen.

Lots of people are playing with 30+ watt cool and warm white LEDs these days with good to great success.

You can buy a cheap 50 watt 3500-7000K LED spot that puts out 5000lm for a lot less than the cost of a red and blue light panel.
The trade off of wasted non plant usable light is equal to flouros in general.
You get almost 2X the Lumens from LEDs at a similar cost to T8's and some T5's.
Longer life span than both.
Depends on what you buy.

I REALLY like my 10mm and 1 watt star LEDS.
But it looks like the higher Lumen Leds in white are quickly going to make red and blue panels obsolete.
Since peppers aren't light specific.I'd say soon 5000K-6500k Led Spots will outperform any red and blue type grow panel very soon.

With plants that need specific light wave lengths,it's like the guys who use halides etc. for the different stages their plants cycle through.

I love my red and blue Leds.
But I built them after playing with LEDS for several years.
I think they will be extinct pretty soon.

I'd love to get my hands on one of the LED street lights they are putting up here.
Suckers are BRIGHT.
If they are in 5000K - 6500K,I doubt any other light source can outshine or outlast them.
They don't have the yellow or blue tint like a lot of the spots do.
I wonder about their K...

Willard and I have discussed LEDs several times.
I think we ended up agreeing for MY grow they work,for his and similar grows,there are better light sources than LEds.

A couple years ago we both were wishing for a super high Lumen white LED with a small angle.
I think the newest watts in white,at the time was way lower than today.
Probably not in any K selection either.

I see people playing with 12 volt car halides these days too.
They get super hot though from what I'm told.

Boils down to learn how to get the most out of whatever light source you have.