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any thoughts on the grow light that I'm planning on purchasing?
- Thread starter claudio
- Start date
where could I get that?
anywhere really, Home Depot or Lowes, but purchased an LED light when I first started, and did a lot of reading, and realized that for the most part that the UFO style (nipple/bulb) style LED lights are not very strong and more less than ideal for plants, sure they can be good for small seedlings, but really, a florescent light is better IMO.... now if you spend a lot of money like I ended up doing lol, you can get a 130w diode LED for around $350 which is great, and it is really strong, BUT it only covers about 2 maybe 3x3', but 2x2' is very effective, and it's good because you can put it really close and get TONS of lumens, but I am more interested about getting a lot of area coverage with good light rather than a little area coverage with really good, low cost/power light.. maybe in a few more years it will be much more affordable.
its not good?
I agree with what everyone posted here. LEDs are not good enough yet to hope to grow plants sufficiently on a budget. An LED light under $100 will probably only grow plants that are a few weeks old sufficiently, and after that the plants will struggle. T8s are the best budget bulbs that you can buy that will still be effective. You can also consider using a bunch of higher power compact fluorescents. If you are on a budget 6500K is a good light color to have. If you want to put in a few extra dollars, try adding something in the lower end of the spectrum, like a 2700K. I use redder bulbs to balance my spectrum but they are not necessary.
Here are some good CFLs that you can consider:
http://www.amazon.co...32883336&sr=1-3
They will be good for starting seedlings and will keep them growing for the first 60 days or so. Grab a few and use them together in shop lights or similar lamps.
Here are some good CFLs that you can consider:
http://www.amazon.co...32883336&sr=1-3
They will be good for starting seedlings and will keep them growing for the first 60 days or so. Grab a few and use them together in shop lights or similar lamps.
Yeah. Cory Huck is right. Also, when shopping on Amazon, I always look at the negative reviews. If they have more negative (like the 15 one star reviews on this product) than positive, I look elsewhere. READ THE REVIEWS!
No, and no.
If you dont see the manufacturer specs for the lamps and cant confirm them, dont buy them. Even then, question the product because I've seen many lies. Either Phillips/Osram or Cree are the only diodes you should use. 3w/diode minimum or you'll get about 12 inches of penetration and all of your leaves under the canopy will die. The typical spec Cree led is about $7ea. Doing that math, add quality drivers, housing, and you'll see why its expensive. The Chinese are making these on a big scale and they're in nearly 90% of the fixtures out there and they are very inferior. They will produce results, but nothing to write home about. If you want to buy LED, the Xtreme LED unit is a quality piece, but I'd shoot for someething better if you can afford it. The only one to compare PAR is the Lumigrow units. They are the most expensive lights, but you get what you pay for and a warranty to boot.
I would go for a 6 fixture 2' T5 or a 4 fixture 4' T5 (if you're using a long shelf). Bulbs are easy (and becoming easier) to find quality replacements. You can get HO models that use 50w that will produce a lot of light for the application. I have a pair of pl55 tek lights from htgsupply, and I'm very happy with them. They're still chinese crap, but they're the right price for the product. Get a digital 400w unit that you can run hps with and you can all that equipment (and perhaps upgrade the reflector) for under 300. A useful LED will start at 300 and go from there.
I'm still curious to see somebody using one of the agromax professional seires led fixtures....but then again the season is here and its time to plant outdoors. You might get lucky in a month and find a good sale because people will be using that big 'ole firey ball in the sky that provides all that free light. I'm sure retailers will have a lull in equipment sales.
If you dont see the manufacturer specs for the lamps and cant confirm them, dont buy them. Even then, question the product because I've seen many lies. Either Phillips/Osram or Cree are the only diodes you should use. 3w/diode minimum or you'll get about 12 inches of penetration and all of your leaves under the canopy will die. The typical spec Cree led is about $7ea. Doing that math, add quality drivers, housing, and you'll see why its expensive. The Chinese are making these on a big scale and they're in nearly 90% of the fixtures out there and they are very inferior. They will produce results, but nothing to write home about. If you want to buy LED, the Xtreme LED unit is a quality piece, but I'd shoot for someething better if you can afford it. The only one to compare PAR is the Lumigrow units. They are the most expensive lights, but you get what you pay for and a warranty to boot.
I would go for a 6 fixture 2' T5 or a 4 fixture 4' T5 (if you're using a long shelf). Bulbs are easy (and becoming easier) to find quality replacements. You can get HO models that use 50w that will produce a lot of light for the application. I have a pair of pl55 tek lights from htgsupply, and I'm very happy with them. They're still chinese crap, but they're the right price for the product. Get a digital 400w unit that you can run hps with and you can all that equipment (and perhaps upgrade the reflector) for under 300. A useful LED will start at 300 and go from there.
I'm still curious to see somebody using one of the agromax professional seires led fixtures....but then again the season is here and its time to plant outdoors. You might get lucky in a month and find a good sale because people will be using that big 'ole firey ball in the sky that provides all that free light. I'm sure retailers will have a lull in equipment sales.
i agree, look at this! left is High Pressure Sodium 150 watt, right side is Metal Halide 400 watt
lol, another long book to read.. sorry guys, can't say I'm not thorough. 
yeah, I really like my CFLs, but you just have to remember that the actual bulbs are kind of a little more expensive, and then you need the fixture, which if I could do it over again, I would get the shop light fixtures and put them in a large shelf or.. well anything really it doesn't matter.. the only problem I have with the flouro tubes, is that once you get to the better ones with some good light, if you want to use them for a longer time like the T5s, so that by then.. your getting into the watt range of a HID.. soo... if you need more than say...4X 4' flouro duel tubes T8 which is a total of 8 lights is good for about a 4x4' section, maybe a little more for young plants, which I think is close to... well 280w~ish.. and even then it will cost you (at least around here) it is $17 per fixture $68, then bulbs I think are like $7 for 2 or something, so say close to $30.. so total of close to $100 at or so.. without anything else like timers or.. well I guess that's all you really need lol at the minimum. BUT you can go either $80 more and get a nice digital 600w dimmable HID kit with a really good hood and timer and hangers and all that, which I am using for 6x6' area.. or just get one of the cheaper HID kits that are close to $150 or I think some are 120 maybe I haven't looked at them in a little while..like the 400w or 250w or something like that.. but the HIDs really do have good coverage and their lumens don't depreciate as much as flouros with distance I have noticed.. especially with a good hood
The point being is where are you using it.. I have a shelf with 4 CFLs on the bottom and 3 on the top (the top CFLs are 150w on the ends with a 100w in the middle, and the bottom 4 are all 100w (equivalent) and is perfect for seedling trays or for about.. 20 of them in party cups or those square containers.. with plenty of light for them, really more than they need.. SO, if you plant on using a larger area to pot them up, I would go flouro tubes, or small HID kit.. if you ever plan on keeping them inside for longer than.. like 2 months.. then I would get a bigger HID kit, or you can easily get away with just 2 or 3 CFL lights if you are just going to keep them in seed trays, or only pot up a few of them
but anyways I kind of lost my train of thought, had some wings and
tonight lol.. but I only suggest what I said because I went through a lot more money than I planned on this year trying to figure out what would work.. I first started with a duel bulb 4' flouro tube, then realized I had no place to put them, so went out and got a ton of CFL lights, and I still have a handful of big 2,700k CFLs which I'm not using now because I personally like the 6,500k ones more, and use the sun for other supplemental light in the shelf.. then I got 2 45w LED panels which I returned by the time they reached my house after reading about them, and bought the Xtreme LED system for about $350.. then realized that I would need more growing room than a 2x2 or 3x3' area.. then I got the grow tent and a 400w HID kithttp://www.virtualsu...c_cool_400W.asp and realized that it wouldn't be enough or efficient enough really once the plants go bigger for the whole 6x6' area and got a 600w dimmable HID kit with a DigiLux bulb which I should have started out with along with either some CFLs or flouro tubes, but I really do like the CFL shelf I have, then I could use the MH HID dimmed to 300w if I wanted until I needed to cover more room and so on...
but I spent more money than I needed to and made a bunch of mistakes, but I don't really care, I am actually going to use the LED I have for a bunch of pepper seedlings once I pot them up into solo cups until I can get them outside, since the grow tent is filled, and 60 plants won't fit in the bottom rack of the small shelves lol.. so everything has it's place, and I even used the LED on my mom's tomatoes before and they did awesome, I actually had to keep the LED kind of high because they were frying the leaves from too much light since they were not use to it and a bunch were starting to flower.. but it's a lot of money
that is all, it is good you are hopefully more patient than me and actually consider everything and listen to everyone's advice before going out and getting everything lol.. I didn't find this site till after I had gotten most of my stuff.. good luck
yeah, I really like my CFLs, but you just have to remember that the actual bulbs are kind of a little more expensive, and then you need the fixture, which if I could do it over again, I would get the shop light fixtures and put them in a large shelf or.. well anything really it doesn't matter.. the only problem I have with the flouro tubes, is that once you get to the better ones with some good light, if you want to use them for a longer time like the T5s, so that by then.. your getting into the watt range of a HID.. soo... if you need more than say...4X 4' flouro duel tubes T8 which is a total of 8 lights is good for about a 4x4' section, maybe a little more for young plants, which I think is close to... well 280w~ish.. and even then it will cost you (at least around here) it is $17 per fixture $68, then bulbs I think are like $7 for 2 or something, so say close to $30.. so total of close to $100 at or so.. without anything else like timers or.. well I guess that's all you really need lol at the minimum. BUT you can go either $80 more and get a nice digital 600w dimmable HID kit with a really good hood and timer and hangers and all that, which I am using for 6x6' area.. or just get one of the cheaper HID kits that are close to $150 or I think some are 120 maybe I haven't looked at them in a little while..like the 400w or 250w or something like that.. but the HIDs really do have good coverage and their lumens don't depreciate as much as flouros with distance I have noticed.. especially with a good hood
The point being is where are you using it.. I have a shelf with 4 CFLs on the bottom and 3 on the top (the top CFLs are 150w on the ends with a 100w in the middle, and the bottom 4 are all 100w (equivalent) and is perfect for seedling trays or for about.. 20 of them in party cups or those square containers.. with plenty of light for them, really more than they need.. SO, if you plant on using a larger area to pot them up, I would go flouro tubes, or small HID kit.. if you ever plan on keeping them inside for longer than.. like 2 months.. then I would get a bigger HID kit, or you can easily get away with just 2 or 3 CFL lights if you are just going to keep them in seed trays, or only pot up a few of them
but anyways I kind of lost my train of thought, had some wings and
tonight lol.. but I only suggest what I said because I went through a lot more money than I planned on this year trying to figure out what would work.. I first started with a duel bulb 4' flouro tube, then realized I had no place to put them, so went out and got a ton of CFL lights, and I still have a handful of big 2,700k CFLs which I'm not using now because I personally like the 6,500k ones more, and use the sun for other supplemental light in the shelf.. then I got 2 45w LED panels which I returned by the time they reached my house after reading about them, and bought the Xtreme LED system for about $350.. then realized that I would need more growing room than a 2x2 or 3x3' area.. then I got the grow tent and a 400w HID kithttp://www.virtualsu...c_cool_400W.asp and realized that it wouldn't be enough or efficient enough really once the plants go bigger for the whole 6x6' area and got a 600w dimmable HID kit with a DigiLux bulb which I should have started out with along with either some CFLs or flouro tubes, but I really do like the CFL shelf I have, then I could use the MH HID dimmed to 300w if I wanted until I needed to cover more room and so on...but I spent more money than I needed to and made a bunch of mistakes, but I don't really care, I am actually going to use the LED I have for a bunch of pepper seedlings once I pot them up into solo cups until I can get them outside, since the grow tent is filled, and 60 plants won't fit in the bottom rack of the small shelves lol.. so everything has it's place, and I even used the LED on my mom's tomatoes before and they did awesome, I actually had to keep the LED kind of high because they were frying the leaves from too much light since they were not use to it and a bunch were starting to flower.. but it's a lot of money
that is all, it is good you are hopefully more patient than me and actually consider everything and listen to everyone's advice before going out and getting everything lol.. I didn't find this site till after I had gotten most of my stuff.. good luck