LED Grow Lights Increase Productivity

[ledlightsliving]

I'm a dope head, flogging lighting equipment on a car forum, which is pointless and stupid.

Herp-a-derp!

[TroubleBound]

You goan needa contact AZHitman or one of his staff before you be slinging prod on the boards. And this seems like a weird place to be advertising such products. Less energy is good, but is it still so much that your power bill will see a suspicious jump with numerous lights installed?

[tigersharkdude]

IBTL

[Bmore-coupe]

[Ozzie]

An Ozzie with a ban-hammer appears!


Later foo!

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I love how under "car", he just has "toyota". Nice.

[Jesda]

I'm 90% sure this guy drives a Chrysler Lebaron coupe.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

turbo?

[Pento240sx]

WHAAAAT. WTF LOL IDK GTFO AND IBTL.

[Zydeco]

You goan needa contact AZHitman or one of his staff before you be slinging prod on the boards. And this seems like a weird place to be advertising such products. Less energy is good, but is it still so much that your power bill will see a suspicious jump with numerous lights installed?

even when you have a few light going 24/7 its not that bad.

[BusyBadger]

I'm 90% sure this guy drives a Chrysler Lebaron coupe.

The one that John Voight sold to George Costanza?

[themadscientist]

Stupid stoners, go cruise the Taco Bell forums.

[PoorManQ45]

I know this is a spam post, but I'd like to talk about this.

LEDs do have the potential to be more efficient. By using diodes that emit only in a specific wave length you can eliminate all the light that is not used by the plant. This allows you to decrease electrical consumption with the potential to increase production.

LEDs have greatly improved in efficiency also. The best emitters are currently around 150lm/w. LEDs in the spectrum that is needed are closer to 75lm/w. This isn't anywhere close Metal Halide's(MH) 683lm/w max though. The gap in output does narrow a bit when you consider that >90% of the light from the LED is in the required wavelength. This still isn't enough to bring it close to the efficiency MH though.

One of the huge problems with MH though is the heat output. Active cooling is required to prevent the plants from roasting and the ballasts from having a shortened life span. This isn't too bad, but considering that this can use an extra ~100+ watts of power it could be significant in a large operation.

LEDs are greatly improving. They are not to the point that they can be utilized effectively.

[PoorManQ45]

even when you have a few light going 24/7 its not that bad.

24 hour use has been proven to be inefficient. An 18/6 schedule should be the max.

[breadbox]

I grew/started from seed a lemon tree with a 14watt blue/red led I built as a kit to try it out.

It only helps as supplemental light or depending on what you are growing great for lower intensity vegetation. I.E. greens, herbs, stuff that could perpetually green. example, when keep green onions in our kitchen window and just cut down the growing stock to add flavor to things but the roots just continually grow the growing shoot.

I have dabbled quite a bit with all sorts of growing and propagation indoors and out. I like fruit trees and bushes. I hope to actually get fruit from a tree grown from seed, but it takes a few years.

But if you are going to do any worth while growing you will need better lighting. Sun pulse digital bulbs are what I'm looking at right now.

[breadbox]

One of the huge problems with MH though is the heat output. Active cooling is required to prevent the plants from roasting and the ballasts from having a shortened life span. This isn't too bad, but considering that this can use an extra ~100+ watts of power it could be significant in a large operation.

There are many ways to cool a light, but heat/humidity is definitely a constant battle.

You can buy 8-10 bulb t5 floros that are pretty decent and they generally stay cooler and provide a decnt coverage, perfect for winter gardens setup in the kitchen.

[PoorManQ45]

T5s are a good choice. Not as efficient as MH, but much cooler, as you said.

One of the problems with florescent is the light density isn't great enough. Each plant requires something like 10k+ lumens. You can get that much light, but not in a focused area. I've noticed that the plants grown under florescent seem to have thinker stalks as they seem to "stretch" to the light.

Two winters ago I used a 125w Florescent in a MH stippled reflector to start two 72 plant trays of everything from peppers, lettuce, tomato, beans, etc. I got the plants to about 6" and then moved them all outside. After a week I planted them. That batch grew pretty well, but didn't produce as much as the plants that were started from seed at the same time as the 6" ones were being planted. Something about the transition didn't bode well for them.

[tigersharkdude]

Two winters ago I used a 125w Florescent in a MH stippled reflector to start two 72 plant trays of everything from peppers, lettuce, tomato, beans, etc. I got the plants to about 6" and then moved them all outside. After a week I planted them. That batch grew pretty well, but didn't produce as much as the plants that were started from seed at the same time as the 6" ones were being planted. Something about the transition didn't bode well for them.

I dont think this dude was talking about peppers and beans.......

[PapaSmurf2k3]

You can buy 8-10 bulb t5 floros that are pretty decent and they generally stay cooler and provide a decnt coverage, perfect for winter gardens setup in the kitchen.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about this subject

It sounds like these MH bulbs that skipjack over there was talking about would be a pretty good match for the northern states for your winter growing. If the only downside is they put out a lot of heat, then it wont matter, seeing as how you are heating your house anyway.

Just turn a fan on to cool them and enjoy the free heat with super high efficiency light.

...or am I missing something?

[breadbox]

It sounds like these MH bulbs that skipjack over there was talking about would be a pretty good match for the northern states for your winter growing. If the only downside is they put out a lot of heat, then it wont matter, seeing as how you are heating your house anyway.

That's the thing tho, winter gardens are insanely easy to maintain.

It is when it gets warm that you need to worry about heat. I always have something indoors under a light, mostly because I have some tropical plants that don't like it outside for one reason or another.



Plants from seed that never really get stressed are going to do the best. I only do like a third of my plants from seed, just because cloning is easier, except for trees. I am going to try to transplant a scion from my lemon tree to an established root system of another citrus and see if it survives.

[breadbox]

also Poor man, you should do more than you need, so you can...1 Give seedlings to friends and encourage them to start gardens and 2 you can choose the best of the best and have them yield.

Do your best to get seeds from the best yielders. I did three pepper plants last year and I kept seeds from the one with the most fruit. It wasn't the hottest plant but everyone complained about it's hottness anyway.

I've been giving out seedlings from a while now, it cool to see people put them places and them go bananas and do better than you've ever done it. Location location location and soil. <----If you compost with some crap soil from your yard, grass clippings and leaves. you can make a pretty good home compost just from that. also compost tea from grass clippings is easy to make and does wonders.

[frapjap]

Two winters ago I used a 125w Florescent in a MH stippled reflector to start two 72 plant trays of everything from peppers, lettuce, tomato, beans, etc. I got the plants to about 6" and then moved them all outside. After a week I planted them. That batch grew pretty well, but didn't produce as much as the plants that were started from seed at the same time as the 6" ones were being planted. Something about the transition didn't bode well for them.

I did something similar with my garden last year. I started half indoors and got them to ~6-8" and also planted seeds in the soil. The baby plants were moved outside at the same time I planted the seeds. The seed plants took a little bit longer to mature, but ultimately ended up producing more than the plants I started indoors. I think it was the soil because I used compost and s*** when I started the seed plants outside vs the indoor plants. I can't wait to start planting again this year!

[Zydeco]

Two winters ago I used a 125w Florescent in a MH stippled reflector to start two 72 plant trays of everything from peppers, lettuce, tomato, beans, etc. I got the plants to about 6" and then moved them all outside. After a week I planted them. That batch grew pretty well, but didn't produce as much as the plants that were started from seed at the same time as the 6" ones were being planted. Something about the transition didn't bode well for them.

I did something similar with my garden last year. I started half indoors and got them to ~6-8" and also planted seeds in the soil. The baby plants were moved outside at the same time I planted the seeds. The seed plants took a little bit longer to mature, but ultimately ended up producing more than the plants I started indoors. I think it was the soil because I used compost and s*** when I started the seed plants outside vs the indoor plants. I can't wait to start planting again this year!

take a look at this place that sells seeds. I think you would really like this place. http://rareseeds.com/shop/

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Damn, now I want some peppers.

[4cefed]

turbo?

hey Hey HEY!!! Let's not be ragging on my LeBaron convertible turbo..... I mean, it might be running again someday.

[PoorManQ45]

For a first time gardener peppers are a great choice. They are minimal effort and produce a high yield.

Last year we had 6 banana pepper and 6 jalapeno pepper plants. We had enough peppers to supply all the neighbors and still have plenty left over!

If you can find them "Thai hots" pepper plants are nice. They produce hundreds of tiny delicious tasting peppers will almost no effort!

[breadbox]

I am going to be attempting three different hops this year, I am waiting on my rhizomes to get here. I am excited about this, but put off due to the fact that if your dogs eats raw hops it can kill them pretty fast by malignant hyperthermia. which is really scary.

Also on the LED tip, Because their intensity only goes but so far they are really good for recovering plants that are injured or on verge of death from neglect.

[gammer_ghn]

Yea lights make a good arm workout. check me out wooop woop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxakFzskE2g