Marijuana LED Lighting
What are LED lights?
LED lights are the future of growing marijuana. A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for lighting up marijuana grow rooms. Appearing as practical electronic components in 1962 early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. No Noisy ballast to worry about. No light reflector to purchase, no cumbersome shade to deal with. Super long bulb life. The price is low and the quality is higher these days. Super yields are expected and results do not disappoint.
LED Heat
Thermal management would be the most important factor in utilizing LED lighting for growing marijuana. LEDs don’t radiate heat so you need to take it away for optimum results and longevity. Heat sinks and good ventilation reduce the issue. As time goes on, better technology rises to the forefront and heat will not be an issue at all.
LED Color Spectrum
LED colors include amber, green, red and blue. Perfect for pinpointing marijuana growing stages. The lighting spectrum needed during each process of the life of the plant can be changed instantly for less work and less cost.
Have you used LED lamps successfully? Share your experience below.
I have been growing inside since 1984, as an electrician I was fortunate enough to get several HPS and metal halide fixtures, 400 watt units, given to me during a plant modernization. I raised many nice crops with these lights but have always had heat and cooling issues. Very hard to use in a small enclosure. This summer I purchased 4- 300 watt LED fixtures with 3 watt led’s from EBAY. I bought 2 fixtures for vegging, they contain more blue light and 2 fixtures for flowering they contain more reds. They are 90 degree fixtures. I built a 4 ft.x7ft.with a 7 foot high ceiling.enclosure, 1- 4 inch vent fan.Room stays at aprox 84 degrees with 4 lights running. No outside venting needed. Cost for 4 fixtures, $96.00 each, free shipping. Fan $14.95. In 6 weeks vegging plants were aprox 24 inches tall, went to 12-12, plants flowered within 8 days. Harvested super skunk in 51 days from start of flowering, OG kush in 54 days, purple haze and white wisow at 62 days. Total of 16 plants. Shortest grow time ever, biggest harvest weight wise from 16 plants aprox 25 to 30 % higher than with halide or HPS. Buds totally frost covered and potent, taste is great. No THC break down from excess heat and plants can be as close as 3 inches with no heat damage. I grow using a red blue red blue fixture on both veg and flower. Power draw slightly higher than 600 watt HPS for all 4 units. These 4 300 watt fixtures give you more useable light than 2,000 watts of halide. Over all LED’s have given me much larger harvest, more potent better tasting herb in a 2 week shorter grow period than I get with HPS or metal halide and cheaper to operate. Also plants can grow 2 feet higher in in your grow as you do not have the lights 2 feet above plants= way bigger yields. Hope this helps, good growing.
I’ve been curious about led’s…thinking about buying some. What am I looking at for led’s to cover a 4×8 home made grow box 7ft.tall…running cfl’s right now, just turned on flowering lights 4days ago.on the 10th
I meant to add to post, you can grow 4 large plants or six smaller plants per 300 watt fixture if you use white reflective walls and 3 gallon car wash buckets from walmart at $2.00 each. Plants will only require about one half as much water as with HPS and halide because of less evaporation due to heat
One last thing I forgot to mention, when buying LED fixtures do not buy less than 300 watt unit, smaller units are not worth the time to use and be sure you get a full band spectrum unit with 90 degree 3 watt led’s with zener diode so if 1 led goes out rest will stay lit. 5 watt led’s can be used but from what I have read do not perform overall any better than 3 watt led’s.
Hi there…..i was wondering….will just an ordinary white led work for a grow box..