# Lights for strains



## QBCrocket (Jan 20, 2019)

-Hi Guys  as Ive sed before I recently did the change to LED , my first grow with LED  was no where as good as previous with HPS I found the stems where thin the stretch was more and the buds although they looked great they were lite and the lower buds didn't ripen   , so this time I put a strain that I could never get to do any good under HPs in to see what happens , both  are under same light and on same nutrients , the white widow on the left  again  stems are skinny buds starting very small , the one on the right is OG Kush stems thick  no stretch and buds starting to look great only 2.5 weeks into flower so long way to go but , makes me think that Strain has a bit to do with what light you use ,


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## QBCrocket (Jan 20, 2019)

The lights are  dual  Vispectra 600 has anyone else used them


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## STIGGY (Jan 21, 2019)

Question
Do you have a way to control the Red Leds in your light
I keep my Reds off the 1st two weeks into flower to help slow down the stretch
Some cheaper LED lamps do not allow you to do this.
It can actually be the strain (genetics) that cause the plant to stretch or even the plants being to crowded,
Also Have Good Circulation as it will help the stems grow stronger.

Take a read at this link you will see what I mean
https://www.cannabis.info/en/blog/how-to-avoid-stretching-plants


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## QBCrocket (Jan 21, 2019)

Hi Stiggy - cheers for that some good info there - Cant turn off the red light - lights were cheap ,if they don't go well this time I will look at something bit more expensive -  I never really come across this when I used HPS


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## Dogweed (Jan 21, 2019)

If you end up changing again, you might want to think about just adding a cheap hps to the mix.  A friend of mine runs two Vispectra 300on either side of a 150w HPS  for a single plant. He gets amazing quality with decent yields of 3-8oz every 4 months.   Just a thought instead of chalking them up for a loss.


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## QBCrocket (Jan 22, 2019)

Cheers Dogweed food for thought


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## STIGGY (Jan 22, 2019)

Dogweed said:


> If you end up changing again, you might want to think about just adding a cheap hps to the mix.  A friend of mine runs two Vispectra 300on either side of a 150w HPS  for a single plant. He gets amazing quality with decent yields of 3-8oz every 4 months.   Just a thought instead of chalking them up for a loss.


I agree
I have grown some Great plants using Mars hydro Older series
My 1600 that I use to use grew quite a few plants (6) under it quite well.
But it had the red light switch to switch on the red LEDS when the time was needed. I too also added a 600HPS in another grow along with it for a larger run of plants. Did a nice job.
Give it some time, as your growing skills become fine tuned you will see it is not always the equipment that makes how good the grower can be.


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## STIGGY (Jan 22, 2019)

OP
Question- Do you have enough circulation fans blowing on the plants themselves, Good Circulation keeps mold at bay and allows for strong healthy stem strengh too. Very important as I see it.


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## QBCrocket (Jan 24, 2019)

being a novice to LED I am bit confused as to the colours , the lights I am using , have a veg button and a flower button on veg only white light is on ,on flower the blue and red come on so I presumed the red and blue helped with flowering , but I just swapped out my  t5s for led last week  brought a light apparently specially designed for cloning plugged it in  and its all blue and red no white  , Clones do seem to love it  though


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## QBCrocket (Jan 24, 2019)

STIGGY said:


> OP
> Question- Do you have enough circulation fans blowing on the plants themselves, Good Circulation keeps mold at bay and allows for strong healthy stem strengh too. Very important as I see it.


Hi Stiggy - Ventilation is good have vent fan and a oscillating fan ,the plant on the left White widow Ive had on perpetual grow under HPS for 3 years now maybe it hasn't liked the change or could be getting old  know how that feels , the plant on the right OG Kush  is really powering now looks great


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## QBCrocket (Feb 6, 2019)

Just watched an interesting video on blue and red light LED , during the video they sed you cannot take a plant or cuttings of a plant that has been started and grown under HPS and put under LED or visa versa without causing significant problems in the plants ability to grow , this answers my question , this is why my white widow that I have grown under HPS for many grows is struggling now I changed to LED while the OG  started under LED is powering on , live and learn I love this game


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## Growdude (Feb 6, 2019)

QBCrocket said:


> Just watched an interesting video on blue and red light LED , during the video they sed you cannot take a plant or cuttings of a plant that has been started and grown under HPS and put under LED or visa versa without causing significant problems in the plants ability to grow , this answers my question , this is why my white widow that I have grown under HPS for many grows is struggling now I changed to LED while the OG  started under LED is powering on , live and learn I love this game



Im not buying it, Ive never had problems going from LED to HPS


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## STIGGY (Feb 6, 2019)

I might agree if you went from a 600watt HPS to a cheap LED made in China half the Watts


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## Dogweed (Feb 6, 2019)

I went from a 600w HPS to a 640w LED mid grow and the plants got fairly stressed out. Could also have been my inexperience with LEDs at the time and had it too close.


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## burnin1 (Feb 6, 2019)

I am a new LED grower as well.  I have been told one difference between LEDs and HPS is the wattage.  Many LEDs cannot penetrate the canopy as well as HPS lights.   I was told I should double the wattage of my LED light compared to my HPS light.  You may need another LED light.   I could be wrong...

I ended up buying this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY27Q9H/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I have this in a 5x5 grow tent.

I wish you all the best with you grows.


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## umbra (Feb 6, 2019)

I replaced 2 1000w HPS with 1 LED array. I burned the plants with the LED and after raising it up, plants exploded with growth.


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## QBCrocket (Feb 7, 2019)

Could be the case , of different wattage I went from 600Watt HPS to a 600 watt LED  vispectra ,Ive since read reviews that say it is about equal to a 400watt HPS  so may need to go bigger although the seedlings I put under the LED are looking good at the moment , would love to get the Gavita Pro 1650e LED ML but at $2k out of my league


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## STIGGY (Feb 7, 2019)

How far are your LEDs away from plants
on young and vegging you want to start at about 24 inches and work down to about 18 , as the plants grow they will get stronger and grow almost inro the lamp if they get to tall
I just snap them over gently its called Super Cropping


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## STIGGY (Feb 7, 2019)

Every LED I ever used is half te actual wattage they put on the ligt when sold
Get a true Watts meter and plug light into it and you will see approx half of what they advertise it to be
The LED at 600watts will only be equal to a 330 watt HPS

This will explain better

https://growsupplyexperts.ca/pages/true-watts-vs-led-watts


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## Dogweed (Feb 7, 2019)

QBCrocket said:


> Could be the case , of different wattage I went from 600Watt HPS to a 600 watt LED  vispectra ,Ive since read reviews that say it is about equal to a 400watt HPS  so may need to go bigger although the seedlings I put under the LED are looking good at the moment , would love to get the Gavita Pro 1650e LED ML but at $2k out of my league



If you went from a 600w HPS to a Vispectra 600, then you actually went from 600w from the HPS down to 260w from the LED. You might benefit greatly from a 2nd one instead of a larger one.


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## bluegrasser (Feb 7, 2019)

STIGGY said:


> How far are your LEDs away from plants
> on young and vegging you want to start at about 24 inches and work down to about 18 , as the plants grow they will get stronger and grow almost inro the lamp if they get to tall
> I just snap them over gently its called Super Cropping



Hey Stig, i dont grow indoors ( barely grow outdoors)  but ive hear theis term super crapping before.  How far do you actually bend the stalk over ??


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## STIGGY (Feb 7, 2019)

bluegrasser said:


> Hey Stig, i dont grow indoors ( barely grow outdoors)  but ive hear theis term super crapping before.  How far do you actually bend the stalk over ??


Morning Blue
I gently find te point where I want to bend the hieght over and squeeze the stem until it gets a lil plaible and carefully bend the stem over itself
The stem fold all the way over, as the plant regains its growth the stem will come back up but not straight in the air.
I will see if I can find a good video to explain


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## STIGGY (Feb 7, 2019)

This shows the super cropping
I only do my taller stems but some do the whole plants
and this also talks about tape repair if the stem breaks to much , they heal real fast
I used in outdoors if a plant gets to rall near a fence line


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## STIGGY (Feb 7, 2019)

You Guys need to look into Quantum Boards Newest craze
Saying much better than Burple LEDS
I am building a light myself soon


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## oldfogey8 (Feb 7, 2019)

I don’t think the plants care how much wattage your lights are using. From what I’ve read, it is about PAR. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetically_active_radiation


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## STIGGY (Feb 7, 2019)

oldfogey8 said:


> I don’t think the plants care how much wattage your lights are using. From what I’ve read, it is about PAR.
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetically_active_radiation


Correct
Good Read
https://ledhabitats.com/7-key-features-led-grow-lights/


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## QBCrocket (Feb 7, 2019)

Dogweed said:


> If you went from a 600w HPS to a Vispectra 600, then you actually went from 600w from the HPS down to 260w from the LED. You might benefit greatly from a 2nd one instead of a larger one.


Does putting 2 lights up the wattage and penetration or does it just give you more area  covered with low wattage light ?


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## oldfogey8 (Feb 7, 2019)

If the area is small enough and the lights are close enough, the lumens/area should increase and should penetrate better.


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## QBCrocket (Feb 7, 2019)

STIGGY said:


> Correct
> Good Read
> https://ledhabitats.com/7-key-features-led-grow-lights/


That is a good read ,


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## Bruce111 (Feb 15, 2019)

It is not only because of the light but also the gene of different strain. 
I did have a chance to use vipar light. But finally i pick up MarsHydro. Because i heard that Vipar didn't have authentic certification. You know the safety is the priority. Anyway, Mars light worked well.


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