Lighting question, from cfl to led

A question from a fellow grower:

I am a small time grower and have been using cfl’s, 5000 to 6000K for veg. and 2700 to 3000k for budding.
I am thinking of changing to LED’s. The newer style of led has much more output. I would like to change because of bulb design (more direct light beam) and power usage. Can I use the same logic as with the CFL’s? And use 3000K and 6000K? I really don’t want to spend $1000. to make the change over. My grow room 3’ x 3’ x 7’ high.

For budding I am using about 250 watts of CFL’s and that does need to be cooled or left in an open room.
I am growing for the first time Gold Leaf, very healthy looking and starting to bud nicely!

With LED your heat will be almost similar compared to CFL , you will still have to bring cold outside air and vent heat with inline fan 4’ or 6’ would work fine . But considering led will help budding at least twice as much yield than cfl and finish at least 2 weeks earlier .

I’m growing in tent same size and using 2 300 watt led’s true wattage 150 each temp stays around 78 80 degrees using 4" online fan and 7 " fan and 3 3" clip on fans

I’m really considering the next size tent if I can make room for that size . So you can fit 2 300’s Led lights in a 3x3x 7 awesome . So a 6’ inline would be great for moving air in that size tent , and a 4’ inline to bring fresh air in would be great and two or three clip on fans would be great for inside the tent . So my question is what would be an option for CO2 in that size tent ?

Not using co2

1 Like

Wow , they look really good , but I could not manage that much of stretching in my tent . With my Led light , I have a vegging switch & a flower switch , so for the first 4 weeks I only use the blue , white and UV spectrum which keeps the internodes real close and tight , and after the 4 th week I turn on the red lights at a quarter strength for two days and than half strength for two days , than three quarters until full spectrum , that way I only get maybe 8-10 inches of stretching so I can manage only two full grown plants , especially W.W. Because they really stretch , now O.G.Kush don’t stretch so bad , and I have a grow bucket for CO2 with organic yeast at 4 cups of sugar , 3/4 oz of yeast for 6 days than I add another cup of sugar . That’s has worked for me through my last 3 grows .

I hear yeah these are OG kush talk bout stretching they went from 46" 52" in bout 48 72 hrs I’m hoping that’s as far as they go would love to get a gorilla tent with adjustable height but man do they cost

With hps and mh lights I guess they grow different , I normally hang my lights at 18’ during veg and about 26’ during flower and I get about an 8-10’ stretch . But wow how awesome your plants are , well I really hope your stalk bulk up to hold the weight of the mass colas you going to get in flower , I cannot wait to see the final results , thanks for sharing iceberg.

Thks… yeah trying to figure some kind of way to support them might try some kind of fencing material…might use them for my xmas tree this year…lol will keep u posted

I have you consider giving them molasses to help bulk them up , they also have a nutrient by advance just for making your stalk massive , bigger stem , bigger roots , bigger yield .

How is the molasses applied what kind I’m currently using technaflora recipe for success never tired anything else whatever advice u can give would be greatly appreciated

Well actually it’s the same as the sugar daddy , but in that recipe of success you should have cal magic , root 66 , boost , grow , and bloom , awesome blossoms and cloning gel . I have that as well , but it’s my go to when my plants show stress . It’s great stuff from my experience .

So the sugar daddy will do the same as molasses and the kit did come with all those products should I add more sugar daddy on next feeding

No sir don’t get me wrong , continue on what the recipe says . I was not sure of what line of nukes you were using , be that I read somewhere that molasses can be an alternative to supplement for cal mag . I could be wrong , but if you following the recipe for success you will be just fine that way , so don’t change anything .

Cool thks will do. Been feeding once a week and water every other day. Haven’t seen any issues with leaves

Molasses help feed the microorganism in your soil , as I read it best used in flowering , and supplemented in vegging for cal mag . Make sure if you used it it’s the unsulfured molasses . But I had some nitrogen burn , yellow tips , after the second feed with molasses it cleared right up and the plant was lush and vigor and green . So I started giving my plants 10ml every other feeding . Since I’ve used it , I have not had the yellowing on my leaf tips anymore . Just my experience .