DIY LED Grow Light Follow Up - Low Power LED VS CFL

[@AcmePhoto]

I'd like to see the LED's placed very close to the plants, so that the measured light output is closer to those of the CFL. Since we know the lumen output is greater on one (CFL), it would be more fair to the comparison to put them closer, and possibly raise the CFL, so that the lumen at the plant is as close to identical as possible.

[@margauxforeal9488]

This, yes.

[@Ragdoll_Meow]

Nice video. It would be great to measure temperature, too. LED lights product less heat than CFL. It is possible the extra heat from CLF bulbs favoured plants growth. After all, still a great video. Thanks for all the effort and resources!

[@FirstLast.69]

I really appreciate your testing with these. I only recently got into indoor gardening and bought the toogood red/blue strip as my first. Its good to see the outcome compared to the wattage used.

[@raco5754]

Agree. Plus the plastic container does not help the moisture explore the atmosphere. Maybe a greenhouse affect with LED?

[@gthradek]

nice to see someone working hard to improve product development. Add a temperature gauge to each site to rule out temperature affects on growth

[@brianf5222]

Wow i would of never of thought the LED strips would grow anything !! I'm using a few CFL's & a dubble 36 inch T5's at the moment I have in the T5 housing unit a grow bulb from Petco. They have the T5's u need to grow.i got an all blue Spectrum bulb & a regular Green Grow bulb. I got the housing unit for 10 bucks at Wal-Mart them went to the fish store to see what kind of T5's they had to offer. & to my surprise they had exactly what I needed. I took the blue light out for a soft white light & the plants seen to love the T5's. The bulbs were a little pricey but deffentely worth it. Especially the blue light for veg it almost look like I had an LED light on but it is just Aquarium lights that are meant to grow plants and so far so good !

[@stinson87]

It would be awesome if someone did a WATT for WATT comparison. like building an LED array to match your CFL. hope to watch more!

[@dmac9150]

I've done that using LEDs that are like regular household bulbs. I went at it different thought- Using as many watts drawn with LED as I used with CFL. LEDs of course won easily. More light per watt drawn. Plants grew better on the same power. And You can now get LED bulbs as cheap as CFL. This experiment was flawed, he neither used the same light output nor the same power draw. Both power draw and light out put were considerably lower for the LED strips. Current LED bulbs require you to use about 20-25 watts of power per square foot, less if bulb is extremely close. Saw a video with a LED grow lamp that drew 7 watts for one head of lettuce that grew well, but it was specifically a 'grow' light, and probably covered less than 1 square foot on a plant no more than about 3-4 inches tall. watt for watt, LEDs grow at least as well, and use less power than CFL. And with a combination of bulbs ranging from 2700k to 3500k to 5000k to 6600k, plants get enough of what they need without resorting to expensive grow lights.

[@DrSpooglemon]

You need to do multiple plants of the same variety under each condition to discount the possibility of individual differences in the plants themselves.

[@mzc.d.4039]

Wrap up your shelves using a solar blanket to reflect more light onto the plants. I get them at the dollar store : ) It also keeps out drafts and a consistent growing temperature.

[@barryfredrick2731]

You don't want to get mold tho, maybe a little fan too?

[@monstorrr]

Great video, I wonder if the plants in the LED section would have grown better if they were closer to the light... as the led have much lower lux readings than the others

[@amwtm]

Hi! Jumping in on a 2-year-old video. Thanks for posting your results in the comments!

[@QuackMooMeow]

Thank you so, so much for this. I am growing ornamental/indoor plants on a north facing outdoor balcony (in a tropical country) and was wondering what type of lights that I can use. Seeing as I am a newbie, I decided to just buy some cheap T5 LEDs to try out - and my dormant plants started sprouting new leaves, stems, gotten taller within A WEEK of 8-10 hours exposure to the lights. Seeing these results, I thought perhaps I should dabble into grow lights but they're so much more expensive and I didn't know if it was worth it. After scouring the internet, there's just SO MUCH CONFLICTING information. Your video & experiment (despite being close to 6 years old), is proof that I needed that my success was not a fluke and I'll be definitely purchasing CFLs for my other set ups which is a fraction of the cost. Besides, I'm not growing for fruits and yield, thus I think normal CFL would be more than enough to keep my plants happy-ish. I'm unsure if you'll see or answer my question, but do you think it would benefit my plants by keeping the lights contain or directed? i.e. having a mesh cover over the shelves? Also, thank you so much for doing this experiment and making this video!!!

[@BenjasUberHobby]

Wow I was very disappointed to see the LED do so poorly. I hope to see more of your LED testing in the future to see if you were able to find a better combination. Thank you for sharing! Looks like this video is very popular :) Thanks for sharing!

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Benja's Uber 1337 Hobby planning a new hydroponics system using only led strip lighting, we will see

[@BenjasUberHobby]

Can't wait to see how it goes!

[@AtlantaTerry]

I believe you created a problem for yourself by designing the LED units to have a curved surface. All that did was to remove the LEDs farther from the seedlings. So there is no good reason to have a parabola. Look at the stills and videos of the automated plants in Japan where they grow thousands of heads of lettuce per day. The LED units are mere inches away from the tops of the leaves. In your design, they are a foot or so away. This results in far less energy getting to the leaves of the growing plants.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Terry Thomas yes I have done lights both ways but the parabola provides more surface area for more light strips and also provides light at various angles which provides better coverage to the plants

[@teastation9396]

Another thing I'm noticing is that he's using a single crop in an attempt to represent the effectiveness of these different lights. The wavelength of light will affect how well certain crops vegetate, so I think a better test would have been to plant several different crop families. You might find that some grow even better under the LEDs, despite the flawed design. Just a thought

[@luisnavarretecampos1840]

Keven Jones

[@Doesitstop]

Luis Navarrete Campos

[@danielrose1392]

Mounting the LEDs flat, you would loose more light at the sides. On a parabola the LEDs are partially shining on each other. I don't know which of the two results in a better efficiency. Mounting them all on a flat surface, but with an inwards tilt, would probably get you the best efficiency.

[@ronwatkins5775]

What app did you install on the phone to do the spectrum analysis?

[@fireball890]

App is not important. His phone's sensor is important. You can find out if you know the phone model.

[@TheElopez626]

@@fireball890 ok Edith

[@christopheraaron8299]

I use a combination of CFL and LED with my plants. I also found that CFL produced the best results.

[@dibyajyotipatro1573]

CFL like household one? Can u tell me How do u use them combined?

[@jimmymisle910]

Trying to figure out which is best - CFL it is for the windows plants, white is better to avoid having the Purple, Red and Blue. Attracts so much attention to my windows.

[@GuitarLessonCharts]

After looking at the plants closely it looks like some of the melons/cucumbers under the leds did the best. The tomatoes look like they grew better under the cfl because the cfl lights dried the soil out faster where as they were over watered under the leds.

[@adeeade5741]

The ladybug at 2:26 at right corner down was like: ,,oh no, he will see me!” xD

[@ledmk2]

Nice lights

[@shoaibahmad6928]

Hi. This is such an amazing video. Can you please tell how did you measure spectrum of light?

[@azimalif266]

Can you do an experiment on the electricity usage and plant health, if you turn the lights off at short intervals? Example: lights turn ogf for 10 seconds every 20 seconds, or some other combinations.

[@motocross918]

I use the blue and bright white LED strips to grow my wheatgrass indoors and it works really well. As your results demonstrate, blue light is the way to grow. I've been told that blue light is good for vegetative growth, which you need in the beginning. Red light is good for flowering/fruiting, which you'd want later on when the plants are large.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Mark Cartwright i just ordered some blue,strips that u am going to try next. I think i will try an all blue and then one that is mostly blue with some red. Good to know that it is working for you!

[@preppersintent]

+SSLFamilyDad last time I used all blue LED to grow plants it miniaturized them, then I found some reading to support that, it will be interesting to see Your results..

[@motocross918]

Please see above "blue and bright white"

[@preppersintent]

Mark Cartwright please READ above "I think I will try an all blue"

[@tehmwakhasatube]

Your best bet for LED's is to buy some 3/5w leds on stars, slap them on some heatsinks and rejoice in the magical plantgrowth. I went through the same thing you are going through about 4 years ago with my fishtanks lighting. I ended up using 25*3w chips on a 250*270*30 heatsink... Kept my coral growing at a really nice pace. Using low output LED's, even when I packed lots into a small area just didn't have the light output to bring decent PAR to even the surface of the water ~50 away. (I get that saltwater aquariums are slightly different than growing plants...)

[@tripzero0]

to get a better test, make all the lights the same wattage.

[@lexscarlet]

very incorrect. wattage is a measure of power, dependent on two of: voltage, current, and resistance. you can have a very inefficient bulb blowing through power no problem and putting out hardly any light. the important stuff is brightness, spectrum, temperature (including heat of the fixture), on/off cycle.... few others i can't give a crap to remember.

[@tripzero0]

alexandru benza all those LEDs are going to have roughly the same efficiency. you'd be correct otherwise.

[@lexscarlet]

+Kevron Rees yea mate i'm talking about efficiency differences between different lighting tech, not differences between the LED bulbs in ONE fixture. you said "make them the same wattage and then the test would be fair," but that's not correct at all. watts literally do NOTHING to the plant, it's related to current through the circuit, the voltage driving it, and the resistance ...resisting it. this isn't hearsay or a personal opinion, this is literally what the hell the equation is. unless you hold an incandescent too close to a plant and damage the plant with the waste heat, which even THEN is an indirect on growth. light intensity per unit area is what matters. so for example for 800 lumens, an LED consumes 6-8 watts, an incandescent consumes 60, and a CFL consumes 13-15. also, different stages of growth respond differently to different intensities and spectra. power draw of your lights is the last thing to worry about.

[@ericdelevinquiere9902]

distance to light is the key, the benefits are exponential...

[@tripzero0]

It's going to be difficult to get a apples to apples comparison the way you want. You need to make the per area photon concentration the same for all lights. Only then can you make a valid comparison between the spectra of the various lights. Otherwise, was the LED or CFL worse because it outputted less photons or because it had the wrong spectrum? We don't know. Honestly, I can't think of a good reason to use a CFL if spectrum is what you care about and not overall cost. I can find LEDs with the spectrum I want.

[@tazmahomed3934]

Really good information here thank you

[@eco3604]

You should do a comparison between the CFL's and 100watt daylight LED's 6 and 6. I use 6 of the LED's in a 8 × 12 foot greenhouse for extended daylight.they work awsome!

[@BACKROB]

None of the spectra are mostly red. What you are seeing is an additive graph, to get a better idea, look at the lux of each colour instead of the graph. The graph on the Y-axis displays percentage of colour, from 0% at the intersection, to 100% at the top. Dont look at the size the bar, rather how far up the Y-axis it goes. Great video anyhow! Enjoyed it

[@acaciosoto9524]

The led have to be closer to the plants so they can do better . Great video by the way keep up the good work

[@spundj]

Another update would be great

[@hugoramirez212]

Hello, nice experiment. Could you share the model of your light meter which includes color output? , cheers.

[@jasonsmith1806]

what is the app you are using to measure the light spectrum

[@orkinabdallatyf7205]

fantastic indeed

[@matermark]

What is the App you are using to measure lux? thanks.

[@icemud12]

Cool DIY build and side by side! I'm curious what is that light meter/spectrometer app called that you are using?

[@SSLFamilyDad]

RGB light sensor on Android

[@jaycerv2941]

So is this strictly for veg growth? Not flowering? I'm sure the plants would have done better if they were closer to the lights since they don't out off much heat, maybe you can do a test on plants and distance from lights?!

[@rajivkuravi7675]

Hey SSL! Well arranged video. I am convinced that I should use CFL. I have a question. I built a "grow box" recently out of cardboard. It is narrow and tall @ 1ft*1ft*2.5ft. I lined the insides with aluminum foil. My pot is a round plastic tub with 1 ft diameter and 15 cm deep and I made a ton of holes all over the tub for aeration and drainage. Can I work with this setup at all? I mean I'm just starting out growing cilantro and fenugreek indoors and just thought somehow that was the way to make a grow box. haha. Anyway, at what height do I place a CFL bulb in this setup considering it is narrow and what wattage works best?

[@SSLFamilyDad]

I don't see why this won't work. I would use the 23 Watt CFL bulbs in the 6500K range (daylight). The more the better as these are still a bit underpowered but fine from growing your herbs

[@fnsdotcom]

This is a amazing test light run for me. Just what I was wondering as I build my indoor lighting system. You made my choice much more easy and saved me time and money. Thanks. I was going to due the test myself

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Eric Masters glad it helped you out!

[@saintwulf1631]

Nice video man! Thanks for taking the time to film your experiments and give us your feedback and experiences from them.

[@Iatimere]

so they need mostly red and blue with higher intensity the better, however the cfl output was mostly blue. interesting! great video, this will save people time

[@gioknows]

It looks like a lot of fun experimenting like that. Keep at it and enjoy the learning experience.

[@bessflick01]

good job exactly what i was looking for thank you.

[@michaelz6870]

Agreed, I appreciate your curiosity and for taking the time to share your findings. Thank you good sir!

[@mattjohnson7903]

What app is that good sir?

[@GlenBHoward]

I could be wrong, but I think you may be misinterpreting the relative amounts of RGB on the app. The graph is an overlapping area chart, with the lowest (color) value in the front, then next highest, then the highest in the back/top. I noticed the discrepancy when I looked at the numerical values of each the R, G, and B in the top left of the screen.

[@brandoncasey8085]

Glen Howard very nice observation!

[@markregan6133]

You read your graphs wrong. Look at the figures. It is the colour at the top of the graphic that is the highest. Lower colours are displayed in the foreground or you would not see them. CFL shows a lot of green. Could you try lowering your led lights to get more light to the seedlings?

[@streetbizzmixtapes]

the led's could be closer to the plants.

[@eposts5268]

My thoughts exactly

[@freethrottle6392]

what are you using for your metering? that output you showed looked great

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+FreeThrottle Android app, rgb light sensor

[@williamsmith-wn2bp]

Try a cree cob man

[@21hawthornemaintenance91]

Have you added more red/blue LED strips to get the light flux density closer to the CFL lights? Even if you have not made a video yet, I'd love to know how close you spaced the lights to get the same lux.

[@robertveronda4225]

try putting a "shield" between the grow beds to stop the "bleed" over of the light from 1 to the other. you might have been picking up red from the 1st one on number 2

[@markwilliams6375]

You can add brighter reflector, by taping emergency sleeping blanket to the back ground, A.K.A. Mylar, makes for brighter lights, thus faster growing plants. add Bat guano, egg shells, blended up first, green sand as well.

[@guyeshel9316]

Weren't the lights too far from the seedlings?

[@Submanca]

It would be interesting to have the same Lux output from the 3. I would also try mixing blue strips and red strips 50-50. Having the same Lux as the spirals.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Submanca that is going to be my next lights. I want to see if I can get the same or better lux with lower wattage. That is the only way it will make,sense to go led over the cfl lights. We will see!

[@VortekStarling]

+SSLFamilyDad You can't even use lux because red and blue don't show up as high on a lux meter as green/yellow. Just use equal wattage draw from the wall as checked by a Kill-o-Watt.

[@jaydee1594]

+Alien Grey platinum LED changed my life :)

[@KirkMcLoren]

you need a spectrum analyzer to know what and how much comes from a source. If only interested in plants try a PAR meter (photosynthetically active radiation)

[@nuggsbnasty8127]

I think it would be a good idea to actually have the same wattage on each light. Then see what the lux is on all three. From there you can break it down to how many lux per sq F. You can then determine which one would be better for you. I hope that makes sense. I'm a lil impaired atm lol. Great video none the less! Good job.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Nuggs B'Nasty lol, yes that is exactly what i would like to do. The next test will be more comparable lights as far as wattage and lux goes

[@muhammadsyafiq7760]

Just start this hobbies due to the covid 19. I've one question, is the CFL light is the same as the conventional light or it is specifically built to grow?

[@shaneoneill5105]

Conventional

[@denstump4590]

for vegging your plants (blue spectrum lights) and for flowering your plants (red spectrum ... Your test graphs clearly show the lights with the most BLUE produced the best plants! THE PROBLEM with your fist light setup LEDS is it is mostly RED and WHITE, get rid of most of those and add far more BLUE which you only have a few of.

[@coldtinna]

Den Stump

[@coldtinna]

Why would my lemon tree need blue or red LED,Or would it if I'm using a 200 watt CFL w reflector?

[@midwestmangos2452]

More than about 20% extra blue on top of your white light will actually inhibit growth, I've read because the plant thinks it doesn't need to grow as big to get as much nutrition because it thinks all the light is as strong as the blue light, but it doesn't get as much energy because only the blue light is brighter ignoring the whole rest of the spectrum. Wide spec white is best for all growth since the entire spectrum is used in some way by the plant.

[@judyproctor5305]

thanks so very much

[@TheSaucyAussie]

Do you have a video on your indoor setup? Looks like you have some type of plumbing tied into it over rocks. I’m curious to know how you have it.

[@davideubanks8211]

Thanks that answers my questions good enough.

[@Huy0035]

Thank you for this

[@ShawnBauer]

Been waiting for this follow up video. Very informative as I've been thinking about building something similar in my greenhouse hydroponics system. Thanks!

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Shawn Bauer no problem, will have better results when i try the other two designs also. Thanks for checking it out!

[@m.p.juggler7250]

strong and healthy plants going wild:-)

[@carolinehonse35]

Excellent video! I'm 72 and just now expanding and setting up a variety of lights from CFL to LED. I have two 5-inch round 40W Daylight LED Plant Light Bulb, Full Spectrum Ceramic LED Grow Lights (claiming 4.2 sq ft coverage), two Galaxyhydro Dimmable LED Grow Light, 300W (140 actual) Indoor Plants Grow Lights (claiming about 4-5 sq ft coverage), and a bunch of CFLs in both red and blue and ranging from 23W, 32W, 45W, and 65W. My question is how close can I put them to the tops of the plants from seedlings to 2 ft tomato plants? I'm growing on thee 6ft adjustable height shelving units 18 inches wide and 28 inches long. I'm guessing the CFLs can be as close as a few inches but I don't have a clue about the LEDs. Thanks for any help you can offer.

[@christherock2370]

What's the name of the app you used to make the light spectrum?

[@Justchuck69]

For the power used the LEDs grow lights did pretty good ! If you would of double the LEDs then it would of used almost the same power as the CFLs did but would of helped the pants more !

[@rknowlso]

Hi, thanks for this video. A question & a comment. Have you used a Kill-A-Watt meter or something similar to see what the actual power consumption is? It seems to me that the LED would be less than 110 watts I think (could be wrong) that you would get better results with the LED if they where a lot closer to the plants. (1"~2") Well done!

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+rknowlso I agree with that. I am going to get a kill a watt for the final tests. I wanted to get them closer but my chains were too short. Also the lux readings i got seem to indicate a sweet spot at just about the height they were at due to the shape of the light hood

[@infflux5409]

You should look into strips or quantum boards running samsung lm301b's

[@megantarahs]

while you're at it, why not experiment with same light strength (lux) between those lights. I mean CFL uses more energy than LEDs, and sun even give more energy output, and i think that might affect how plant grows. So, make things even will produce more accurate result (based on which is most effective, with same power (in watts) /output (in lux))?

[@GrowandMow]

nice comaprison,thanks for sharing

[@guycupper9659]

Im curious to know if the LED strips you used to make the DIY lighting had any lens/reflectors on the LEDS. Im aware they were covered in silicone, so to add your own would require non waterproofed strips, but my understanding is that lens/reflectors make a LOT of difference to the quality of plant growth. Im pretty certain its the use of these that give grow light manufacturers justification for charging ridiculous prices for their LED lamps.

[@hunter21331]

SO the no any LED stip in the market that us good for growing to keping the house plant alive?

[@karlandersson2651]

Thanks for the video. What is the app you are using to see the light spectrum?

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Karl Andersson called rgb light sensor. Seems to be only on android and only fully work on some phones. I have the note 2 i am using for this and it doesnt work on my new s6

[@karlandersson2651]

+SSLFamilyDad I've only got iPhone and S6. :-)

[@joeychung7257]

looks nice

[@josuerodriguez9668]

VERY HELPFUL AND INSIGHTFUL VIDEO, THANK YOU!!!

[@graybeard4962]

Any updates on getting the right balance of blue/red LED's?

[@kenne5282]

1:5

[@ezh09tnu]

i noticed the cfl have a reflective hood atleast thats what the video looked like to me, could that have been the boost in effeciency for cfl if thats what was happeneing? the racks look great, id like to see more of them.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+Eli Hamilton i am not sure to be honest. The led hoods are gloss white so they should be pretty reflective also. I could try to build a cfl fixture like the led to see if that makes a difference

[@mbullify]

Good job man thank you

[@StanTheObserver-lo8rx]

Huh,you could by a LED shoplight at Walmart for $10 I think it was,and use 2 or 3 of the red and blue strip LEDs attached in the hood and get one good looking to the eye light good for growing plants, aquarium plants..and bring out colors to the eye as opposed to just blasting pure white light of the CFL. Might try that.

[@ashleycam3ron]

Hello! Thanks for the great video. Wondered if you connected the white LED strips and the RGB to the same power adapter or separate? If connected, what kind of connector(s)? Thanks!

[@shawnbiers2506]

Cfl are warmer leds are cooler you would need a controlled separate environment for each plant to have an accurate side-by-side test you would have to measure the temperature of the root Zone plants and Air in each grow room

[@DrFunkynstein]

hi there, why would you put in the test n1 a lot more of red than blue leds? thanks for the vids it helped me a lot thanks

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Red light is less powerful so you need more of them to produce the same power of a blue light

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

Great Video! I was interested because I am looking into making a grow system with stuff I can buy locally.

[@iamalmostcrazy025]

Hello. I’m curious as to what app you are using?

[@Miicha410]

The flaw in this test is the temperature difference between each light setups. Take for instance the soil that's in it what is the ph? Did you start from seed or did you have a mother plant? If so what part of the plant did you place on each set up? How was the humidity difference between each test? What was the control humidity? Also the cups have different soil sizes. I mean there's many factors that come into play.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+marcos ramos all plants have same soil, a mix of cup sizes, same temp, and same humidity so it should be a decent comparison

[@ElGatoLoco698]

I think I'll use 3 watt LED's mounted on an aluminum strip. It looks like you need more LED's mounted closer together although the results were not bad.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+ElGatoLoco698 I agree in this test the results showed that higher lumens ( more power) was needed

[@santarific9x60]

I'm glad I checked this video too... I'm just gonna go with the CFL... the LED would just look better... easier to conceal...

[@MrBilld75]

The problem is the LED lights you are using is you are using what looks like 1 watt LED strip lights and not the 3 watt standard LEDs on an actual circuit board with heatsinks and fans. This is not powerful enough. The 3 watt ones cast MUCH more light and run a bit warmer, hence the reason for the heatsinks and fans, but they are ballsy, trust me. Not that cheap misrepresented junk on Ebay from China either. Good American made (expensive) professional LED grow lights (Like Blue and Spyder and the other quality brands) do an AWESOME job, trust me. They put out a lot of light actually. I have a professionally made LED grow light at 3 watts per bulb and they can grow pot from seed to harvest and nice solid buds. This is not really a fair comparison. LEDs have better results and performance than ANY fluorescent light, even "magnetic induction" fluorescent lights (fluorescent lights on steroids). I get anywhere from 1-5 ounces per plant (dried) of high quality, dank, resinous knock your socks off MJ with my set of two 360 watt 120 LED grids. Lol. LED's even out do the results from high power HPS or Metal Halide lights and run a lot cooler and with less wattage than they do. For the same amount of power as fluorescent lights, I can get way better results with LEDs. I could grow at least one if not two nice tomato plants under just one of my 360 watt with my light from seed to harvest.They pack a lot of bang for the buck, but you have to use the 3 watt or higher to get good results and you can't put them on some cheap hood. Like I said they have to be on a PCB and in an all metal box with fans and heatsinks because they do put off a bit of heat. They also make 5 watt and higher, but for a simple indoor use 3 watt is very good. With the higher wattage than 3 watt ones you have to get into more expensive setups and even better heat dissipation. I have seen videos on KZbin of good 3 watt LED grids outperforming even really high power and high heat HPS and Metal Halide lights even. All while using almost half the power of those beasts and WAY lower heat. I LOVE LED grow lights. If you had put 200 watts worth of 3 watt LEDs (same as your CFL hood wattage) into that LED, instead of what you did, I guarantee you would have had stellar results that totally rival the CFL's. You had the right colors on the LED's for sure and it's a neat little setup, so please don't think I am being critical. It's just not enough power/higher watt LED's. When I stuck my light meter under mine, I was off the chart in terms of light output. You are measuring in lux as well which is great for color spectrum, however try measuring in PAR if possible too (that's what the pros do), and measure the amount of "usable" light. The PAR numbers for good 3 watt LED lights are pretty incredible. Other than that, great video. You presented some of the facts of plants and light etc. well. I love your plant setup and gear by the way, with the barrels and piping and wood frames etc. What kind of system is that? You are using soil it seems, but it looks like you have a hydroponic or aeroponic setup there too or some auto watering setup. Pretty cool looking. I like it.

[@andreamitchell4758]

what if he had put the LED strip closer to the plants though? they are only 1 watt as opposed to 3 watt LED but they also throw less heat, it seems to me has the hod and lights too far away ,couldn't you get results close to 3 watt LED with 1 watt LED if the spectrum is right and you place them almost touching the plants? i thought i saw some operation before where they were growing lettuce and produce inside of trucks, the had these vertical tower hydro systems and then they had led strip dangling from the ceiling like fly paper around the hyrdo towers and the led strip was dangling right up close to the leaves almost touching it,imagine this would work with cannabis as well, just set the strip close to the plants ,sure you will need to spend more effort to keep adjusting the spacing of the strips to the plants, but you will save $$ on the LED strips and on power consumption ,also isn't that spectrum he was using better for flowering? wouldn't he be better off using some LED's with a more blue spectrum for veg cycle growth? also what about the other typed of LED's the ones where the LED is that flat yellow post it paper looking type of element, that only come in cool and warm white, are those any good canabis grow lights? like those big ones that are like 1" or 2" squares they use for flood work lights

[@MrBilld75]

Andrea Mitchell I agree. LEDs are low heat especially the 1 watt and he probably could get away with putting them closer to the plants. That's the problem people have with CFLs and fluorescent. They put them too far away. You can go very close with those too. I used to keep a close eye on mine and always kept them 1-2 inch from the tops of the plants and no more. They fared far better when that close. Light penetration on LEDs and fluorescents are low. Thankfully so is the heat they produce, so you can get away with having them pretty close and not burning the leaves. On my 3 watt LED's they are so powerful that I have to keep the plants at least 12-18" away from the plant because even though they are not a hot light, you can get "light" burn, believe it or not. Not heat burn, but light burn. That was a surprise.

[@andreamitchell4758]

Bill Does Stuff wow i never would have thought you could get light burn from LED's especially the colored ones that are narrow spectrum, i know when you start cannabis indoors for seed you definitely have to have the lights really close to the seedlings like right on top of them or they stretch tot he light get tall and stringy and dampen off ff at the stem ,i only ever tried with fluorescent tubes , never used any CFL's though

[@MrBilld75]

Andrea Mitchell Yes, you can get light burn from having them too close. The instructions for my 3 watt 120 bulb grow light (with different colors) said 12-36 inches and they are right. The reason is that those bulbs are magnified as well on a professional grow light. through a small lense, not just plain LED's. They are actually quite powerful and I grew good cannabis with them even at 12-18" from the tops. Any closer than 12" will give them light burn with my setup. LED's can grow as much if not more than any high heat, high powered HPS or Metal Halide light. I love them for that and their low wattage, low heat, good spectrum. Pricey to buy initially, but they pay for themselves in hydro savings and get way better results than fluorescent. While you are correct that seedlings and young plants need a lot of light, they actually need even more during flowering. You can get some half decent results with fluorescent but the bulbs have to be very close and lighting from the sides helps too because of their poor light penetration from the tops. That's where CFL flood lights come in handy.

[@Wilsonfam540]

Bill Does Stuff

[@dobishs]

Could it be because the aluminum top is more reflective?

[@spear4food636]

Hi, what did you use/app to monitor the colour of light please?

[@yakyuk337]

Hello, I have been using t5 and leds . My problem is hardening them off. I am at work when they need to be introduced to the outside light. Do the CFL lights reduce hardening off time or eliminate it any? Or is it about the same? I hear natural light bulbs can reduce it but have yet to find out for sure. Thanks!

[@AtypicalPaul]

Nice video :). Great info and cool set up

[@bonzologist8823]

The cfl lights...are thay a grow cfl or just ones you can buy at the supermarket.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

just regular CFL, of course now LED bulbs are much cheaper and the way to go

[@freygallery]

You might want to try replacing the cfl bulbs with led bulbs. Costco has some 5000K , 100watt replacemet bulbs pretty cheap.

[@zanax210]

I just use 2 cheap $15 led flood lights at 6500k. The plant growth in my aquariums is amazing. For the plants I plan to add, I'll need to purchase 3 cheap 10 watt 2700k led flood lights so they keep their red coloration. Maybe then my anubias will flower

[@dibyajyotipatro1573]

So do u recommend CFL over LED?

[@judahluciano4655]

what app are you using metering spectrum. Thanks.

[@oldshield]

Same thing i was going to ask

[@accordlxb0i]

I searched the comments, and SSL uses RGB Light Sensor beta (Android).

[@حسينحسين-ن4ل1ق]

Patrick ط قصف شكرن حبيبي هاذه.

[@stoshbeast1]

Judah Luciano it tops out at 30,000 lx

[@stonefinger4208]

Any thoughts on using an array color changing LED? Program with white to blue to red?

[@gregry111]

As I understand it, the good thing about leds is that they are very cool. You can put them right down to the plant and even put them so they touch the plant. By doing this, the plant receives much more light than it does now. Fluorescents are cool too but not as much as leds. They also use more current than leds per lumen. Why don't you try lowering your led bank so it is just barely above the plants?

[@rugger3buffalo]

I'd be interested to see a difference in blue vs red light growth study

[@SSLFamilyDad]

+rugger3buffalo that is a tricky test. Different plants respond differently but it also effects taste as well. I might do something extreme with these new led lights and grow in all red or all blue and see what happens

[@gareth8446]

The lux needs to be identical on all 3 systems to draw a valid conclusion.

[@thewizardoftech5075]

not lux, watts. for it to be a head to head. you need equal watts. plants dont grow by lux, that is a measurement for what the human eye sees. but if you make the same wattage, then you can see what gives the best par output for the given wattage.

[@ginsederp]

@@thewizardoftech5075 For the same actual wattage. If the cfl is adequate for the plants, the leds would outright burn them.

[@reeflab2221]

You guys are thinking PAR - watts are a horrible way to express light output

[@Stagmike]

Can I put led strip white to bonsai ficus plant?

[@RasMajnouni]

have a small grow space 1.5 square meters=16.15 square feet. 87,500 lumens using LED screw in bulbs white & yellow. 21 Autoflowering plants.Offhand, in general am i using too little or too much light from bulbs close to the plants but not too hot? Thank you.

[@markregan6133]

You could just remove some CFLs to do a power comparison. Would be a cheep way to test what is the most efficient at approximately the same power level.