AlienBait Tries LEDs, Part 2

I wanted to add that my experiment has come crashing down in my other thread. Unfortunately, there was something wrong in the setup.

However, my next experiment is going to be with CFL's. I wanted to throw these images in as well to the mix.

CFL vs. HPS

CFL GE "DAYLIGHT" BULB

HPS


CFL GE "Warm White"


Theoretically, the CFL's are right around the best for flowering, and I have seen some pretty awesome grows with JUST CFL lights. This particular CFL has the aqua needed, as well as the 520nm - 660nm that is required according to AB's charts and graphs!!!

The issue with CFL's is penetration and lumens per watt, but this issue is simply solved by adding supplimental lighting below the canopy and not just at the top like a HPS.

Yes, I know..... It's been a while since the last update. So,I thought I had better finish this thread before the end of the year (a couple of hours to spare, LOL!).

As mentioned earlier, I had to finish the LED plant under the HPS because the LED lights kept exploding. It took another 3 weeks to finish off both plants.

I had a little mold problem on the HPS plant, even though there was a fan blowing right on it from about a foot away. It did not affect a large area so I just cut the bad stuff out. Mandala (the breeder) says you should check for mold and they are right. That was one thick cola. :hubba:

So, here are the final pictures:

1) The plants: HPS on the left and LED on the right. The leaves are yellow because I used nothing but water for the last week.

2) HPS Plant.

3) LED Plant.

4) The harvest: HPS on the right, LED on the left

5) All jarred up: After drying and curing, the HPS Yield was 49 grams (would have had more if I didn't have a mold problem), and the LED was 24 grams (almost exactly half).

6) Buds, HPS on the left, LED on the right. Notice how the LED bud is much frostier. At first I thought it was mold, but on closer inspection, it just has more trichs. THAT is an interesting outcome.... Something else that is interesting is that the LED buds have very little smell or taste. The HPS buds taste and smell like weed, but I can't really smell anything from the LED buds.

So, there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the show.

how bout a smoke comparison? hps to led, quality of high...taste...fruitynesslessness? quantity's good, but ya gotta go for taste. in your opinion, is the yield worth what the power usage was?

octobong007 said:

how bout a smoke comparison? hps to led, quality of high...taste...fruitynesslessness? quantity's good, but ya gotta go for taste. in your opinion, is the yield worth what the power usage was?

Click to expand...

Well, I already mentioned that the LED plant has no smell or taste that I can make out. Now, I do have a medical condition that keeps me from smelling/tasting things all that well, so you have to factor that in as well. However, my wife also says she can barely smell the LED plant.

The HPS plant has a clean, slightly "hashy" taste to it and the skunky smell is noticeably stronger...in other words, I can smell it (LOL) .

As to the quality of the high, I smoked them both for the first time last night, so I can't tell which plant has what affects. I will have to smoke one of them one day and the other the next day after cleansing my mental palate and make notes. I will have to wait a couple of days before I can do that.

in my experience, more trichs generally meant more resin which in turn would indicate more aromatic properties of the plant, if both HPS and LED plants were same genetically, the one with more trichs would smell/taste stronger right?

Very strange... i would assume that even with more trichs, the LED was not powerful enough to fully synthesize the THC levels inside the plant thus making it a less potent bud... however, I could be totally wrong. I'e don't even know what iM doing up at 3:!0 in the morning on news year day!

looks cool, but do let us know the potency!

md.apothecary said:

in my experience, more trichs generally meant more resin which in turn would indicate more aromatic properties of the plant, if both HPS and LED plants were same genetically, the one with more trichs would smell/taste stronger right?

Very strange... i would assume that even with more trichs, the LED was not powerful enough to fully synthesize the THC levels inside the plant thus making it a less potent bud... however, I could be totally wrong. I'e don't even know what iM doing up at 3:!0 in the morning on news year day!

looks cool, but do let us know the potency!

Click to expand...

I think your logic is flawed. This is not to say you are wrong, only the way to which you came to your conclusion about smell and the number of trichs. Smell of cannabis is actually very complex. There are species with less THC content that have an overwhelming smell and others with excessively high levels of THC with little or no smell. So if you had alot of THC you would have a lot of smell. What about the different smells. Certain smells are just more potent. There's the berries in the house smell and there's a dead skunk in this house somewhere smell.
What I think what is significant here is that smell could be wavelegth dependant. That's an important correlation.

umbra said:

I think your logic is flawed. This is not to say you are wrong, only the way to which you came to your conclusion about smell and the number of trichs. Smell of cannabis is actually very complex. There are species with less THC content that have an overwhelming smell and others with excessively high levels of THC with little or no smell. So if you had alot of THC you would have a lot of smell. What about the different smells. Certain smells are just more potent. There's the berries in the house smell and there's a dead skunk in this house somewhere smell.
What I think what is significant here is that smell could be wavelegth dependant. That's an important correlation.

Click to expand...

My correlation was based on the SAME genetics of plant, as I said, if the species of plant is the same, the genetics and characteristics should be as well. Your berries ... let's say strawberries, will taste and smell like strawberries each time you eat them. So will your dead skunk... my white rhino will taste and smell like my white rhino, but not my belladonna.

If the plants where of two totally different plants of course smells would be different and/or taste as well, therefore the whole experiment would be flawed because you wouldn't really be able to compare growing experiences with two totally different plants with different genetics.

EXAMPLE: If he took cuttings from the SAME mother, they SHOULD produce exactly the same results unless conditions were different, and hypothetically speaking, if he did this, lack of smell and taste would be a discrepency to be considered was the result of the growing conditions, and the increase in trichs would then be a byproduct of said conditions. This is where the research would be continued later to determine if trichs are created more so using LEDs than HPS.

Maybe.... just MAYBE... LEDs produce more trichs in the plant, which would ultimately be good for those hash makers

md.apothecary said:

EXAMPLE: If he took cuttings from the SAME mother, they SHOULD produce exactly the same results unless conditions were different, and hypothetically speaking, if he did this, lack of smell and taste would be a discrepency to be considered was the result of the growing conditions, and the increase in trichs would then be a byproduct of said conditions. This is where the research would be continued later to determine if trichs are created more so using LEDs than HPS.

Click to expand...

Just so you know, the two plants were in fact clones taken from the same mother at the same time. They were both vegged together under CFLs. The nutes and growing style were exactly the same as well. The only difference between the two is that one was flowered under LEDs for the first 6 weeks (until the lights started blowing up) and the other was flowered under the HPS. For the last 3 weeks, they were both under the HPS.

Now since they were both under the HPS for the last 3 weeks, it could be that aroma and trichome development is determined early in flowering.

This is a very interesting and unexpected result. I'll have to do some more playing around to see what happens.

Too bad my grow room is closed for the winter.

hey fam here some of what i found doing the reseach for leds if i find more i willlet yall know i don't want to hi jack ab thred so heres the link to
High Powered 24 LED Aquarium, Reptile & Dome & Utility Lights
http://autolumination.com/fixtures.htm
there are some pics of the led that is being wrote about

Plastic chrome with self adhesive backing and 30" wire leads wide angle 100 degree oval leds

Measures 3-1/2" diameter x 1-1/4" thick

Operates at 10-14.5 volts. Power supply not included.

Great for Aquariums, Reptiles, RV's, Trailers, Campers, Cars and Boats!!!

Completely Water-Proof. Comes with sticky back plus dual recessed screw mounts.
Uses only 120 milliamps & produces 480,000 mcd


hey fam i was reading up on leds because ab looked like he need some reseach done so here it is the link that will help you with the mesurement with leds
http://www.ngineering.com/LED_Calculators.htm
heres a better one
http://www.lite-knight.com/lumencalculator.htm
now i am not to good at math if some of the fam could take alook at these website and tell us in english what you came upwith it would help alot i did the r&sow somebody do the math. i hope this helps the fam

md.apothecary said:

My correlation was based on the SAME genetics of plant, as I said, if the species of plant is the same, the genetics and characteristics should be as well. Your berries ... let's say strawberries, will taste and smell like strawberries each time you eat them. So will your dead skunk... my white rhino will taste and smell like my white rhino, but not my belladonna.

If the plants where of two totally different plants of course smells would be different and/or taste as well, therefore the whole experiment would be flawed because you wouldn't really be able to compare growing experiences with two totally different plants with different genetics.

EXAMPLE: If he took cuttings from the SAME mother, they SHOULD produce exactly the same results unless conditions were different, and hypothetically speaking, if he did this, lack of smell and taste would be a discrepency to be considered was the result of the growing conditions, and the increase in trichs would then be a byproduct of said conditions. This is where the research would be continued later to determine if trichs are created more so using LEDs than HPS.

Maybe.... just MAYBE... LEDs produce more trichs in the plant, which would ultimately be good for those hash makers

Click to expand...

But...if LEDS produce more trichs then they would have more smell not less. AB may be onto something interesting here. Thanks for your insight, I understand your point of view.

hey ailen bait why u closein ur grow room for the winter is it out side our somethin???shure wont be the same guess ill have to wait for summer hu for ur next grow???

There are a couple of reasons I close down for the winter, the most important of which is that I will be traveling a lot for work and don't want to leave the plants unattended for weeks at a time.

Come springtime, however, I've got a few things planned. :hubba:

umbra said:

But...if LEDS produce more trichs then they would have more smell not less. AB may be onto something interesting here. Thanks for your insight, I understand your point of view.

Click to expand...

Right... this goes back to what I said the first time around. I said that more trichs generally means more resin and smell, but that LEDs may be producing trichs that are not fully maturable because the light might have something to do with the characteristic properties of the resin inside the plant? If the potency turns out to be weaker in the LED grow, then this would explain it, but if there is no smell/taste/more trichs and the potency is the same or stronger than the HPS plant, then there would be something very whacky going on with LED grows. It would be stealthy in more than one way...


Originally Posted by md.apothecary
in my experience, more trichs generally meant more resin which in turn would indicate more aromatic properties of the plant, if both HPS and LED plants were same genetically, the one with more trichs would smell/taste stronger right?

Very strange... i would assume that even with more trichs, the LED was not powerful enough to fully synthesize the THC levels inside the plant thus making it a less potent bud... however, I could be totally wrong. I'e don't even know what iM doing up at 3:!0 in the morning on news year day!

looks cool, but do let us know the potency!

AlienBait said:

Just so you know, the two plants were in fact clones taken from the same mother at the same time. They were both vegged together under CFLs. The nutes and growing style were exactly the same as well. The only difference between the two is that one was flowered under LEDs for the first 6 weeks (until the lights started blowing up) and the other was flowered under the HPS. For the last 3 weeks, they were both under the HPS.

Now since they were both under the HPS for the last 3 weeks, it could be that aroma and trichome development is determined early in flowering.

This is a very interesting and unexpected result. I'll have to do some more playing around to see what happens.

Too bad my grow room is closed for the winter.

Click to expand...

MD,

I find the info very interesting, esp since the last 3 weeks were done with HPS. AB might be right about the early flowering period. So it should be repeatable. At the moment I am not able to do the research, but maybe in the future I can try to do a little more on my end.

O.K., I've got an update for you guys.

With the LED weed, while it has more trichs, the stone is not as strong and does not last as long. It is more of a head high, whereas the HPS weed is more of a full body high. Neither one is couch-lock, but the HPS high is deffinately much better.

With the LED weed, it is like I chopped too early. Unfortunately, I did not look at the trich color before chopping.

This could mean a couple of things: It takes longer to finish when flowering with LEDs or like md.apothecary said, "the LED was not powerful enough to fully synthesize the THC levels inside the plant thus making it a less potent bud..."

Perhaps I need to add a UV light? I have a few UV LEDs. Guess that would have to be another experiment. Time to get soldering, LOL!

Hey AlienBait just wanted to say thanks for sharing this interesting grow with me it was fun to watch and learn from:hubba: i havent been around much lately do to personal issues but when i do come around i allways look forward to checking out your grow bro. Thanks again and great grow peace

Check these lamps out on ebay- look awesome, think I've changed my lighting ideas:
http://cgi.ebay.com/840-LED-GROW-SPOT-LIGHT-BULBS-RED-SPECTRUM-5-pk-L-E-D_W0QQitemZ180177545055QQihZ008QQcategoryZ42225QQcmdZViewItem

You should check out this seller, lots of LED's...love this set-up even more...

http://cgi.ebay.com/900-LED-Grow-Light-4-panels-RED-BUD-4-pk-HPS-MH-400-600_W0QQitemZ180177089117QQihZ008QQcategoryZ42225QQcmdZViewItem

Those look like good lights, hey you pretty much took my name! haha ^^