Household LED lights

[lmyers]

I have been using CFLs and LED grow lights but am wondering if anyone has experience with the new, around household LEDs that look like incandescent bulbs. Would appreciate any input or advice.
Thanks in advance.

[Guest]

Hi bud, im not too experienced & have not tried using household LED lights. However I personally cannot see why they wouldnt work similarly if not better than basic CFL bulbs.
I use a Galaxyhydro 300W LED grow light. It consists of 100, 3Watt LED 'bulbs'. Each LED in the fitting contains different light sources e.g; one ultraviolet, one infrared, 49x 5000/6000K (blue light), 49x 2700k (red light).
Rather than the household LED which can consist of just one LED 'bulb'.
The various lenses of the LED's also have a different purpose. Some have a more direct spotlight to penetrate while some have more of a 'spread'. I assume having the broad variation would benefit growth. Again the purpose of the household LED having a lense to benefit lighting an area rather than stimulating growth.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Cfls are a lot better than household leds.

[Zativa]

Disappointed, you just mentioned the specific reason home lighting bulbs won't come close to something designed specifically for growing. Human eyes aren't very good at figuring out the exact mix of colors in light, but plants require specific wavelengths to power their chemical processes. The lenses do a lot to provide even coverage with downward-focused light for plants, but it's the wavelengths that matter most.

If what i mentioned was irrelevant, leave it at that? Also the wavelength is directly determined by the colour of the light.

[Sammy]

bulbs were $9 a piece fixture was free about as household as it comes plants love them cheap cheap cheap. 22 Watts x 4

[Zativa]

Clearly you have some happy plants there. Whatever works, that's the bottom line. They will start making buds when you shorten their days. Right now I'm fighting a related issue -- none of the trichomes on mine are turning dark, even when the plants are nearly dead from old age. Most likely it's because my 'full spectrum' grow lights don't have the specific color balance they want for fully ripening.

[Sammy]

Did some White Widow Auto flowers from seed to harvest under these lights some of the prettiest plants I ever grew. 3000 k @ 22w ea

[Zativa]

Sounds like it works, so you're golden. My problem is subtle, but it cost me a lot of product quality recently because I kept waiting for the trichomes to darken. They never did, so I let the plants go too long. The good news is it's strictly for personal use, and I'm not overly fussy.

[oldjarhead100]

Hey Zativa what was the strain, I have a buddy that grew (I think ) Pineapple chunk and he said it never had trichom es that turned thought it was no good until he smoked it. I didn't actually see it but I did smoke it and it was fantastic

[Zativa]

Don't think it is an issue with the plant varieties. I have five different strains going and all of them are showing the same result which is why I suspect my new set of LEDs. Looked at them this morning and ten weeks into flower mode still almost zero dark trichomes. As far as what has impressed me, #1 this time is a strain called 'pipe dream'. 4-5 foot tall sativa-hybrid plants with dense buds all over and an amazingly clear high. From '303 Seeds' (never heard of them before) in Boulder, it's a Blue Dream x Bio Diesel cross. The grow lights in question are 'Roleadro' (a Galaxy Hydro brand) and did one helluva job in growth phase. Think I just need to learn some other way to tell when it's time to harvest.