lumens or watts??

[MagicGnome]

so im a beginner and im in the process of setting up a grow..i have a 2x2 space 8ft high.. i recently viewed a video on youtube from The Ghetto Grow SHow and he made a grow light but instead of using CFLs he used LED bulbs..Great idea he was using 60watt equivalent LED bulbs and managed 45 grams dry..so here is my question (drumm roll pls).. I would like to do the same and everywhere that i read says 10,000 lumens at least to grow plants right so instead of 60watt equivalents at 800 lumens (10 bulbs=8000 lumens) if i go with 100watt equivalents at 1500 lumens (10 bulbs=15,000 lumens) would i get more yield ? Is this the way i should be thinking about it?? I really dont wanna spend the money on a proper HPS setup until I have a couple of harvest under my belt.. is my logic correct or is it all relative...

[ellz]

Hello MagicGnome and welcome! Wattage is a measurement of how much power is being used, not necessarily the light output. Most of the time, as wattage increase, so does lumens but not always so be sure to check the lumen output on the bulbs you are looking into for further clarification. A lumen is a measurement of total light output from a light source radiated out in a circle. The higher the amount of lumens, the more light output. The more light your plants receieve (up to a certain point that is) will mean the bigger the yield will be at the end. That being said, the ideal growing range for cannabis is measured in lux. Lux is the amount of light being received at a given point (typically measured around your plant for best results). Here is a complete tutorial on measuring lux for better yields: http://www.growweedeasy.com/lux-meter
Hope that helps to get your started. There are also some great tutorials on CFL grows on GWE as well. Best of luck and happy growing!

[DrPhoton]

Lux is a decent method for using as a reference within the same light technologies such as MH and HPS. With LEDS however there are variable spectrum balances. This makes lux useless. Realistically to reliably know the benefit of a certain light or technology is with Quantum meters. Though this is expensive.

[ellz]

Good to know Danofdanger. Thanks for clarifying that.

[MagicGnome]

thanks for the quick response.. i have read some on the CFL grows which is the model im using but instead of common CFL bulds im gonna try common LED bulbs instead..ill post more as I progress with this grow..

[Guest]

Ellz is spot on. Also, im sure LED bulbs will work the same as CFL if not, better.

[ellz]

LEDs grow plants much differently than traditional grow lights. I would highly recommend reading this article for more information on what to do and, more importantly, what NOT to do so you don't run into problems. I for one have never grown under LEDs so I can't give too much guidance on them other than the basics but I know there are a number of growers on here that do grow using LED so you are definitely in the right place if you run into issues!

http://www.growweedeasy.com/led-grow-lights#how-to-use-leds

[Aloner]

One important thing to note: people on here are using LED grow light fixtures, not the screw-in bulbs you would use in a regular lamp, which is what I think you're talking about. I know you can grow with regular consumer CFLs but I'm not sure if the LED bulbs emit the full spectrum of light that plants need. They very well might -- I'm just saying check it out before you sink a bunch of cash.

[ellz]

Very good point Aloner, thank you!

[POKEDSMOT]

Watts are Watts . All about the K's.Spectrum is where it's at. For the 💰 CFLs are better than off the shelf LEDs unless you use COB style floods and even then most of the lenses are 90* for growth the LED lenses should be no less than 130*.

[abadtrip]

I had a huge issue with what light do I get back before I found the awsome world of gwe to guide me I just bought a cheep 200 dollar 315 cmh I am glad i did it seems to be working amazing. So I am wondering why would u bother with cfl I feel like after u buy bulbs and fixtures and wire it all it's gonna get the price up there. But what do I know i am just a stoner. How much does it cost to get a grow going with cfls

[WeirdWiredWolf]

Right now I'm just using a single screw-in 9W LED grow bulb...I know I'm gonna hafta upgrade really soon but for now it seems to be doing the job.

[abadtrip]

Really I am not trying to knock any body I am just not very experienced 9 w u can grow with 9 w wow how long have u been growing your plant what state is it in i was worries that the 15 watt t5 I got for seedlings was not going to be enough

[GanjaGed]

Yea the "normal" white LED bulbs work. I was using a Bulb splitter with a round worklight and reflector running 1 warm and soft.

abadtrip "momma" in my current grow spent all of her time before flower under a set of those bulbs, lol. Actually every plant in that grow was cloned and veg'ed a set up like that with 2 30gal Sterlite tubs stacked on top of each other. In that I had a make-up fixture with 3 sockets running 2 cfl's and 1 led.

[GanjaGed]

Having said that, possible is not the same as good lol

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hello Gnome I saw where you take the white plastic covering on those cheap white leds off and they work good ,I don't know but I do know alot of folks use cfls on here with awesome results and I can name a few, Great way to start is with cfls you get to know your plants and how they grow. I like outside grows. But I do own a cheap led light that I used on my last grow and got great results .

[MagicGnome]

Exactly what he did hey I'm not trying to get pounds and he was using 7 9 watt store bought led bulbs (800 lumens so 5600 lumens total) 2700k from homedepot he managed 45 grams so that's like .75 per watt. Seems pretty acceptable...

[Daskahn]

If you can get your hands on a led 600-1000w relatively cheap considering..I've found some for less then 100$ on amazon they would work wonders.. keep heat down lower cost overall last much longer.. only thing though is they are much more powerful and can burn plants if not at proper distance.. can't judge by heat so much harder to tell where they should be

[DrPhoton]

There are many good light technologies out there, however the current metric systems is revolved around photometrics which is for the human eye response. As of today, the current photometric systems is quite useless as there are many more light technologies used today and trying to compare quantities such as lumens or lux is going to be severely unreliable.
LEDs are designed for high lumen output, but because they can be designed at a very narrow spectrum they can tap into the human eyes highest sensitivity point. Allowing for a very efficient light. For growing however, even though the bulb may represent a lumen output multiple times that of tradition light technologies, it can very likely be worse than CFLs. This is because the human eyes peak sensitivity is at a plants lowest sensitivity.

For more have a read at light metric systems in my signature.

[Burny]

A cheap led grow light would probably not cost much more (if any) than the parts and pieces you would need to build one like you are talking about. Plus it would work better and be safer.

[MagicGnome]

I just want to take the time out to thank everyone and WOW I didn't expect such an interesting discussion from my question now all this has me motivated even more to try even though it's my first grow..