October 11, 2021
LEDs have overtaken HPS and other HIDs as the best cannabis grow light for nearly all home growers. Although there are some situations where LECs or HPS are a great choice (for example in a cold space where the heat of the lights is a positive thing, or if you’re making concentrates and want to use special bulbs to increase trichome production and terpene levels/smells), generally most home growers will be happiest with LEDs.
LEDs grow magnificent cannabis plants indoors without much heat or electricity. Today you’ll learn about some of the best LED grow lights for cannabis plants.
To understand full-spectrum lighting, you first need to know how light works. Light exists on a wave spectrum. Depending on the length of those waves, we get different colours. That’s how rainbows are formed when rain and the sun split the light into its full visible light spectrum.
However, there are other parts of the spectrum we can’t see, infrared and ultraviolet light. Some LED lights exist on a small piece of this spectrum. These LED’s are known as narrow spectrum LED’s and can only display blue or red lights.
Grow lights LED for plants should come as close to the sun’s light as possible. The narrow-spectrum LEDs don’t even come close to that. Instead, use a full spectrum LED, which displays white light and reaches all ends of the light spectrum. They are the best grow lights for plants.
Growers are adopting these lights because they’re easier on the eyes in an enclosed operation. Also, they display a broader range of lights shades on your crop throughout the entire growing process.
Research shows these different ranges of light can be more beneficial than we initially thought. Green, for example, has recently been found to play an important role in photosynthesis. The energy in the far red region has been linked to the growth of stems and leaves. It’s better to give your plants this full range because they might miss out on something they would have received from the sun.
All users with the right LED grow lights can start growing a plant or flower from seed. For this, it is necessary to consider that the grow light should have a broad spectrum in its operation.
This means that this tool should consider the growth stage from the seeds of any plant or flower. Even many people can combine an LED grow light with a certain growing procedure such as hydroponics.
Anyway, the most important thing is the features that each LED grow light can offer. In the best cases, the same LED grows light can fully cover all stages of flowers and plants.
Features:
The Gavita LED grow light is the solution for indoor growing environments where ceiling height and distance from canopy are paramount. Featuring the same performance and 8-bar configuration of the bestselling Pro 1700e LED, the 900e is a great fit for use in vertical racks, low rooms, over benches, or even in tents. Push plants to their full potential with a fixture tailored to how you grow. At 900 µmol/s, this LED by the leaders in horticultural lighting delivers impressive amounts of crop-loving light without overpowering plants in your setup. And because it operates at 345 W with 2.6 µmol/j — half the power of the best-performing fixture — you get less ambient heat that has the potential to damage your crops at close proximity, and incredible energy efficiency. Great for your plants.
Fohse ARIES 640W (100–277V) LED Grow Light
Features:
The Fohse LED grow light now offers a powerful and efficient solution to all those who grow on their own. The A3i, the most powerful and efficient commercial LED grow light the world has ever seen, has been re-imagined for the home grow as The Aries. LEDs tend to operate more efficiently when operating below maximum output. The lowest PPE figure is representative of running the Aries at full power in the ‘Spring’ spectrum, while the highest figure is representative of running the Aries at 50% output in the ‘Autumn’ spectrum. The secret of the Aries’ success starts with abundant PAR focused onto your canopy by polycarbonate focal lenses. Next, the Aries LED grow light deploys an advantage you won’t find anywhere else — swiveling light bars to achieve maximum canopy penetration by cross illumination to neighboring grow plots.
As the name suggests, LED grow lights utilizes modern LED chips in a fashion that introduces suitable growing light for plants. The quality obtained from different LED grow lights are different and that in turn affects the growth and sustainability of the plant.
These options are shortlisted from hundreds of different choices based on various crucial factors such as light intensity, panel size and overall quality of the LED grow light. Although, you should still consider the following mentioned properties briefly to understand their virtue regarding different types of applications. After going through our buying guide for the best LED grow light, we can assure you that you will be able to pick up the best option for yourself.
The Intensity of LED Lights
As we mentioned earlier, the intensity of light produced by the LED lights is one of the most crucial factors and directly affects the quality of plants growing in the light. As different types of plants have varying photon requirements, you need to select the correct intensity of light over the plants. For best results, you should choose a high capacity LED grow light that can be dimmed as per requirement.
LED Light Spectrum
The spectrum of LED lights refers to the different wavelengths of light produced by the LED. Different spectrums of light must be fed to the plants in different growing stages. In case you want to use the same LED grow light for different types of growth stages, you should go with a full-spectrum option. Otherwise, you can select between single spectrum panels suitable for the single application.
Coverage Area
The coverage area of LED panels represents the area that can be illuminated by the panel at once. To put in simpler words, the area of the plantation unit must be equal to or smaller than the coverage area of the LED grow light for optimum results. If a part of your plantation platform is outside the illuminated area, it will cause non-uniform growth of the plant that will also affect the whole plant. You can also install certain lenses to increase or decrease the coverage area of your LED grow light.
Warranty
Lastly, we will recommend you to take a closer look at the warranty period allotted by the brand for the given LED grow lights. The LED lights can fail at any time on the panel and you cannot simply replace a single LED from the section. As buying a heavy-duty LED grow light is quite expensive, you should always opt-in for a longer warranty period. Thus, you will get full assurance from the manufacturer about the durability of the panel as well as LED lights.
If you want to grow plants indoors, then full spectrum LEDs are your best option. They are the lights on the market that mimic the sun’s energy most effectively. Employing them in your grow room will lead to greater yields and healthier plants.
October 20, 2023