July 30, 2022
If you’ve recently decided to try indoor growing, preparing for success is essential; after all, you want to produce the highest quality product possible. In order to achieve this, investing in the right tools and equipment is absolutely essential.
While you’ll need to put several supplies on your list of items you’ll need, lighting is arguably the most important. After all, every plant, no matter the variety, need light to grow. Typically, for plants grown outdoors, this light will come from the sun; however, if you are growing indoors, you will obviously not be able to get sunlight, which means you will need to invest in artificial grow lights.
While there are several different types of grow lights, today’s growers seem to prefer one type: LEDs.
You might be thinking, so what, LEDs yes, they’re everywhere now, what’s the big deal? Why are they good for plants? What Factors Should I Consider When Buying LED Grow Lights? To find the answers to these questions and more — and a comprehensive list of some of the best grow lights on the market right now — keep reading.
Now that you know why you need a grow light (or a few) to keep your plants healthy and growing, you’re probably wondering what the best grow lights are.
While some people used to use fluorescent tubing or incandescent bulbs, many don’t provide enough light to keep your plants healthy, and they use a lot of power.
LED grow lights are specially made for growing plants. So, they provide a light that is as close to natural as possible, so your plants stay healthy and can grow to their optimum size. They also require much less power than traditional lighting, so you will save on utility bills, and it’s better for the planet.
Finally, LED grow lights, and LED lights in general, are a sealed unit that has a very long lifespan. So, you can use the same lights for a relatively long time, without having to replace bulbs or worry that your lights will stop working when you need them most.
Grower’s Choice ROI-E680 LED Grow Light
Features:
The Grower’s Choice grow light produces a PPF output of 1700 umol/s and a PAR efficacy of 2.5 umol/J making this fixture incredibly efficient compared to other commercial fixures. Balanced Spectrum, incorporating Growers Choice famous 3K CMH Full Phase Spectrum for superior growing power with best possible LED diodes available. This fixture provides you with total control over everything. With onboard dimming function, growers cans et the ideal intensity at any stage of plant growth for optimal photosynthesis activation. The Growers Choice ROI E680 provides its users with an average 40% reduction on energy and HVAC costs. This is the ultimate combination of increasing the amount of light energy reaching your plants while also shrinking costs. The Growers Choice ROI-680 LED grow light allows for even light distribution, and is precisely designed to deliver uniform levels of photosynthesis flux density, or PPFD.
Photonican Aurora 2000 680W LED Grow Light
Features:
The Aurora 2000 is a full-spectrum output luminaire that provides consistent energy savings while also delivering an ultra-high red output. The Aurora 2000 is a full spectrum output luminaire that delivers consistent, energy-efficient results. At the same time, it provides ultra-high red output in spectral performance. A 30% increase in red results in better crop quality, higher yields and an increased cycle of the year. Equipped with 8 passively cooled 6063 aerospace-grade aluminium LED strips, the Aurora 2000 provides high-intensity light distribution and uniformity, remarkable PPFD readings compared to other similar luminaires. High PPFD is used in combination with CO2 to maximize plant potential.
Aside from the most common LED and fluorescent options, you may also encounter High-Intensity Discharge or HID grow lamps. These often tube-shaped lights include MH (Metal Halide) grow lamps and HPS (High Pressure Sodium) grow lamps, and they are some of the most powerful lights you’ll find on the market. MH lamps lean toward the blue light end of the spectrum, while HPS grow lights lean more toward yellow or red light.
These color temperatures aren’t unique to MH and HPS grow lamps, however; you can also find fluorescent and LED grow lamps that are exclusively blue light or red light. But the different colors aren’t for aesthetics. Here’s how the cool and warm color temperatures affect plant growth when used in grow lamps:
Blue light is the most efficiently absorbed spectrum and is therefore preferred for growing green, leafy crops and properly nurturing plants that are in their vegetative phase as it helps to establish structural growth and encourages peak chlorophyll absorption. The vegetative phase — or, the period between germination and flowering plant — is a busy time for plants as they carry out photosynthesis and gather all the resources they’ll need to sprout blooms and flowers and carry on the plant reproduction cycle. (You can think of it kind of like the plant world equivalent of “nesting” during human pregnancy.)
Red light, on the other hand, is typically the ideal choice for plants that are actively fruiting and flowering as it helps to regulate their growth and development. These grow lamps can increase the rate of photosynthesis and may even prolong flowering. Although red light is necessary for plant growth, you wouldn’t want to keep plants under red light 100 percent of the time as it would cause them to stretch and have a more elongated appearance.
Fortunately, there is a happy medium between the two. Some grow lamp manufacturers have created lamps with both blue light bulbs and red light bulbs — a combination that can successfully encourage flowering without going overboard.
You may also see references to “full spectrum” and “broad spectrum.” Full spectrum grow lights most closely imitate natural sunlight, including invisible wavelengths like infrared and ultraviolet rays. Alternatively, broad spectrum grow lights give off the same complete spectrum of light as the sun, except without the rays of UV light.
Utilizing artificial light for growing plants indoors can be beneficial any time of year, especially for plants that don’t have prime real estate near a sunny window. However, growing plants indoors can become infinitely more difficult in the winter when the days are shorter and the air may be a heck of a lot colder (so you may want to move your plants away from windowsills). Fortunately, a grow lamp provides an easy remedy.
LED grow lights are probably one of the most important items you absolutely must have when setting up an indoor growing system. After all, growing plants indoors means you need to mimic natural sunlight. Hope you can find the best led grow light after reading the article! Happy growing!
October 20, 2023