Mars Hydro Mars Reflector 144 LED Grow Light VS VIVOSUN 300W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum
Grow lights for indoor plants make it possible to sustain your family with healthy, organic, homegrown foods — whatever the weather — as synthetic rays reproduce the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is how plants use carbon dioxide and water to produce food and release oxygen.
Whether you use plant grow lights to start seeds indoors before transplanting mature plants outdoors or you want to create a dramatic indoor herb garden with floating shelves for year-round use, our guide helps you explore and understand your options.
What Is A Grow Light?
Grow lights imitate natural sunlight for indoor plants. This artificial light triggers photosynthesis, the biochemical process that makes it possible for plants to sprout, flower and fruit.
Indoor plants are happiest when they can bask in warm, bright, natural light, rain or shine. If you want to create an all-season indoor garden for your seedlings and stalks, get yourself some grow lights.
“Are they low-light foliage plants or are you trying to produce an edible harvest? Foliage plants that can tolerate lower light levels won’t need intense supplemental light, whereas young seedlings and fruiting plants (citrus, tomatoes, peppers, etc.) need more intense light than small grow lamps can provide.”
Here are the different types of grow lights:
Fluorescent or compact fluorescent lamp (CFL);
Light-emitting diode (LED);
High intensity discharge (HID);
Full-spectrum (closest to natural sunlight);
Broad-spectrum (mimics the sun but without the UV rays).
Provide life-giving illumination to your plants with our picks for the top grow lights.
How grow lights work.
Unlike the bulbs in chandeliers or sconces, grow lights emit a spectrum of light that’s similar to the sun’s. Grow lights let indoor growers of any scale bring the right spectrum of light to their plants.
“Technically, plants don’t need sunlight. They need the appropriate spectrum of light,” Plants are actually quite choosy in this regard. Their chloroplasts only conduct photosynthesis for a narrow bandwidth of light, which a grow lamp can deliver.
Grow lights also give off less heat than traditional light sources, making them less likely to scorch your plants.
You can use grow lights to start seeds indoors before spring, care for outdoor plants that have moved inside for the winter, or grow plants indoors all year long. They can also act as stand-in windows for those who live in darker homes and need some help keeping sunlight-loving houseplants alive.
Mars Hydro Mars Reflector 144 LED Grow Light
Features:
The Mars hydro grow light uses ten bands of light. It has an infrared inclusion as well. This rich spectrum provides well-balanced light for your plants. The panel emits lights that are similar to wavelengths of sunlight. This means that your plants is able to grow in a customized outdoor-like environment. It has a compact design that minimizes the amount of light that is wasted through dispersal. This is an especially important feature because it will help ensure your utility bills do not go over the top. Mars Hydro 144 has switchable modes that allow you to either turn half of the diodes on or all of the diodes on. When using this grow light, it is best to use half power for seedlings and full power during the bloom phase.
VIVOSUN 300W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum
Features:
VIVOSUN LED grow light delivers optimal light-spectrum coverage, more power for bloom, maximum PAR output at various distances, and super-bright lights that your plants will love. This grow light has an excellent Penetration in Tents & Grow Houses. Floods 2'x2' targets in intense light for monstrous vegetative growth at height of 24" and 1.5'x1.5' targets for incredible blooms at height of 18" that penetrate through your top canopy. With a built-in large 5" cooling fan, VIVOSUN’s professionally designed composite-metal grow light runs at the proper temperature and consume only 135 Watts to produce your best, most energy-efficient harvest ever. Exclusive VIVOSUN design and composite-metal robust casing dissipate more heat than conventional LED grow lights, through the top and all 4 sides of the unit, extending the light’s lifespan to an estimated 100,000 working hours.
What to Look for in a Grow Light
Size
When deciding what size grow light you need, think about how many plants you’ll need to cover. Also, if you’re planning to move your light from place to place, you might want something lighter and portable, whereas if you know it’s going to stay put, that might not be as much of a factor. Also, consider the space where you plan to put it and make sure there’s room for it to operate safely and not up against furniture, drapes, or other items.
Type
There are various types of grow lights to consider, from panels to ones that hang overhead or screw into a regular light fixture. The type of plants you have, the amount of existing natural light, and where your plants are located will help you narrow down your choices. Hanging lights are typically larger, while desktop lights are smaller and easy to move around. If you want a complete system, consider a full garden kit that includes the planter with a built-in light.
Wattage
Wattage isn’t as important as you might expect when it comes to grow lights, but it’s still a factor worth considering. The more important metric is actually PPFD, or photosynthetic photon flux density, which measures the specific light emission a lamp gives off.3 Because this is a bit complicated to figure out, wattage is a useful tool to determine the correct fixture for your plants. The rule of thumb is that you need 32 watts per square foot, so most indoor plants (especially herbs) will do just fine with a lower-watt light.
FAQ
How far should grow lights be from plants?
Though it depends on the wattage and light wavelengths, grow lights should be placed at least 2 feet away from your indoor plants to avoid overheating. That said, LEDs and fluorescent lights typically have lower heat outputs, so they can be placed a little closer.
How long should grow lights be on?
To effectively mimic the sun’s natural light, a grow light should be on for eight to 16 hours a day, depending on where you live, what time of year it is, and the type of plant. If your plants receive some natural light, they generally won’t need as much artificial light, whereas a plant that doesn’t get any natural light may need the full 16 hours.
Do you have to use LED lights?
LEDs are most often recommended for grow lights, though some fluorescent and incandescent bulbs can work. The most important thing is that the bulbs offer full-spectrum illumination and produce waves of red and blue light, which is often necessary for plants to thrive indoors.
