SpecGrade LED Linea Series 600 640W LED Grow Light VS BIOS ICARUS® Ti2 Grow Light
If you have plants that need a little more fun in the sun, but you’re lacking the sunny climate or the south-facing window of your dreams, you might be thinking about supplementing with grow lights.
More specifically, you’re probably wondering what kind of grow lights are the best for your indoor plants. And let’s be honest — that brings up a whole other host of questions.
While picking the right kind of grow lights for your plants might seem a little overwhelming at first, don’t panic. We’ve got the lowdown on all the basics you need to know to keep your plants happy, healthy, and photosynthesizing with the best of ‘em.
The Benefits of Choosing an LED Grow Light
There are many, many types of grow light fixtures to choose from, such as High-Intensity Discharge or HID grow lights, Metal Halide, ceramic metal halide (CMH), High-Pressure Sodium (HPS), and even fluorescent lights. Each of these have their own supporters, all laying claim to a particular strength or application, but LED grow lights have risen to the top of the heap in terms of all-around performance, efficiency, and yields.
Easy to Install
LED grow lights can typically be assembled in minutes and hung using very simple wire hangers — you don’t have spend valuable time or resources configuring and installing elaborate wire or cable management. These simple wire hanger systems also make it amazingly easy to change the light’s height or position. Essentially you just plug them in, set their position and go.
Produce Less Heat
LED grow lights produce significantly less heat than their HPS counterparts so they can be placed closer to plants without worrying about heat damage. This reduced heat production means fewer dollars spent on maintaining proper temperatures in your grow space.
Optimized Light Output
With many LED grow lights, you can adjust the amount and type of light your plants will get. You can customize the light spectrums based on the specific needs of your specific plants. Many LED grow lights can be configured to emit specific wavelengths of light allowing you to adjust the light’s color balance to precisely suit the needs of your specific plant types. This type of feature cannot be done with other lights.
Environmentally Friendly and Convenient
LED grow lights can be plugged directly into a standard electrical socket and typically don’t need a separate ballast. Not only is this more convenient, but it makes them easier to fit into tight spaces. Additionally, LED lights don’t contain mercury, so they don’t need to be disposed of in a way that meets your local or federal guidelines for disposal of hazardous materials. Along with being energy efficient, this makes LED grow lights the best environmental choice as well.
Saves Power
LED lights consume less electricity than other types of grow lights, so maintaining a low power bill becomes much easier. Although LEDs are more expensive upfront, they are cheaper to run over the long-term thanks to their low power consumption.
Long-Lasting
LED grow lights have a shockingly long life. Some models have a lifespan of more than 100,000 hours, meaning that if run for 12 hours a day, they would last for upwards of 20 years. Compared to other grow lights, lifespans of 25,000 hours or less are in optimal conditions.
SpecGrade LED Linea Series 600 640W LED Grow Light
Features:
SpecGrade Grow lights are designed for professional cultivators to provide exceptional photobiology and engineering. Whether your intention is to use this grow light as a supplemental light source or as a single light source, this grow light will provide your crops with unparalleled uniformity and virtually no shading. Proprietary bi-folded aluminum heatsinks are designed to ensure the LEDs operate at the lowest operating temperature, thus ensuring the longest lifespan. The fine-tuned A-1 “Whole Lifecycle Spectrum” has been proven in universities and in a variety of growing environments to improve trichomes and taste, while reducing operating costs and shortening growing cycles.
Features:
The BIOS LED grow lights offer maximum light output in a minimal footprint and durable form factor to boost crop production for greenhouse or indoor top light growing environments. The BIOS biology first approach allows for a scientifically engineered spectrum that maximizes photosynthesis and growth. The grow light also features a heat pipe design that pulls the heat away from the LEDs to keep the fixture cool leading to a longer life span. The grow light is spectrally optimized to improve overall plant health and increase yield while providing a high output, energy efficient solution for all your lighting.And optimized broad spectrum, dimmable light for all phases of plant growth and production.
Factors to Consider when Choosing a Grow Light
So you’ve determined that one or more of your plants needs some extra light. Great! Now it comes down to knowing which one is right for your situation.
To do so, you should consider the light’s color spectrum, its size, its heat output, and how long you’re going to keep it on at a time.
I know that’s a lot to keep in mind! Don’t worry, we’ve got it all broken down for you here.
1. Color spectrum
Light is light, right? Well, not quite.
As you probably remember from science class, white light is composed of all the visible spectrum colors. Plants do not absorb all of those light frequencies. Specifically, they do not absorb most of the green light; instead they reflect it, which is why they look green to our eyes.
The two-color frequencies that plants benefit the most from are red and blue. That’s why some grow light setups have an intense purple light, especially if the plants are being grown for commercial purposes.
Grow lights come in blue/red as well as full-spectrum white. There are pros and cons to both, and you will have to choose which is best for your situation.
Difference between Red & Blue vs Full spectrum growlights
Red & Blue Spectrum grow light will appear purple or pink in color. While Full Spectrum appears white in color.
Blue and Red
Blue light and red light are both good for your plant. Each of these colors provides a different benefit. Some plants may need a higher percentage of red light or vice versa.
So what do red and blue lights do for your plant?
Blue light is related directly to chlorophyll production. Plants that receive lots of blue light will have healthy leaves and stems. This prevents the plant from becoming etiolated and leggy. All plants will benefit from blue light.
Blue light also promotes darker, healthier color in plants’ leaves and stems. If low light causes faded leaves, a blue light would bring the color back!
Red light stimulates plant growth, and it benefits flower and fruit production. Its importance in building biomass means that red light is useful for younger plants in getting established. Using only red light will cause plants to grow vigorously, but they will be stretched out, long, and weak.
Red/blue grow lights come in different ratios; some will have more or less red light. Your choice will ultimately depend on how much you want your plant to grow and whether or not you want it to flower or produce fruit.
Full Spectrum
A full spectrum grow light may be a better option if you don’t like how the red and blue lights look. This grow light will appear white to the human eye, but don’t worry, as it still contains plenty of blue and red light to keep your plants happy.
Full-spectrum lights are great because they are stealthy! You can sometimes even put them in a regular lamp so that you and your plants both benefit from the light.
2. Lit Surface
How many plants are you trying to grow under a light?
Grow lights range in size from a single bulb to a meters-long fluorescent array hung from the ceiling — and everything in between!
If you only have one small plant, you will only need one small light, perhaps a fixture you can clip to the side of your desk or table.
However, if you have multiple plants or one that is quite large, you would need to consider a larger light or perhaps multiple smaller lights to work together.
3. Heating output
It is important to consider how much heat is going to be produced by the lights. Some bulbs may produce more heat than others.
Placing a cooler bulb (like you will find with LED lights) closer to your plant, able to provide more light without risking giving your plant a sunburn.
On the other hand, hotter bulbs can also pose a hazard; they can become hot to the touch when left on for too long. Also, the energy that the bulb transfers into heat ends up being wasted and just makes the light more expensive to run.
4. Time of use
When choosing a new grow light, you should think about how long you will need to run it every day. Some grow lights have a timer, a handy function to make sure they get turned off on time.
If your plants already get some sunlight from the window, you can cut back the time your grow light is on and use it as a supplement for when the sun isn’t shining.
So how much light do plants really need?
In general, plants need between 12 and 16 hours of light. However, just like different plants require either brighter or lower light, some plants need light for more or fewer hours each day.
Long-Day plants need a full 16 hours of light daily, while Short-Day plants may need as few as 10 hours. Lots of succulents, for example, are long-day plants. Long days with bright light allow these hardy plants to thrive and even flower. A popular short-day plant is the Christmas cactus, which only blooms when the days grow shorter in the winter.
Then some plants are day-neutral, which do not react to day length to determine when they bloom. They do well with 12 hours every day.
Ultimately, you will have to do some research to determine your plants’ day length preference, so you know how long to keep their lights on!
Conclusion
Grow lights can help you grow and maintain your indoor plants and vegetable garden through the seasons without a problem.
Using this comprehensive guide, you should be able to pick out the best grow lights for plants based on your needs and spatial requirements. Once you get it set up, you can easily keep your plants healthy and thriving all year round.
