March 05, 2022
When it comes to growing a productive indoor crop — the grow light of your choice will play a significant role. From lush, green foliar growth, rapid rooting, and a bountiful yield — grow lights play a key role during the entire indoor cultivation process.
The first rule of indoor plant cultivation is that not all lighting is created equal. This means that, in the world of plants, they do prefer a specific range of light.
This range is known as photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) and describes wavelengths of light between 400–700 nanometers. For humans, the majority of light looks the same; however, plants experience PAR lighting in a very different way.
When exposed to usable light, such as the light in between 400–700nm, plants undergo photosynthesis, phototropism, and photoperiodism. These three functions are the reason why plants can grow leaves, turn towards the light, and eventually flower.
Therefore, when choosing the right grow light for your indoor grow — you’ll need to find a grow light with an optimized PAR range that caters to your plant’s needs. Let’s take a look at the two dominant color spectrums of light that are commonly used for growing plants indoors.
The White and Blue Spectrum of Light
As the spring comes to a close and summer begins, the sun reaches its apex in the sky. Not only are summer days long, but the light produced by the sun is also incredibly bright. When measured, this light falls under the white and blue spectrum of the PAR range.
Research shows that the bright light associated with the 400–470nm range (bluish-white) promotes strong vegetative growth and increased rooting. It’s for this reason that many indoor cultivators choose to use grow lights that produce light within the 400–470nm range while vegetating their indoor crop.
The Red and Orange Spectrum of Light
As the summer months wane and autumn sets in, the sun no longer reaches its apex in the sky. Instead, the sun begins to skirt across the horizon as the days become shorter — and colder.
The light that’s associated with the angle of the sun during this transition to shorter days is 620–700nm (orange-red). Research indicates that the red-orange color spectrum is a prime influencer for plants to begin the flowering process.
In regards to indoor plants, cultivators use this natural mechanism to their advantage. By harnessing photoperiodism, indoor growers use grow lights that produce light in the 620–700nm range to promote robust flowering.
ECO Farm G3 MARS 800W Samsung LM301B LED Grow Light
Features:
The ECO Farm LED grow light uses 2304 Samsung LM301B full spectrum lamp beads, 112 OSRAM 660nm and 32 730nm lamp beads, achieving the efficiency of 2.8 μmol/J. It is suitable for all stages of plant growth. It can speed up the flowering time and shorten the growth cycle. Growing area up to 5x5 feet. It has the best efficiency on the market. Increases plant yield by 50%. Removable light bars can be used to freely adjust the light density at different points within the effective coverage area, maximizing light utilization and creating an even crop. At the same time, it is easy to install, store and replace. Large aluminium cooling areas and passive cooling strips release less heat for better thermal management. IP65 waterproofing means you don’t have to worry about using the light in a damp room. In addition, it provides sufficient coverage for vegetation up to — 7x7 and flowering up to — 5x5, which further enables seeds to germinate quickly and transform plants in artificial sunlight.
MARS HYDRO FC-E8000 800W Commercial LED Grow Light
Features:
The Mars Hydro LED grow light is an affordable alternative lighting solution for commercial cultivation in supplemental CO2 applications, delivering a uniform PPFD of approximately 1500μmol/m²/s at 10" height. It is a standard commercially viable LED grow light for all indoor gardening looking to add extra CO2. The FC-E 8000 features 3,928 BridgeLux chips and a special chip arrangement for a more even distribution and an efficiency of 2.8 µmol/j that can take care of each plant and grow for optimum results. In a special combined spectrum, the FC-E 8000 is a full spectrum LED grow light that benefits the entire plant growth cycle, adding more red light to aid in flowering. Brightness can be adjusted from 0–100% to cope with different plant growth stages, dimming is more convenient and saves electricity bills. One master light can daisy-chain up to 30 lights.
Grow Light Science PROGROW 850 850W LED Grow Light
Features:
PROGROW 850 is a full-cycle overhead lighting solution for commercial or residential plants cultivation. The 850’s form factor allows for expandability and multiple grow room and grow tent configurations where photosynthesis and yield maximization are the goals. PROGROW 850 provides high PPFD levels and can be used with CO2 supplements. PROGROW 850 will also provide PPFD levels of over 1,400 umols/m2/s, either individually or in arrays of multiple cells. These top light output (PPF), spectral distribution and efficacy will deliver amazing results with a modest impact on your wallet.
Why did I decide to talk about these LED grow light strips? Of course, there are many other great LED strip lights out there, but I wanted to share with you those that I’ve tried, so you know they’ve been tested.
If you prefer experimenting and trying some other brands, or if you’re unsure which of these eight models to choose, here’s an ultimate list of what to look for in a good strip grow light.
Have in mind the requirements of your plants and the space you have and choose wisely according to that.
Look for flexible ones
When wanting to purchase a strip grow light, you should look at those that can be easily placed to cover all your plants and provide an adequate amount of light from every angle, right?
That’s why the plant light you choose should be as flexible as possible so you can use it easily, even if you decide to change the place of your plants. Choose either those with the expandable design or LED strips that have gooseneck since those will be the easiest to adjust.
Installation
As you probably noticed in previous reviews, the majority of these models provide you with all the required parts for the installation.
This is very helpful since you’ll be able to install and use the strip grow lights as soon as they arrive. What’s also interesting to notice is that the smartest option when picking your grow lights is to buy those that can be installed in more than just one way.
Why is that important? Because in that way, you’ll be able to place the lights on various surfaces and change the place of installation multiple times if necessary.
No matter on which surface you need to install the lights, you’ll do it in quickly and effortlessly if you buy LED strips that come with double-sided adhesive tape, zip ties, and mounting screws, maybe even magnets — everything you need for an effortless installation.
Pick the right dimming levels
This is an important aspect for both regular and strip grow lights. The most desirable model will be the one that enables you to choose the brightness intensity and adjust it to your plants’ requirements during plant growth.
Many models offer five dimming modes that will make a perfect purchase for various kinds of plants as well as stages of germination. You’ll get to use the strip lights on multiple occasions and not solely for one plant.
Weight & support
Since full spectrum grow light strips are meant to be practical and useful, they should be light in order to be properly installed. You surely don’t want the danger of having the lights drop on your plants — choose the model that’s lightweight and be worry-free.
Timer is a great feature
If you’re away from home often, you’ll appreciate the practicality of having a full spectrum LED strip grow light that has the timer function included.
That will give you peace of mind when you’re not home because you’ll know that the timer will switch the grow light on and off automatically, depending on how you pre-set it.
Consider color spectrum
It’s always the best decision to choose strip grow lights that produce both blue and red light for your plants’ germination. Do your research and choose the best combo of red and blue light according to your plants’ requirements.
If you have more plants that demand different blue-red light ratio, buy full spectrum plant light that enables you to turn both colors on and off individually and create the combo you need. This way, you can provide both blue and red light.
LED Grow lights have come a long way in the last 5 years and there are some great new designs and changes that make these lights even more attractive to home gardeners. In this review, I believe that you have a look at some very important innovations and price changes of LED grow lights that make LED grow lights an even better choice. I wish this article will help you. Happy growing!