Best 660W LED Grow Lights For Your Plants

Growers have relied on artificial light sources for indoor farming for decades. Whether you are using soil, aquaponic, or hydroponic system, these light sources all have different levels of effectiveness. Fluorescent, Pressure Sodium, HID, and LEDs are all made to mimic the sun’s rays indoors. In this article, we focus on LED Grow Lights and how to choose the best LED grow light.

How Much Light Do You Need to Raise Plants Indoors?

Some plants require lots of light, others tolerate shade. The first thing you’ll need to do is get acquainted with what your vegetables and herbs need to flourish inside.

General rules of thumb for raising vegetables indoors:

Root vegetables like carrots and onions need at least six hours of sun or light
Leafy vegetables like lettuce need at least four hours of light
Vegetables like tomatoes and peppers (fruiting plants) need the most, at least 8 hours
Less light is good for germination and sprouting, but fruiting and blooming requires more light
That gives you an idea of how much time you’ll need to run the lamp to supplement winter sunlight, but how big or powerful of a lamp will you need for all your plants?

Choosing the right size light for the best coverage and a healthy garden
Lumen ratings measure brightness for human eyes, so they aren’t very helpful for selecting grow lights. Wattage is a measurement of power, but this isn’t helpful either, except for judging how much electricity the light will use. Instead, look at specifications on PAR and the manufacturer’s guidelines on square foot coverage.

PAR
PAR means photosynthetically active radiation. It’s a measurement of the light’s intensity and what colors it emits. PAR measures light emitted in the 400nm to 700nm spectrum, or from blue light into infrared. The higher the PAR number, the more useful the light is for growing plants.

Coverage
Most manufacturers will state information like the area their light covers at certain heights above the canopy of the plant. For example, one might say their lamp illuminates 4 feet by 4 feet at a height of 18 inches. When you’re germinating seeds, you may hang a bright light up higher than this, and therefore you’ll have a larger coverage area.

But when you’re trying to get tomatoes as big and juicy as possible, you’ll want to lower the light closer, which will shrink the area it covers.

Other factors to note
One LED panel may not be large enough to cover all the plants you want to grow. You might need two or more. Look at whether the manufacturer allows daisy-chaining or has another method so you can link the lights together and run them off the same timer.

Take into account the shape of the panel or light, whether it casts a circle, square, or rectangular of illumination. Remember that the light will need to be powerful enough to penetrate foliage in a few weeks. It’s better to buy a more powerful light than you think you’ll need.

Now let’s review the best LED grow lights for growing plants at your homestead.

ECO Farm ECOM Bluspec 650W LED Grow Light with Samsung LM301B and Cree Chip

Features:

The ECO Farm grow light is equipped with the highest quality and high-efficiency Samsung, Osram, CREE LED, and 8 high-efficiency aluminum rods to ensure high-efficiency PPE 2.7umol/J, better heat dissipation, and long service life. 8 LED growth The lights, each rod is covered with high-grade glue, waterproof and easy to clean, not easy to be filled with dust. The nano-material primary coating ensures durability and cleanability while maximizing efficiency. At the same time, it also has an ideal full-spectrum and amazing heat dissipation, close to natural sunlight. The spectrum applies to the entire stage of indoor planting. Efficiency and spectral stability are of paramount importance. The largest heat sink in the LED grow light can provide excellent cooling and extend the life of the LED. The super-efficient LED has a rated life of more than 70,000 hours

FLORAFLEX® LED GROW LIGHT- 650–8 BAR LED Grow Light for Your Indoor Plants

Features:

FloraFlex’s new grow light is a high-performance and cost-effective lighting solution for indoor cultivation. Featuring a balanced spectrum, incorporating a 3K CMH Full Phase Spectrum for superior growing power. With onboard dimming function, our growers can set the ideal strength for any stage of plant growth, giving total control. Full cycle LED grow light designed to target only the parts of the spectrum your plants need to thrive through both vegetative and flowering cycles. At 660 TRUE LED watts, the grow light is the equivalent to approximately 1100 HPS or metal halide watts, meaning, it runs on nearly half the wattage of traditional grow lights.

Optic LED Slim 650S Dimmable LED Grow Light 650w (120 Degree) 3500K (UV/IR) LH351H

Features:

The Optic Slim 650S is the first-ever bar light fixture to deliver 3 way spectrum control. It has independent dimmers for red, blue, and white LEDs. The Slim 650S is engineered to give you performance far beyond what any other LED grow light company has on the market today. It features the new Samsung LH351H deep red LEDs rated at 3.1 umols/J and the Samsung white LM301H LEDs which are above 3.0 umols/J. Royal blue, IR and UV round out the spectrum. Each Samsung and CREE diode has a 120 degree lens for protection and to focus the beam for better efficiency. The Slim 650S is one of the most advanced LED Grow Light ever manufactured. Slim 650S when combined with our touch screen master controller gives growers the power to recreate mother nature with precision accuracy.

Are LED Grow Lights Any Good?

Judging LED grow lights are good or bad depends on whether they can bring us help or benefit. The normal growth of plants needs sunlight and LED grow lights are artificial light sources that simulate the sun’s rays, so it is beneficial to plant growth. In the direction of agricultural development, LED grow lights are good. Using LED grow lights can increase the yield of crops, greatly shorten the growth cycle of crops, and increase farmers’ income. Using LED grow lights under greenhouse cultivation, crops can be planted all year round, but the planting time under the sun is reduced by half. In the rainy season, many crops will die because of not seeing the sun for a long time, and the crops have no harvest nothing. Planting plants under LED grow lights, it will not lose harvest because of the rainy season. Therefore, we can draw a conclusion: LED grow lights are beneficial to plant growth and provide technical support for increasing food production. It will definitely be a starting point for the development of modern agriculture.

Things To Consider

When looking for a set of LED lights, it is best to get a set that is quality and will suit your needs.

If you choose a set based solely on a lesser cost, you may end up with a product that costs you more in the long run.

Time and effort and your original plants could be ruined if you don’t have the right lights.

It pays to research the types of lights available and what you need regarding your growing. Set your goals and educate yourself on what you need to get there.

It is seldom a good idea to skimp on costs thinking that you will upgrade at a later date when you can afford it.

If you don’t set up your process correctly from the beginning, you may not have a later date to count on.

When looking for LED lights, consider the following important information:

Quality

You want your grow lights to be durable. It can be extremely frustrating to have to replace lights a short time after purchase, or in the middle of a grow cycle.

A quality LED light should last about ten years. We may be biased, but we believe that a product manufactured in the United States according to high industry standards, is the place to start looking.

Brand Name

When you start looking, you will find numerous brands and manufacturers on the market today.

If you are looking at different lights that are comparable, check out the brand.

As with most other items, go with a brand that has a good reputation. If you have any difficulties, you want a company that will stand behind its product and provides excellent customer service.

Energy Efficient

You will be expecting a lot from your grow lights. They will need to be functioning for at least ten to eleven hours each day.

That is a big draw on the amount of energy you will be using. You want a product that will be easy on your electricity bill.

Check how many units the light is in total output. Anything less than 300W will cost you.

Choose something that is on the higher end of 600W to 800W or more. The higher output will compensate for any wattage loss.

Heat

Because the lights are in constant proximity to your plants, you want to make sure that the lights will not be damaging the plants by the heat that they emit.

Another thing to consider is that lights that have a higher heat output will also burn out faster.

Semiconductor Chip

An LED’s light core converts electricity to light and determines the wavelength of that light.

The chip needs to have at least 3W to be able to provide sufficient illumination.

Plants

What will you be growing? Certain LED lights are made to supply the needs of specific plants. It is not always a one-size-fits-all with LED lights.

Depending on the plant, it will need different wavelengths during each growth stage. Tomatoes will require a different type of light than flowers.

It is also essential to consider if you are doing just vegetative cycles or if you are doing flowering and growing processes too.

Space

This is a significant factor. What is the size of the area you will be growing in? As a general rule, you will need 32 watts of actual power per square foot.

Again, it depends on the plants that you are growing. Some plants take less light (like lettuce), and others take more (like tomatoes).

You will need to determine the amount of light your crops will need.

Easy to Use

There may be times when you need to adjust the position of your LED lights. If you get a quality light, it will also be able to be adjusted with ease.

Look for lights that have both wavelength and light intensity adjustments. Ease of maintenance is another important factor.

Full Spectrum

An LED is not just an LED when you want the light to simulate the photosynthesis process. The process requires different wavelengths, as we mentioned earlier.

You will want an LED that can deliver the full spectrum needed throughout every stage of the growth process.

Some plants need light in the red and blue range along with the light being infrared and ultraviolet. A quality LED grow light will be able to provide these variations.

Warranty

Last but not least, you are going to want a light that has a good warranty. Whatever light you choose should have a decent warranty and even free return shipping.

Conclusion

There are a variety of things to think about when looking at what LED grow light you should purchase. Use the above factors as a guideline when considering what you need.

If you purchase a quality product, it will cost you upfront, but inferior products always end up costing you more in the long run.

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