June 28, 2021
If you want your indoor plants to grow well, be healthy and lush even when grown indoors, you need to mimic the natural conditions as faithfully as possible. That’s why you need to make sure to water them regularly and adjust the pH level according to the plants’ needs.
Other than specific soil and water requirements, having high-quality grow lights is also super important. Sunlight is crucial for plants because it’s necessary for photosynthesis. On average, plants, need around 12 hours of light every day, and sometimes that’s not possible, especially if you live in an area that doesn’t get a lot of sunlight.
That’s why you should invest in indoor plant grow lights, and you need to know which ones are the best ones for your indoor plants in order to make the right choice. Also, you need to learn what type of light is best for growing plants indoors.
Light Spectrum
First, you must understand the light spectrum, or color wavelengths. It is the range of light colors we see or didn’t see. Visible light that our eyes can see is between 380–740 nanometers. And similarly, the leaves of plants also enjoy these visible wavelength; the chlorophyll uses these light to manufacture food. The green light is an exception. Because chlorophyll only reflects green and they don’t absorb it, that explains why plants’ leaves are green. You can read more about these in this article.
So for the most parts, plants respond to the blue and red colors very well. These are the two most important wavelengths that plants need during their growth. Basically, plants need blue light for their vegetative phase and red light for the flowering period.
Understanding that, many grow light manufacturers have made it possible to produce the light colors plants need with their LEDs light. Many modern LED grow lights have a programmable setting to produce different color wavelengths. By this, you can control the type of lights at the different ratios for plants at different stages of growth in their life. These types of LED lights with a very wide or full range of color wavelengths are called full-spectrum LED grow lights.
So two of the most important criteria that affect plant growth are light intensity (or the power of light output), and light colors (color wavelengths). For light intensity, you can opt for the powerful light, but for light colors, you should choose one with a wide range of color wavelength (or full spectrum).
The following is a comparison of two LED lights, I hope it can help you.
ECO Farm Waterproof LM301B 110W/220W/450W/600W Quantum Board
Features:
The ECO Farm LED grow light adopts the design of full spectrum (380nm-800nm, 3000K, 5000K), red light 660nm and IR 750nm, provides everything the plants need under natural sunlight, and promotes healthier and more balanced plant growth by stimulating photosynthesis .
The IP65 waterproof rating makes this plant light suitable for more planting environments, especially hydroponics, greenhouse cultivation, commercial cultivation projects, etc. You will be able to reduce the cost of horticultural lighting systems.
High-efficiency white light board with Samsung LM301B diode, high efficiency 2.7 μmol/J. The full spectrum of white light allows optimal canopy penetration and easy viewing.
No fan means zero noise. Large solid aluminum radiator, high-quality cable protection cover, waterproof LED, high safety performance and dimmable MEAN WELL driver.
Horticulture Lighting Group HLG 600 BSpec
Featutres:
The Horticulture Lighting HLG600 Bspec commercial indoor gardening LED plant growth light is designed to replace single-ended 1000 watt HID. Each HLG 600 uses 4 customized full-spectrum high-efficiency white light quantum panels in conjunction with Samsung LM301H and blue 470nm to enhance plant growth. This unit is dimmable.
Auto-sensing Inventronics power supply is suitable for 120VAC and 240VAC and 277VAC; 600W power consumption (dimmable to 60W)
Vegetable footprint is 162.44 cm x 172.44 cm (recommended for vegetables only) Total output is 1446 PPF; PAR efficiency: 2.4 umol/j; reliable passive cooling design and ETL certification
Having a LED grow light set up is essential for various reasons. There are a lot of approaches to get light to your plants, yet how would you realize that it is the most proficient way? How might you realize that you aren’t really overheating your plants trying to direct more light into them and increment your yield?
The reality remains that LED lights are the most productive grow lights that are accessible. To start, LED grow lights moderate 75% more power than customary grow lights. By utilizing less power, you will spend less cash on power bills and hence have significantly more cash remaining for getting a charge out of your rewards for all the hard work, as opposed to spending its dominant part running the grow task itself. Vital too is that the best LED grow lights utilize particular wavelengths of light that are required the most by your plants. Conventional grow lights shoot your plants with light and subsequently a significant part of the light is squandered.
LED lights, then again, utilize just blue and red wavelengths to give your plants everything that they require without wasting power and light on things that aren’t successful. There are LEDs that component either both, or special case, which makes it conceivable to practice and tailor your lighting to your plant’s needs.
LED grow lights are likewise considerably cooler to some extent because of the diminishment of power utilization. The issue with numerous grow lights is the warmth that they deliver, which makes you burn through cash on different parts of your grow task too.
The hotter your grow room stays, the more air you should move through the room, and the more consideration you should pay to the temperature constantly. That likewise implies that LED grow lights are substantially easier on the environment. With the consideration being brought to ecological concerns, a worldwide temperature alteration, and the eventual fate of the world, it is anything but difficult to perceive any reason why individuals would probably incline toward an all the more environment friendly alternative.
That is the place LED grow lights succeed. The gigantic lessening in CO2 emanations, notwithstanding power utilization, implies that the earth will be appreciative. LED grow lights additionally don’t need to be discarded in a specific way like HPS lighting frameworks do.
Grow lights containing mercury should be professionally discarded in a way that requires extraordinary consideration following a few years because of the shorter time span of usability. LED grow lights can keep going quite a while and after that be discarded after very nearly ten years of utilization without worrying about hurting the earth simultaneously. The last thing that emerges about LED grow lights is the way that they don’t need to be supplanted all the time. Numerous grow lights that individuals utilize are supplanted inside a short measure of time since they destroy decently fast.
In correlation, the majority of the best LED grow lights can keep going for more than 50,000 hours, which means they should be supplanted following 7–8 years at the most punctual. The cost can dismiss a few people from utilizing them, yet once the length of their life is considered it is anything but difficult to perceive how much cash can really be spared after some time.
If you’ve ever done research when wanting to buy grow lights for your indoor plants, you probably saw that there’s a variety of choice of both types and brands. How do you choose the one to buy then? Well, as long as you keep in mind the essential features that the plant lamp you purchase should have in order to keep your indoor plants healthy, you’re safe. So, without further ado, let’s talk about the crucial features to have in mind when choosing.
1. The type of light
There are two types of grow lights that are both good for indoor plants — LED and fluorescent.
The choice will depend on your preferences and needs. While both of them will help your indoor plants grow healthy and lush during every growth stage, LED lights are more energy-efficient. Even though modern fluorescent grow lights save more energy than in the past, LED will still use less electric power because it only produces blue and red light that your plants need.
That’s why fluorescent lights will be white, and you’ll be able to use them indoors without problems because they won’t be unpleasant to look at if your plants are close to the everyday rooms in your home. When it comes to LED lights, they do produce purple light so they can be a bit hard to look at and that’s why they are the better option in closed growing tents or rooms that you use only for the plants.
2. Color spectrum
Depending on the growth stage of your indoor plants, they will need a different color to produce energy and grow, so you should use grow lights according to that fact.
However, it’s always better to have grow lights that emit full-color spectrum because those are versatile and can be used for every stage and many different plants.
3. Material
If you want to be sure you’ve bought good-quality grow lights, you should choose those that are made of high-quality, sturdy material, preferably stainless steel.
Why? Because grow tents and area around plants, in general, can be humid. Since the water will constantly be close to the grow lights, they should be water-resistant in order to last you for a long time.
4. Weight
Even though the material should be sturdy, the grow lights you buy shouldn’t be too heavy, especially if you need to hang them. Lightweight grow lights will be easier to adjust, and there won’t be any risk of them falling on the plants.
5. Dimming levels
As you’ve already noticed, some models offer the possibility to choose between different lighting intensities, which can also be very useful.
This feature offers a lot of versatility and allows you to use the same grow light for different kinds of plants and stages of the same plant. So, if it’s possible, invest in the model that offers this solution.
6. Timer
If you travel often or spend a lot of time outside your home in general, you should opt for grow lights that have an integrated timer, or at least those that can be connected to the timer you own or want to buy.
The timer will allow you to choose the intervals in which your plants will receive light. Usually, you can set them up to automatically turn on and off every 3, 6 or 12 hours, and some of them can be programmed to do that every day at the same time. Pretty convenient, right?
7. Easiness of setup
It’s always better to choose a simple product, right? With that in mind, purchase a grow light that will be easy to install, use, and even bring with you if necessary.
Also, it’s very convenient to purchase grow lights that have the option of being connected with the daisy chain cables because then you will need only one power outlet for multiple grow lights — mess-free installation!
8. Adjustability
When choosing the right grow light among all of the choices on the market, it’s always better to look for those that can be easily adjustable. This is important because every plant will require a different distance from the source of light.
And not only different plants but also the same plant in various stages of growth. That’s why, if you plan on hanging the lights above the plants, you should be able to adjust them when needed.
Quantum Led grow lights are not as game changing as the LED grow lights were, but it is a step forward in the technology. While quantum led grow lights may not be the best choice for every application i.e.to increase harvest in indoor growing, but still these grow lights are useful for other large number of applications.
June 27, 2024
When choosing Best LED Grow Lights, you should also consider the durability of the lamp, energy efficiency and whether it can meet the light needs of specific plants. For example, the LED plant growth lights provided by Philips Lighting are designed for specific crops to promote uniform growth and improve quality and yield.
June 20, 2024
June 15, 2024
On Amazon, hot growth light types include LED Growing Lights, which have a variety of functions and features such as automatic on/off timing, red and blue LED light combinations, multiple dimmable modes, and flexibility for indoor potted plants or indoor gardens.