Welcome to Your Grow Light Guide

Are you interested in LED grow lights? These lights are making quite a splash in the grow light industry because some of their advantages over Metallic Halide and High Pressure Sodium lights. This blog is being created to provide you with all the background information you need to know about in order to determine if LED growing technology is a good fit for your situation. In addition, I’ll recommend some of the top available LED grow brands on the market.

Here’s a more detailed list of what you can find on the Blog:

Who’s Using LED Grow Lights Anyway?

Advantages and Disadvantages of LED Grow Lights

Criteria To Find a Great LED Grow Light

My Recommendations (coming soon)

If you simply can’t wait for my recommendations then I recommend you take a look at the LED Grow Light Review. The site is chalk-full of great information.

Who are LED Grow Lights Designed For?

There is no way around the fact that LEDs are still expensive when compared to their fluorescent and incandescent neighbors. The expense of these lights has led many people to question who the lights are designed for. Are they designed only for specific organizations like NASA or are they meant to be used by your everyday gardener? Below, we’ll take a look at some of the ways LEDs are being used.

Hobbyists 

Can you make fresh, home-grown salsa in January?

If you really enjoy gardening, then you’ll understand the sentiment that three to four months of growing under the sun just isn’t enough. Many people live in parts of the world where the growing season is very short due to lack of sun and cold weather. Unfortunately I live in one of those areas.

Traditionally, growers like me have used High-Intensity discharge lights that allowed us to grow plants indoors even when there was no sun. These lights worked well (and they continue to do so) but they are bulky and energy inefficient when compared to LED lighting. Some plants that I enjoy growing (even without the sun) include tomatoes, jalapenos (can you say fresh salsa in January??), and any type of flower.

You can grow any type of plant with these lights, even plants that need a lot of light like watermelons and other fruits.

Greenhouses and Commercial Growers

Greenhouse owners and commercial growers have long known the benefits of having some additional lighting. Plants grow leafier, taller, bigger, and they flower better when supplemental lighting is used. Vegetable and fruit-growing operations have found that their plants yield much higher quantities when grow lights are used. Greenhouse owners don’t really have an off season (they are expected to grow those fruits and vegetables all year long). When the sun just isn’t enough, these plant growing gurus turn to grow lights.

Not all greenhouses get enough natural sunlight to grow year round.

Keep in mind that some plants need 14 to 16 hours of light a day! The sun just isn’t up long enough for these plants.

Over the past 20 years high-intensity discharge (HID) lights have cornered the greenhouse and commercial growing market. Now more and more greenhouses are turning to LED lights for that extra umph of light.

Aquarium and Reef Lighting

LED lighting is quickly dominating the aquarium lighting industry. Owners of aquarium shops are finding that LEDs can create wonderfully-colored plants in both fresh-water and salt-water environments. They are finding that LEDs can do just as good, if not better, than traditional aquarium lighting with less than half the watt draw. One shop owner has mentioned that his new 60 watt LED is replacing a 400 watt Halide light with no problems.

Major companies like PetSmart are now offering LED lights for the aquariums they sell to customers. These lights are here to stay in the reef lighting and aquarium business.

Medical Marijuana

Many states (most notably California) are allowing individuals and organizations to grow medicinal marijuana if they are licensed. Due to the nature of medical cannabis, most licensed individuals do not want to grow it outdoors. Just imagine what the neighbors would think if they saw you growing medical marijuana in your backyard. Worse, imagine what gangs or thefts would think/do.

Licensed individuals and companies are starting to transition from HID lights to LED lights when it comes to growing marijuana. They are finding the heating and electricity savings to be too much to pass on.

Conclusion

Hopefully you can see that a wide variety of groups are using these lights. They are becoming more and more commonplace. As the price of LEDs continue to drop, one can only imagine that LEDs will continue to replace HIDs as the growing light of choice.

What Are the Pros and Cons of LED Grow Lights?

The advantages and disadvantages of LED grow lights have often been discussed, but the issue is still not settled. Those companies selling traditional HID lights are determined to ensure that LED lights do not become the main providers of growing lights. On the other hand, those who sell LED lights, want everyone to believe that they have no flaws, and that they will save the environment. This article will take a look at the merits and drawbacks of LED grow lights.

Advantages of Using LED Lights to Grow Plants

1. One big advantage of the LED light is that it is much longer lasting than high-intensity discharge lights. A lot of various statistics have been produced to show how LED lights last much longer than the traditional metallic halide and high-pressure sodium lights. Not all the statistics presented are necessarily accurate. In general, it seems that LED grow lights last about fifty thousand hours. Most HID lights last about fourteen to twenty thousand hours.

2. LED lights do not create excess heat when used constantly. HID lights create a lot of extra heat, and in some cases they have caused fires that destroyed homes and businesses. HID lights need heat in order to produce light. The filament inside becomes very hot and starts to glow when the electricity goes through it. LEDs produce light that does not require a filament and very little heat is produced.

3. Much less electrical energy is required to produce light with an LED light. When an LED grow light is used, it only generates the type of light a plant needs and it does not generate light in parts of the spectrum that plants do not require. For example, plants do not need green light. LED lights can be adjusted to produce the parts of the spectrum that a plant requires to grow, flower, and produce fruit. Because traditional lights produce lights that are not needed by the plant, they are wasteful and inefficient.

4. LED indoor grow lights do not require a ballast. This makes them more convenient to use.

Nothing like one of these guys to take up space in your growing area.

Disadvantages of LED Grow Lights

1. One disadvantage of LED lights is that there is a very high initial cost to purchase these lights. Over time, the initial cost is recouped due to energy savings. However, these initial costs are coming down.

2. If an individual diode in the light fails, the entire unit must be replaced.

Whether you decide to use LED grow lights or not, you should become aware of all the pros and cons. Good luck in your indoor gardening activities.

What to Look for in LED Grow Lights

There are a number of people who use LED grow lights and have had no problems with them. As with all types of products, there are also some individuals who have tried them and did not find them satisfactory. The reason the lights did not meet their expectations could be because they did not choose the right LED grow light for the job. Below are four things you should be looking for in a light.

Pay attention to warranties when purchasing expensive equipment

The Importance of a Warranty

An LED light generally comes with a warranty from the manufacturer. A basic light will generally be covered for a period of one year, while more expensive styles might be covered for as long as five years. Look at the warranty before purchasing.

* Free Trial Product

Some manufacturers offer products for a free trial so new customers can see how they perform. This free period is often given with items made using new technology. The grow lights made with LED technology can fall into this category, which will give the buyer an amount of time to try them out. Trust companies a little bit more if they have a trial period.

* Features of the Lights

People interested in buying this type of light should look at the different features available. These include the amount of watts or power used to emit the light as well as the amount of heat they give off. Another factor to consider when purchasing lights specifically for the purpose of growing plants is the wave-length spectrum. This is what is necessary to successfully grow certain types of plants. The spectrum will be designated by color, which ranges from red to blue and infrared to ultraviolet.

The ability to formulate the LED grow lights according to the different waves in the color spectrum is what makes them innovative products. People trying to grow plants that flower will find the red waves more conducive to the success of these plants during the flowering stage, while the blue waves work well for vegetation.

When using these lights, people can switch the color spectrum as the plant grows and matures. There are also lights that include both the red and blue waves to make switching easier.

* Angle of the Beam

The last point to consider when buying LED grow lights is the degree at which the light beam is emitted. The angles of lights available include sixty, ninety and one hundred and twenty degrees. The angle will determine how well the light is focused on the plant. The taller a plant is the steeper the angle should be. A 60 degree lens is going to get more light down into the bottom of a taller plant than a 120 degree angle is.

Conclusion

Keeping the above criteria in mind will help ensure that you have a great experience with your LED growing light.

HID Versus LEDs: The Debate Continues

Welcome to my blog. I figure we might as well start off this blog right with a spark of debate. Which type of light do you prefer to grow your plants? HIDs or LEDs?

If you live here, then you don't have to worry about growing indoors!

For people who really don’t live on the equator, the growing/gardening period might seem way too short. Two to three months of new produce simply just isn’t sufficient for everyone. The good news is experts have provided an easy method for all of us to remain planting fresh fruits and vegetables even through the freezing winter time. Indoor growing lights supply all the lighting your little beauties ever going to need.

Just what Lighting Options are Usually Offered?

There are plenty of indoor growing light options out there, however the pair that are most often mentioned are usually HID (High-Intensity Discharge) lighting as well as LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lights. In days gone past Metallic-Halide and High-Pressure Sodium (they are kinds of HID lighting) grow lighting fixtures were the only fixtures being employed. Lately, a lot of people are actually starting to purchase Light Emitting Diode grow lighting fixtures. This has triggered a discussion concerning which lamps are better. I suppose each can get the job done; nevertheless, we’ll take the time to evaluate the various arguments.

Price range

HIDs are less expensive when compared to LEDs (there are no if’s and’s or but’s about it). LED plant lights are really relatively new and their price ranges mirror that fact (though pricing is coming down). An excellent HID grow lighting device might merely set you back a couple hundred dollars. A good LED device can cost you a minimum of $500 unless of course you create the light yourself.

It needs to be mentioned that as time passes LED lighting might actually cost less money. Light Emitting Diodes survive for a longer period (that means much less replacement costs) plus they utilize much less energy. After a year or more LEDs could actually end up being less expensive in comparison to HIDs depending on your power bills. Even so, almost all of you who are on a tight budget will be much better off making use of HID plant lights.

High temperature Diffusion

Using a moniker like “High-Intensity” you are probably able to visualize that HIDs lighting produce a lot of well, high temperatures. The fact remains that HIDs can get extremely hot and you’ve got to make use of them using extreme care or your plants and/or home could easily get burned. If you opt to select an HID growing system, subsequently you are gonna need to make sure you have got a cooling device ready.

On the contrary, Light Emitting Diode plant lighting fixtures put off minimal heat. The whole strategy regarding the Light Emitting Diode grow light was to get away from filament lighting and move to solid-state lighting that requires less wasted energy on heating.

Heating up a filament to produce light is a waste of energy.

Command over Wave length or Color

For those who remember back to the first science course you took, you are likely to recollect that sunshine puts off a spectrum of different colors. If you decide to use a prism, you’d notice all the distinct colors (prisms are cool, I recommend looking through one at least once in your life). Astonishingly scientists have realized that plants do not utilize all of the colors of sunshine throughout the progression of photosynthesis. Actually, scientists have found that blue and red are the most essential colors intended for vegetation and flowering.

LED grow lighting has the advantage of being able to beam specific colors. Consequently the suitable quantity of each color can be programmed using Light Emitting Diodes (very cool). This creates one large advantage for LEDs: a lesser amount of power is required considering that wasteful lighting is simply not created. In our present world, making use of a lesser amount of power is significant.

HID plant lighting fixtures conversely may not be manufactured to simply give off particular wavelengths or colors. Because of this they will use up more energy than needed. Nonetheless, the fact remains: they will finish the same task (the task being growing the plant).

The Consensus

Sadly there isn’t any perfect answer. A number of people rely on LED grow lighting and many are just as enthusiastic about HID plant lighting fixtures. The two lighting options possess their particular pluses and minuses. HIDs have established qualifications and are generally affordable. LEDs seem appealing and they’re power efficient. Either works in my opinion, but some people will fight you to the death about using one type or the other.