Lawn Care

LED grow lights came on the market a few years ago to the tune of rejection and controversy. How can they possibly compare to the HID grow light standard and are they able to produce the same results as outlined in all the hype? By doing my homework and some basic comparison, I found that the best LED grow lights are more than capable of outperforming the standard.

The most important concept to understand about LED grow lights is that you are swapping the brute-force tactics used by metal halide and high pressure sodium grow lights for the gentle strength and simplicity of the technological break-through of LED grow lights.

When typically using HID grow lights – with all the associated (expensive) accessories such as heat ducting, extraction fans, ballasts, and so on – the entire white light spectrum is emitted. With wavelengths from red to blue and in between, plants get the benefit of light while getting attacked by excessive heat. Not many people think about how efficient this method is. At only about 15% efficiency, HID grow lights throw away most of its energy in the form of non-absorbable light and plant-killing heat. That is just money down the drain.

Top LED grow lights on the market get 95% efficiency meaning that almost all light emitted is easily absorbed by growing plants for photosynthesis. The lights produce a small amount of heat (remain warm to the touch) and almost none of the light is wasted. To accomplish this, years of research and development goes into determining what specific wavelengths of light to target that will give the biggest boost to the photosynthesis process. Blue, red, and to some extent orange light are the most beneficial colors for growing plants indoors. Logically, this makes complete sense as plants are green. This means they reflect all green light and most yellow light. For a plant, green and yellow light is basically useless for growing – so there is no need to waste electricity on a light that produces these wavelengths.

To pick the best LED grow light for your indoor growing venture, many things need to be considered. Of course there is a wide range of quality in the lights produced which depends on the manufacturer – just like any other product you buy. From the most basic (and cheapest) lights all the way up to the Porche of LED grow lights, designs and applications range in shape, color of light, price, and individual LED power output. I have found that you get what you pay for with these lights.

It’s not to say that the only way to be successful is to buy the most expensive thing out there because cost is not the determining factor of quality. More important that cost is the quality and composition of the components used in manufacturing your LED grow light that is more closely related to growing success.

With a quick search of the Internet, you will find the market is inundated with with cheap, underpowered grow lights. A common example is the 225 LED grow light panel typically found on Ebay. Sure they are inexpensive (around $55), however each bulb in the array only has about 0.06 Watts of power – which is about enough to grow a thin, spindly, plant about 4 inches tall. With this lack of power, you get very spotty results at best – no canopy penetration, tiny plants, and some plants that just will not grow, flower or fruit. At a minimum, you should be looking for an LED grow light with an output of at least 1 Watt per bulb – roughly 16 times more power that these cheap rip off LED grow lights – which will still save you plenty of money on your electric bill.

With the powerful, highly-targeted light from a high-quality LED grow light, you will experience thick, stocky vegetative growth with massive blooms and the biggest yields possible when growing indoors.

For more details and an LED Grow Light Review, visit Cora Ladd’s site on how to choose the best LED Grow Lights for your garden.