Growing plants with LED grow light is one of the biggest achievements for greenhouse and indoor farming in decades. But how to get the best results when using the led grow light is still under-discovered and shared. Take a quick look at our types of grow lights for indoor plants, you can read how the LED grow lights work, and how they affect plant growth, what advantages LED Grow lights have and choose the best suitable light for various applications!

Why is Light so Important?

First of all, let's have a quick, watered-down science lesson. Light, when it comes to plants, is the spectrum of light necessary for a plant to perform photosynthesis, which is the process of converting light energy into chemical energy, using sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into sugars. These sugars are constructed from water and carbon dioxide, and oxygen is released as a byproduct. The sugars, or glucose molecules, provide plants with two resources: energy and organic carbon. This energy is then essentially used by the plant to put into growing!

Knowing this small bit of science, we can try to begin to understand that it is crucial for plants to receive the light that they need in order to live and thrive in their homes. If they don't receive the light they need, they won't receive the energy they need to put into growing, and instead will get rid of what they don't need in order to survive (i.e. leaf loss) or will slowly die.

How do LED Grow lights work?

LED Grow lights use semiconductor materials to create light spectrums. These materials are of two types. The first type has what is called electrons, which is a negative charge, while the second one is called holes, which is a positive charge. When an electric current passes through the chips, they emit lights.

Types of Grow Lights

Here is a look at some of the most common types of grow lights.

Incandescent Bulbs
Incandescent lights are ideal for plants with low light requirements. Keep in mind that incandescent bulbs can get quite hot and need to be placed at least two feet from plant foliage. If your garden has dracaenas, ferns, or vines, you should definitely consider an incandescent light. The total energy output from this bulb is only 10% light and 90% heat. In terms of efficiency, these bulbs might not be your best option, particularly due to the considerable heat output. You may want to avoid using such a light on light-loving plants such as succulent and tropical plants.

Fluorescent Lights
Arguably the most affordable grow lights out there. Newer fluorescent lights have full-spectrum light, making them ideal for virtually any plant type and growth stage. Keep in mind that older models have limited spectrum output and are ill-suited for the vegetative and germination phases of plant growth.

Compared to incandescent light, fluorescent lights produce less heat and are, therefore, more efficient. However, they still lag behind LEDs on this front.

High-Intensity Discharge Lights
Commonly referred to as HID lights, these bulbs are typically made from metal halides and high-pressure sodium.

Unlike the highly affordable fluorescent lights, HIDs can be quite expensive to purchase and operate. On the flip side, the high-intensity blue light emitted by metal halide HIDs is excellent for most plants' vegetative and germination stages. High-Pressure Sodium lights have an orange-red hue, excellent for the flowering and fruit production stages but not ideal for the vegetative stage.

LED (light-emitting diode) Lights
LEDs are the new kid on the block when it comes to growing lights and, unsurprisingly, among the most popular.

LEDs emit almost no heat and require very little power to operate. These diodes can be programmed to mimic the sun's 5700K colour temperature. Additionally, LEDs provide full-spectrum light, making them ideal for all plant growth stages. Compared to fluorescent lights, LEDs are still quite pricey, although the prices are gradually dropping.

Keep in mind that while grow lights are quite good at what they do, they are still not a perfect replacement for sunlight. However, choose the light that best suits your preferences and budget, position it correctly, and you will have excellent results.

Maxibright Daylight 480w PRO LED Grow Light

Features:
The Maxibright LED grow light is suitable for growers looking for higher outputs and greater yields in a more compact and versatile unit. This fixture boldly bridges the gap between the higher and lower powered units in the range, meaning they're adaptable to a wide range of applications such as propagation, multi-layer gardening and grow tents/rooms. The ability to dim the fixture from 25% up to 100% power, means you can use it from the early stages of growth right through to flowering. The DAYLIGHT 480W LED PRO boasts a full spectrum of light with a fixture efficiency of 2.7 μmol/J and a total output of 1296 μmol/s. This is all made possible by 5 bars of high-quality Osram and LUMLED LED chips, covering a 1.2m x 1.2m area perfectly, with outstandingly uniform light coverage. All of this bundled up into a slimline and lightweight design.

GrowPros HM480 LED Grow Light

Features:
This GrowPros grow light, with an increased lifespan over traditional grow light sources, cultivates healthier, happier plants. The HM480 Series produces 1.8 gram per watts (dried) of crop yield. A high-PPFD and PAR indicates high efficacy, or light output produced per expenditure of unit of power. Generating about 50% more in energy savings over traditional HID and HPS light sources, the HM480 gives you meaningful savings over time. Indoor plants grow best under full-spectrum lights, which replicate the natural spectrum of the sun. Better control of environmental and production factors means higher yield and multiple harvests in one growing season. Almost 100% of power expended converts into growth-targeted light energy. The HM480 Series system runs cool thanks to a passive cooling thermal management system, meaning your lighting systems last longer while retaining high light output levels.

Benefits of LED Grow Lights

There are so many benefits to be gained when you use LED grow lights for your plants. Some of the benefits are;

Quick Harvest
If your plants mature quickly, you can harvest them on time. Exposure to light 24 hours round the clock will ensure that the plants keep growing. While this is not possible with natural sunlight at night when the sun is down, you can guarantee lighting by deploying LED bulbs to full effect. The quick and constant growth of your plants will reduce the time gap between cultivation and harvesting.

Long lifespan
LED bulbs are known to have an extended lifespan compared to other lighting technology. This is because they operate at a much lower temperature and can run for a long as 100,000 lighting hours. Their extended lifespan will ensure that you spend less on replacements and save money as a result.

Energy Efficiency
It makes no sense to spend so much on energy bills simply because you wish to grow one or more plants in an enclosed environment. Since your bulbs will be on for most of the day, you need to consider going for a system that consumes less but produces more. Most traditional light systems produce heat emission to generate light. For LEDs, this is not the case. LEDs do not release heat to produce light, which leads to lower energy consumption.

Grow healthy plants
Researchers have shown that the burning effects produced by artificial light sources can bounce off the plant leading to dryness. They also emit harmful UV rays, which may be detrimental to the plant in the long run. LEDs, on the other hand, do not know harmful rays on the plants. Their effects are also a lot less harsh on plants than traditional lighting systems like fluorescent bulbs.

Pose no risk to the environment
Environmental conservators promote the use of LEDs because they are environmentally friendly. LED released less heat and UV rays. They are also easy to dispose of and can be recycled with less harmful substances like Mercury, which fluorescent and HID bulbs have.

Factors To Consider Before Choosing Lighting For Indoors Plants

Types of plants
To figure out how much and what kind of lighting you'll need, you'll need to know what kind of crops you'll be growing and how much of each.

If you solely plan on producing microgreens, for example, your lighting requirements will be significantly different from those of someone growing flowers.

It is crucial to consider since plants require varied sunlight at different stages of development.

The budget
It will also make the task more manageable if you have a budget in mind before you begin shopping. You can quickly weed out specific alternatives this way.

Consider your ideal energy expenditures as well as the amount of light required when making your budget. The wattage of the lights you choose will have an impact on how much energy you spend.

Spectrum
Most plants use light from the blue and red ends of the spectrum, with some yellow and green thrown in for good measure.

Blue light is mainly used to establish leaves and roots during the vegetative stage. Meanwhile, plants consume red light to grow flowers and fruit.

The intensity
Another element to consider is the intensity of the grow light. It refers to the amount of light that the fixture provides to your plants. As a result, the stronger the power, the further away from the plants you can place it.

Because you don't want the light to be too close to the plants, this is crucial. Your plants can get burned or damaged during their developing stages with a power source with extremely high intensity.

Height and Mobility
Finally, it would be best if you thought about the distance between your grow lights and your plants. In this instance, you'll want anything that allows you to alter the height easily.

You want your lights to be lower when your plants are still sprouting. However, you should set the lights to a higher level as they develop and mature.

Conclusion

You can produce indoor crops all year long by using artificial light from growth lamps. The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the ideal growth light. When it comes to selecting a growth light for your situation, your budget and growing requirements should be the deciding factors.