There is much hype and myths surrounding LED grow lights. It’s crucial to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to make an informed decision. Please read on if you wish to know more about LED grow lights, pros and cons, and decide if they are right for you.
Benefits of LED Grow Lights
Energy efficiency - If you are currently growing with an HID (High-Intensity Discharge) lighting setup, you can expect a dramatic decrease on your electricity bill (at least 50%).
Less heat output - With LED you won’t have to worry about energy going to waste as heat, burning your plants, or having to sustain a complicated cooling setup. They put out very little heat, which in turn adds up to the electricity savings.
Incredible durability - They will last you years to come, anywhere between 50,000 and 100,000 hours. Even though the initial investment is significant, this is great because combined with its energy efficiency the money you save in the long run justifies this investment.
Exceptional efficiency – Choosing the correct LED grow lights you can be sure they’ll be the most efficient, meaning that 90% of the light produced will be used by plants for photosynthesis. Depending on what you are trying to grow, you will need to make some adjustments. Things like the distance from your plants, light/darkness cycles, light wavelengths required, among other factors. For the most part you will need blue (for seedlings and vegetative growth), red and orange (for flowering) spectra.
Choosing the Best LED Grow Lights
Growing with LED does require research on your part. In what sense? You must know the specifications for your plant, so you can provide the optimum setting for their growth. Afterwards, you’ll know what to expect out of your grow light: what growing space it will cover, how many plants, etcetera. Also, you need to research for the best LED grow lights in the market today, and make sure it provides what you need.
Be careful of cheap LED panels. You will most often see these selling in eBay and Amazon. The problem with them is that each individual light is underpowered, and the difference between an effective grow light will be that each LED will produce at least 1 watt. Not providing enough power will result in weak and unnatural looking plants. In addition, it would be difficult to expect any fruit to grow from them. These kind of products is what can give LED grow lights a bad reputation, especially if they are hyped up to give great results.
LED vs Fluorescent Grow Lights
In one reported experiment, using exactly the same settings, LED and Fluorescent grow lights were compared to one another. This particular case reported Fluorescent as the winner, because the plants grown with it looked more natural, greener, and overall better appearance. This was in 2007, and it’s my believe that 2 factors contributed to these results.
First, the LED grow light used was not powerful enough, and in turn not effective. In today’s market you can find several great products that will deliver the results they advertise. Secondly, because LED grow lights are different than HID and Fluorescent, there are some modifications necessary in order to get the best results. Nothing too complicated, but it definitely makes an impact in the end.
LED Grow Lights Are The Future
LED grow lights are a growing technology. Even though there have been significant advances, it is still at an early stage, and this is why you will find many companies using marketing to convince you they have the best light because they have full spectrum LED grow lights, but in reality, you only need blue, red and orange to cover most plants needs.
Before you buy LED grow lights, it’s important that you know that research and experimenting is expected of any new user. There is information readily available in the internet, especially in forums where actual users report their findings. But once you’ve figured out the basics and perfect your operation, the benefits of LED grow lights are enormous, and they are definitely the future.