There’s no doubt in my mind that LED grow lights are the best lights for indoor growing. But with so many different styles and wattages of indoor garden lights how do you choose the best led grow light strips for plants in your home? Just because a grow light system is popular on Amazon, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. That’s why I’ve compiled my research to help you choose the best indoor plant grow lights for your unique growing situation.
Why are LEDs a good choice to grow Marijuana and Cannabis?
Getting a plant to grow indoors is a full-time task. You are supposed to provide the best possible form of light with the highest possible intensity. LEDs, if compared to any other artificial light source, are the only form of light that one can rely on in terms of intensity.
Including all other benefits of LEDs, there are a variety of features these lights have that can make them the best choice for plant’s growth. No matter how much of these you use, the energy consumption of these lights will be far lower than any other source of light you will use to grow the plants. The plus point here is the average billing that comes without having you to compromise on the intensity of light at all.
LED lights usually last longer than any other light source and are usually priced reasonably. All of this combined with the fact that these LEDs can provide instant bright light to your plants makes them an event better plant growing source. Other features including the idea of these lights being environment friendly, incapable of producing harmful UVs, and their strong build are enough to regard these lights as the best choice to help your plants grow.
RayonLED GLMF-720W FOLDABLE LED Grow Light with UV Grow Light
Pros
Saves energy costs
Enables year round production
Has an advanced cooling system
Cons
Light frequency is a bit lacking
Lamp quality needs to improve
ECO Farm 740W Full Spectrum Slim Foldable LED Grow Light
Pros
Multiple heat sinks
Upgraded aluminum radiators
Two multiple high-speed mute fans
Cons
Not waterproof
For indoor use only
ECO Farm LED is best recommend for you.
Things to consider before buying
There are a couple of things you absolutely need to consider before choosing the best LED grow light:
Spacing: You absolutely need to ensure that you have an idea of the amount of space you want to cover with your LED lights. Each light has a maximum range of space that it can cover, and it'll be important to understand the measurements of your grow space down to the centimeter. If you currently do not know what that is, you should find out now. After that is done, make sure you read reviews and feedback from others on the actual space that the LED light can cover (sometimes, products are not as advertised... shocking, I know).
Brand/Budget/Price: This will be important as the higher-quality lights typically yield the best results. If you are a beginner, you will likely want to start with a lower priced option to get your feet feet wet. If you are more experienced, it never hurts to go with the quality, higher-priced option. In addition, brand and quality of the light is very important. A good brand that has raving customer reviews, is almost always, a sure bet.
Spectrum: A full spectrum LED grow light will go a long way in terms of helping your plant growth. You'll need red & blue spectrums, but also infrared and ultraviolet, depending on the stage. It's important to have a powerful light, with different wave lengths to ensure maximum growth. The full spectrum yields are a bit newer to the industry, but they are certainly making headway to any good growers catalog. They run cool and don't need any additional fans, they cost less overtime given the electrical savings, and the durability is second to none. It is highly recommended to purchase a full spectrum LED grow light. Most LED lights have a range of colors being emitted (full light spectrum) - the best lights offer the full range, including UV light.
Electrical Usage: Your LED lights will need to have durability and great electrical efficiency as well. A good LED light should be operating for at least 10-12 hours a day. When researching a good LED light, you'll need to thoroughly understand what the total output is (1000w, 400w, 300w etc). The higher you go, the more powerful and more likely leads to less electrical usage (and more cost effective for you).
Light Control: Depending on the stage, you'll want to ensure that your plants receive the proper amount of lighting (down to the exact hour). See a breakdown of the phases below for growing LED lights:
Seedling Phase: 16 hours on, 8 hours off
Vegetative Phase: 18 hours on, 6 hours off
Flowering Phase: 12 hours on, 12 hours off
It's extremely important that light cycles are followed to a tee as it can severely alter the growth and potency of your plants.
Features & Benefits Of LED Grow Lights
From professional gardeners to beginners, you can get huge benefits from a grow light.
You can use a grow light during all the stages of the plantation (seeding, veg, flower, and fruits). So, gardeners can use it for single or multiple purposes of the plantation.
If you see yellowish leaves and long branches, it might be suffering from low light problems. You can use an individual grow light on that pot or for the entire garden.
During the winter a grow light can help your entire garden keep alive.
A grow light allows you to start a garden in remote places where sunlight is very rare. You can even grow a plant in the basement with these lights.
It helps to keep the plants healthy and free from diseases. All the fertilizers, water, temperature also matter for having a disease-free garden.
A grow light can increase the production of flower, fruits, and the seed of your garden. So, every harvest time you will get the most yielding.
Grow lights or led grow lights are flexible in design and technology. You can use them as a multi-layer vertical system, ceiling lights or inter-lighting designs between plants. This type of illumination systems are used in greenhouses and large indoor gardening. LED lights suits best with this kind of typical lighting system.
Another benefit of LED lights is that they are the less heat and more lighting performance. LED grow lights emit less heat than other lighting methods. Too much heat is damaging to the plants, decreases the growth and might cause the death of the plants. LED lights have greater efficiency on low heat production and bright illumination.
Unlike the sunlight, it won’t evaporate the water from the soil. So you don’t need to water plants so much in a day.
Final thoughts
our current grow may have multiple plants or strains, space restrictions, and almost definitely has a budget. With all of those considerations in mind, you can select the best LED grow light right here.