Are LED grow lights better than other regular grow lights? - Indoor Cannabis Growing Guide
Types of Grow Lights
There are three main types of cannabis grow lights.
Fluorescent Grow Lights
The standard fluorescent bulb, commonly denoted T12, makes a decent grow light for houseplants, starting seeds, supplementing the natural light of a window, and other situations where lighting needs are modest. They are fairly weak in light intensity, however, and must be placed within a few inches of the foliage to have much of an effect.
LED Grow Lights
LED stands for light-emitting diode. A form of solid-state lighting, an LED uses a semiconductor chip, known as an LED die, that turns an electrical current into photons through a process called electroluminescence. An LED may be configured either as a single-die emitter that’s mounted on a circuit board, or an array of dies mounted directly on a circuit board, which is known as a chip-on-board (COB) module. An LED lamp is made up of an LED mounted to a heat sink, along with directional lenses and a power supply.
HID Grow Lights
Before the advent of LED grow lights, were the main option for large indoor plantings. They are extremely powerful, but are expensive to purchase, consume electricity inefficiently, require special light fixtures, and give off a lot of heat. All that said, they are very effective and are still widely used. If you want to grow large plants like tomatoes or lemon bushes, HIDs are good bet because the light penetrates farther into the foliage than with other bulbs.
There are two types of HID bulbs. High-pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs are best for flowering (low spectrum), while MH (metal halide) bulbs are required to support vegetative growth (high spectrum); the two types are often used in conjunction. Unfortunately, each type requires its own fixture.
Can you use any LED Lights to grow plants?
You can use any LED Lights to grow plants, but that doesn’t mean your plants will grow healthy or efficiently. So the short answer is yes. The longer answer is that any old LED color or spectrum likely won’t be sufficient to help your plant grow.
You need to ensure your plants are receiving light from a full spectrum LED light and that only comes from the best LED grow lights.
Why are LED grow lights Good for Plants?
Such wavelengths that play a role in photosynthesis are known as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Different wavelengths within PAR stimulate plant growth or flowering at different stages and for different plants too. LED grow lights can emit and focus photosynthetically active radiation on plants to facilitate plant growth.
The intensity of the lightwaves when they finally touch the plant surface is called Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD). Ideally your grow light will have a strong PPFD value from 460 to 925 across your whole canopy.
By using LED grow lights, even people living in cities without yards can partake in some indoor gardening and produce food all year round. It is therefore imperative for people to be mindful of the food they eat. Gardening is a good way for people to control the quality of food they eat.
LED Grow Lights Versus Fluorescent Grow Lights
In the past, fluorescent lights weren’t of much use for growing plants indoors due to their limited brightness – they simply didn’t put out enough lumens to be beneficial in growing plants. Recent advances in fluorescent light technology has produced bulbs called T5’s which are much more efficient than their florescent forefathers, and they can be quite useful as an alternative for growing plants indoors. They’re certainly comparable to HID’s in the useful light they produce and they also produce less heat than these HID systems, but they still produce quite a bit more heat than LED lights. Granted, LED lights will likely be a little bit more expensive than T5 fluorescents, but LEDs also last a lot longer.
LED Grow Lights Versus HPS Grow Lights
Today’s best LED grow lights can rival the production of HPS grow lights that use nearly twice the wattage, which adds up to great savings on the power bill.
LED grow lights run much cooler than HPS resulting in an obvious set of benefits for the indoor grower.
LED grow light units typically come as all-in-one fixtures, which are easier to work within tight spaces. They can also be placed closer to plants in confined areas with very little risk of heat damage.
LED Grow lights do have a higher upfront cost but have been shown to save in the long run thanks to a lower cost of operation.
Lights are not as standardized across manufacturers quite yet, making comparison-shopping more difficult. Still, the LED grow light industry has come a long way and design practices are becoming more consistent.
LED Grow lights produce very little heat, which for many is an advantage. However, those growing with LED’s in colder indoor areas may need to supplement the extra heat an HID light such as an HPS or MH would produce.
Conclusion
Both LED grow lights for cannabis and other regular grow lights are equally capable of producing great yields, and both have advantages over the other. If initial cost is not an issue, the answer to which one is better really comes down to other main factors contributing to your grow such as the growing method you plan to practice as well as the ambient conditions and size of the grow area.
There are three main types of cannabis grow lights.
Fluorescent Grow Lights
The standard fluorescent bulb, commonly denoted T12, makes a decent grow light for houseplants, starting seeds, supplementing the natural light of a window, and other situations where lighting needs are modest. They are fairly weak in light intensity, however, and must be placed within a few inches of the foliage to have much of an effect.
LED Grow Lights
LED stands for light-emitting diode. A form of solid-state lighting, an LED uses a semiconductor chip, known as an LED die, that turns an electrical current into photons through a process called electroluminescence. An LED may be configured either as a single-die emitter that’s mounted on a circuit board, or an array of dies mounted directly on a circuit board, which is known as a chip-on-board (COB) module. An LED lamp is made up of an LED mounted to a heat sink, along with directional lenses and a power supply.
HID Grow Lights
Before the advent of LED grow lights, were the main option for large indoor plantings. They are extremely powerful, but are expensive to purchase, consume electricity inefficiently, require special light fixtures, and give off a lot of heat. All that said, they are very effective and are still widely used. If you want to grow large plants like tomatoes or lemon bushes, HIDs are good bet because the light penetrates farther into the foliage than with other bulbs.
There are two types of HID bulbs. High-pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs are best for flowering (low spectrum), while MH (metal halide) bulbs are required to support vegetative growth (high spectrum); the two types are often used in conjunction. Unfortunately, each type requires its own fixture.
Can you use any LED Lights to grow plants?
You can use any LED Lights to grow plants, but that doesn’t mean your plants will grow healthy or efficiently. So the short answer is yes. The longer answer is that any old LED color or spectrum likely won’t be sufficient to help your plant grow.
You need to ensure your plants are receiving light from a full spectrum LED light and that only comes from the best LED grow lights.
Why are LED grow lights Good for Plants?
Such wavelengths that play a role in photosynthesis are known as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Different wavelengths within PAR stimulate plant growth or flowering at different stages and for different plants too. LED grow lights can emit and focus photosynthetically active radiation on plants to facilitate plant growth.
The intensity of the lightwaves when they finally touch the plant surface is called Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD). Ideally your grow light will have a strong PPFD value from 460 to 925 across your whole canopy.
By using LED grow lights, even people living in cities without yards can partake in some indoor gardening and produce food all year round. It is therefore imperative for people to be mindful of the food they eat. Gardening is a good way for people to control the quality of food they eat.
LED Grow Lights Versus Fluorescent Grow Lights
In the past, fluorescent lights weren’t of much use for growing plants indoors due to their limited brightness – they simply didn’t put out enough lumens to be beneficial in growing plants. Recent advances in fluorescent light technology has produced bulbs called T5’s which are much more efficient than their florescent forefathers, and they can be quite useful as an alternative for growing plants indoors. They’re certainly comparable to HID’s in the useful light they produce and they also produce less heat than these HID systems, but they still produce quite a bit more heat than LED lights. Granted, LED lights will likely be a little bit more expensive than T5 fluorescents, but LEDs also last a lot longer.
LED Grow Lights Versus HPS Grow Lights
Today’s best LED grow lights can rival the production of HPS grow lights that use nearly twice the wattage, which adds up to great savings on the power bill.
LED grow lights run much cooler than HPS resulting in an obvious set of benefits for the indoor grower.
LED grow light units typically come as all-in-one fixtures, which are easier to work within tight spaces. They can also be placed closer to plants in confined areas with very little risk of heat damage.
LED Grow lights do have a higher upfront cost but have been shown to save in the long run thanks to a lower cost of operation.
Lights are not as standardized across manufacturers quite yet, making comparison-shopping more difficult. Still, the LED grow light industry has come a long way and design practices are becoming more consistent.
LED Grow lights produce very little heat, which for many is an advantage. However, those growing with LED’s in colder indoor areas may need to supplement the extra heat an HID light such as an HPS or MH would produce.
Conclusion
Both LED grow lights for cannabis and other regular grow lights are equally capable of producing great yields, and both have advantages over the other. If initial cost is not an issue, the answer to which one is better really comes down to other main factors contributing to your grow such as the growing method you plan to practice as well as the ambient conditions and size of the grow area.
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