Look into any technology niche and you’ll find LEDs everywhere — from car headlights to cell phone displays, from smart homes to airport runways.

But the horticultural world is not far behind.

In recent years, LED grow lights have become very popular among indoor growers, due to their several advantages over other traditional light sources. However, LEDs are a bit expensive. But are they worth the investment?

In this article, learn all there is to know about the best LED grow lights and whether you should consider investing in them.

Practical tips for plant growth lights

✔ Mimics light deprivation method
While “deficiency in light” usually refers to outdoor growing that deliberately limits the amount of sunlight the plants receive each day, indoor growers can do this more easily.

Instead of covering your plants or greenhouse with a tarp, you can achieve the same effect by simply turning off the lights at specific intervals.

Doing this will cause your plants to start blooming sooner, which may translate into better, more frequent harvests throughout the year.

✔ Use the right amount of light for your plants
If you want high, healthy yields, you need to use the right number of lights for the plants you’re growing.

If you use too few plants, the plants won’t get the proper light intensity and their growth will suffer.

Generally speaking, grow lights should produce 400–600 watts of power per square meter.

✔ Distance your lights correctly
If you have the right number of lights, but they’re too far apart (or too close together), they won’t do you any good.

Ultimately, how far you hang your lights will depend on the wattage and the type of lights you buy. You can find a distance chart at the bottom of this article.

✔ Timely replacement of lights
To get the most out of your planting, depending on which grow lights you use, you may need to change lights at various stages of plant growth.

Different growth stages require different spectra to thrive.

ECO Farm ECOD Samsung UV+ IR 640W Dimmable LED Grow Light

Features:

This ECO Farm LED Grow Light has high energy efficiency up to 40% energy saving, and get 50% greater yield compared with the traditional HPS lights. High quality and 50000 hours long lifespan can mostly reduce your electricity bills or maintenance fees.The bar structure LED grow light provide you more even and full canopy coverage, make the light more concentrated, make the illumination is more uniform. The growth of plants requires an environment of red and blue wavelengths, use led grow lamps to boost productivity, Increase your yields & profits 50% without adding any additional energy costs. This grow light dissipates heat quickly and high performance, growing lamp with 6 passive-cooled bars, no-fan no noise design, give you a quiet cultivation environment and extend plant light lifespan. 

Lightspeed Pro Cosmic Plus LED 600W LED Grow Light

Features:

The Lightspeed Pro Cosmic Plus LED 600W Grow Light provides 600W of powerful lighting, producing higher intensity lighting to ensure maximum indoor plant growth. This 600W full spectrum hydroponic grow light is specially designed to optimize plant reproduction during the growth and flowering stages of plants cultivation. Like all of our Lightspeed Cosmic lighting ranges, this grow light has many innovative features designed to help you reduce operating costs and make your hydroponics business more profitable. First, it provides more uniform full-spectrum LED natural light than HPS and MH lighting. Plus, it has a dimmer that allows you to precisely control the light during key growing stages to help prevent damage to sensitive plants and extend the life of your grow lights.

What to consider when choosing LED grow lights

Budget
First things first — you’ll have to decide on your budget. After that, consider how often you’ll be completing a growth cycle.

Apart from that, you’ll need to make sure you’re aware of the electricity costs that come with using certain lights. HIDs consume a considerable amount of electricity, but are cheaper in general.

LED’s on the other hand, are slightly more expensive to purchase but use much less electricity.

Consider the cost of fans for cooling if you’re using an HID light with high heat emission.

Plant Growth
You’re going to want to choose a full spectrum light or something that can carry your plant through the various stages of growth. Whether it be a dual spectrum or two separate lights, it’s something you have to decide beforehand if you want a good harvest.

Safety
When growing plants indoors, you should be aware of high heat emission that comes with some HID lights. You can prepare for this with sufficient ventilation and air-cooled tube reflectors. And of course, electric fans.

Conclusion

LED grow lights need to be used correctly to be effective, but if you know what to expect, they will reward you with built-in cooling, allowing growers to hang the lights directly above the plants without worrying about fans, ducts, or ballasts. They are easy on the electricity bill and don’t cause many heat problems.

Plus, buds grown under LED lights are known for producing brightly colored, sticky, firm, and stinky buds! Isn’t producing quality buds why we do it all?