Providing year-round nutrition for houseplants, herbs, and even starting seeds in the off-season, LED grow lights help start, nourish, and maintain healthy plant growth without burning leaves. Getting the spectrum right helps maintain plant growth.

Indoor gardening has become a popular hobby for many who like to add fresh vegetables to their salads or just love seeing greenery around their home, basement, office or kitchen. Providing the right amount of light is critical to the growth and health of these plant friends.

What are grow lights?

Grow lights are artificial light sources that mimic the natural light plants need to grow and thrive. They come in all sizes, shapes, and types, so choosing the right one for your plant can be overwhelming. In this article, we take a look at some of the best indoor grow lights so you can make an informed decision.

Types of Indoor Grow Lights

LED Grow Light
LED grow lights are a popular choice for indoor plants because they are energy efficient and generate minimal heat. They are also long-lasting and can be adjusted to provide different wavelengths of light, perfect for different stages of plant growth.

Fluorescent Grow Lights
Fluorescent grow lights are another popular choice for houseplants. They are less expensive than LED grow lights and generate less heat, making them ideal for heat-sensitive plants.

Fluorescent grow lights are also available in a variety of sizes, so you can choose the one that works best for your plants.

High Intensity Discharge Grow Lights
High Intensity Discharge (HID) grow lights are a powerful option for indoor plants. They produce a lot of light, so are great for plants that need a lot of light to grow and thrive.

However, HID grow lights generate a lot of heat and may not be suitable for all plants. They are also more expensive than other types of grow lights, so they may not be the best choice for everyone.

Which grow lights are best for indoor plants?

The best type of grow light for indoor plants depends on the needs of the plant and your budget. LED grow lights are a popular choice because they are energy efficient and generate minimal heat.

Fluorescent grow lights are less expensive and produce less heat, making them ideal for heat-sensitive plants.

High-intensity discharge (HID) grow lights are powerful, but they are expensive and generate a lot of heat, so they may not be suitable for all plants.

When choosing the best grow lights for indoor plants, consider your plant’s needs and budget.

Gavita Pro RS 2400e 800W LED Grow Light

Features:

Gavita LED grow lights produce 2400 μmol/s at an impressive 3.0 μmol/J efficiency and provide a broad spectrum of white light and enhanced blue light to help enhance flavor and aroma. This powerful full-spectrum light source is designed for all aspects of plant growth — from the vegetative stage to the end of flowering and when higher light levels are required. Using the Gavita Master EL3 controller, the luminaire can be dimmed by up to 10% without any loss of efficiency. The RS 2400e is built with high quality components including Gavita drivers and custom Gavita branded diodes to deliver the performance and longevity you’ve come to expect from a trusted brand.

Spider Farmer G860W Full Spectrum LED Grow Light

Features:

This Spider Farmer LED Grow Light features an even peripheral PPFD score for even coverage, ensuring maximum light per plant. The elongated light bar design also ensures a more even distribution of light, reaching all edges and corners. The strip grow light design and the aluminium heatsink on the back contribute to better airflow and good heat dissipation. The G860W Garden Light features a detachable driver and 6.56" long power cord to reduce ambient heat in the grow space for longer life. The LED diodes are coated with water repellent, so they are not afraid of a wet environment. Dimming daisy-chaining allows you to link up to 60 G680W Series grow lights together — dimming multiple lights simultaneously. Widely used in commercial cultivation, vertical farming, home gardens, home cultivation, CO2 systems and hydroponics.

What to Look for in Grow Lights

Size
When deciding which size grow lights you need, consider how many plants you need to cover and where you plan to place them. If you plan on moving the light from place to place, choose something lighter. If you know it’s going to stay in place, that’s probably not a huge factor. Wherever you plan to put it, make sure it has enough room to run safely and not lean against furniture, curtains, or other objects.

Type
There are many types of grow lights to consider, from panels to products that hang overhead or screw into standard light fixtures. The types of plants you have, the amount of natural light available, and where the plants will be located can help you narrow down your options. Generally, pendant lights are larger, while table lights are smaller and easier to move. If you want a complete system, consider a complete garden kit, which includes pots with built-in lights.

Watts
Wattage is a useful tool in determining the correct fixtures for your plants. In general, you need 32 watts per square foot, so most houseplants (especially herbs) do well with lower wattage lights. A more important metric is PPFD, or Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density, which measures the amount of specific light emission from a lamp.

Bulb Type
LED lights are one of the most popular and effective options. They also offer an ideal spectral range. LEDs emit less heat than incandescent bulbs and last up to 30 times longer.

Fluorescent bulbs are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, but tend to be more expensive.

Incandescent bulbs are the cheapest option, but they’re also the least energy efficient. They also have a fairly high heat output, which is suboptimal growing conditions.

Conclusion

In short, indoor grow lights are an easy way to add life and color to your home or office. Just choose the right one, and make sure you give your plants enough light to thrive. With so many different options, it’s hard to go wrong!