Do you have a desire to grow plants in your home but you live in an area where natural light is not sufficient? Luckily, there is a solution thanks to LED grow lights. LED grow lights have been in the market for many years but it was not until recently that their popularity began to soar. Compared to the traditional HID grow lights, LED lights do not use toxic materials and can last up to six times longer. They do not require cooling and will not cause plant burns or increase the risk of fire.

However, when it comes to buying LED grow lights, you need to know that not all companies offer the best LED grow lights. If you are looking for LED grow lights that are both high quality and cost-effective, be sure to keep reading!

How high do I hang LED’s over my plants?

Generally, you’ll want to hang LED’s anywhere from 12–36 inches above plants. The exact height will depend on the strength of your light and the stage of growth the plant is at:

Clones and seedlings do best at 24–36" above the canopy to ensure they’re not being overwhelmed.
Vegging plants need lights lowered down to 15–30" above canopies.
Flowering plants will need to be lowered down to 12–24" above canopies.
The more intense the light, the further away it should be hung from the canopy.
Lights with softer output should be hung closer to plants.
The best way to ensure your plants are getting enough light is to watch them grow.

When plants stretch, it’s a sign you need to lower your light. If lowering the light doesn’t help growth, you’ll need a stronger light.
When plants bleach, curl up or start to wither, it’s time to raise your lights. If raising your lights doesn’t help, it’s a sign you need to dim or downgrade your light.

MARS HYDRO FC 8000 SAMSUNG LM301B OSRAM Commercial LED Grow Light

Features:

Mars Hydro grow light mounts 2968 pcs Samsung LM301B & Osram 660nm diodes. Make use of more than twice as many LEDs as comparable lights to drive the grow lights with a low current to stay away from overdrive. Quality guaranteed and high efficiency up to 2.9 μmol/j. This grow light has professional spectra for plant production to enhance blue and red light as a specific spectral combination, boosting plant growth while improving the year-round yield and product quality. Multi-light bar style and dense layout of light diodes enable FC8000 LED grow light to have PPFD values in the range of 1000–1500 μmol/m²/s throughout the effective coverage area. The dimming function is available for 0–100% variable brightness, adapts to different plant growth stages. Max 30 lights can be daisy-chained together and be controlled by one master light.

GROPLANNER LED Grow Light 800W

Features:

Groplanner grow light is a professional solution for indoor planting, and the balanced lighting design is enough to cope with complex indoor use environments. Run at 800W, the Groplanner I series has amazing efficiency of 2.75mol/j and 2200mol/s, so that it provides the powerful light output and uniform canopy penetration to achieve high yield. At the same time, each light bar has an aluminium shell and a heat dissipation groove. Good heat dissipation means lower environmental heat, thus avoiding damage to plants. Groplanner I series LED grow light with built-in dimming knob provides growers with greater flexibility. In addition, the light fixture can be connected in series through RJ14 network cable for unified control by using an external smart controller, which is the best choice for large-area growers and can connect up to 100 lamps.

Tips on Using Grow Lights for Plants

I mentioned how putting an incandescent light too close to a plant can burn them, but this issue applies to every type of light. Just more so with incandescent. As a grower, you need to know how to properly install, place, and use grow lights. Here are three tips that’ll help:

Use a grow tent

For the best results, use a grow tent as part of your indoor setup. Sure they are an added cost, but the benefits a grow tent provides make it worth it.

Grow tents help keep light within the space and reflect the light from your grow lights onto your plant. This ensures every part of your plant receives evenly distributed light. Another benefit of a grow tent is its controlled environment. Even though your lights may increase heat within the tent, you can easily regulate temperature and humidity. Grow tents are also highly durable and can last for many years, which lets you reuse them repeatedly.

Use fans

Use fans to control temperature and humidity in your grow room
Speaking of controlling temperature and humidity, fans are a must-have. For one, they encourage good air circulation, letting fresh air continuously stream into your grow area. Trust me; your plants will thank you for it.

Fans also prevent stagnant air and help control the heat around your grow area. This is important for discouraging pathogens and pests. The air from fans also introduces an element of stress for your plants that encourages them to grow sturdier as the fan blows air against them.

Follow a lighting schedule.

Follow a proper lighting schedule
Lastly, growers should always follow a proper lighting schedule. Even if you are growing autoflowers, sticking to a schedule helps you avoid wasting energy and ensures your plants aren’t overexposed to light.

Overexposure to light can burn your plants or stress them out, which will cause them to hermie (turn into hermaphrodites). And in the case of flowering plants, it can force them back to their vegetation phase. This is why being meticulous about the hours of light and darkness your plants get is important, not just for saving money but also for saving your plants.

Conclusion

This has been a long journey since, in all honesty, choosing the best LED grow light for the plants in your grow tent wasn’t a piece of cake!

Although it wasn’t an easy task, we were up to the challenge of sorting out only the best choices. Hopefully, you’ve found this article helpful so you can make the best decision for your beloved plants.