Growing plants indoors eliminates many of the hassles that come with traditional outdoor gardening. But if you’re like most indoor growers, you’ve run into a bit of a dilemma: how to get your plants the sunlight they need without getting scorched by the windowsill.

Friends, what you need are LED grow lights.

LED grow lights are preferred over other types of grow lights because they are more energy efficient and produce higher quality lighting. They are specifically designed to provide the best possible light for your plants, using a mix of red, blue and (sometimes) white light.

Why Your Houseplants Need Grow Lights

Plants need light to grow

Watch them grow into the plants you want.

Watch them grow into something to be proud of.

But what happens when the sun enters in winter or is absent for an extended period?

Plant food factories are slow to a crawl.

It doesn’t look the best.

You feel like you should be doing more.

Well…if you could — what if you could add a little light to your plant life?

All plants need light to grow, and now double glazing helps keep us warm, comfortable and safe.

The amount of light useful to plants is decreasing.

Where is the best lighting for plants… outside.

Not always practical when they need to be kept above ambient temperature.

Maybe even outside if they are used to longer days year round…they need more light…

Or if it’s impractical to put them all on a windowsill — do you have an alcove begging to put a plant in it — but you know if you do you’ll be moving again in a week when it fades it.

Why not bring out the best in them, help them do what they naturally do, and give them more light.

Even if your plants grow too large for sky garden lights — you can remove them and add supplemental lighting.

Mars Hydro FC-E1000 Bridgelux 1000W LED Grow Light

Features:

The Mars Hydro LED Grow Light has a full spectrum for full cycle plant growth. FC-E1000W is specially designed for high PPFD culture (such as high concentration CO2 growth). It is by far the most powerful grow light with a high PPF of 2,766 umol/s and an average PPFD of over 1,300 umol/m2/s. The FC-E1000W is slightly different from other FC-E LEDs because of its scalable flexibility, allowing for customization and configuration. Typically, 10 light bars are arranged on 2 support bars to provide an unusually high amount of power for an area of 4x4 feet.

Spider Farmer SE1000W Dimmable Full Spectrum CO2 LED Grow Light

Features:

Spider Farmer LED Grow Lights feature a uniquely designed extension of 10 to provide more even and complete canopy coverage, especially in exterior growing areas. With 3710 SAMSUNG LM301B diodes, the SE1000W Led Grow Light consumes 1000 watts at 2955 umol/s, achieving an impressive PPE of 2.9 umol/J, covering a high yield full cycle growth of 4'x4'. The dimmer knob is ideal for growers to adjust light intensity for different growth stages. The SE1000W grow light comes with a detachable driver and long power cord to reduce ambient heat in the grow space and extend its lifespan. The LED diodes are coated with water repellent, so there is no need to worry about wet environment.

What to Look for When Buying LED Grow Lights

When shopping for LED grow lights, it’s important to keep the specific needs of your plants in mind. Different plants have different light requirements, so it’s important to choose grow lights that provide the proper amount and type of light for your particular plant.

In general, you should look for LED grow lights that emit full-spectrum light, as this will give your plants the most complete coverage. Ideally, you should have a light that allows you to change the light spectrum (e.g. UV/IR control) to suit different growth stages.

You should also make sure the light is bright enough to penetrate the leaves and reach the base of the plant.

Finally, you need to consider the quality of your grow lights. While more expensive lights may offer more features or higher-quality lights, they’re not necessarily better for you. Lamps that use cheaper generic diodes and LED drivers will perform poorly, run hotter and burn out faster. This is thermodynamics and there is no getting around it. Quality is very important when choosing LED grow lights, otherwise you run the risk of poor results.

Where should I place grow lights?

Grow lights should be close to the plants without any obstructions. It is best to place them above the plants to guide their growth upwards. Plants will grow well with a decent distance from the light. In general, LED grow lights should be positioned 12 to 30 inches from the top of the plant. Then, as the plants grow, adjust the light to maintain a consistent distance from the plants. This distance also depends on the light intensity of the light used. If in doubt, start from a distance and gradually bring the light closer to see how the plant looks.

Conclusion

Use these points above to help you navigate the world of LED grow lights and make sure you choose the best LED grow lights for your garden. Also, use the manufacturer’s published specifications to determine how your LED grow lights will perform in your garden and over the years.