There are a variety of grow lights types, each with their own good and bad qualities. Technology in light bulbs is advancing all the time though, so things are only getting better. While grow lights used to be a fairly tricky concept with incandescent lightbulbs, they are possible and even perfected with the newer technologies of light bulbs. Much like halogen, compact fluorescent, and LED bulbs are making their way into our home lighting due to cost and efficiency, they have moved into the grow light arena as well. This article will compare the various types of grow lights.
LED
LED grow lights are quickly becoming the new standard because of functionality and cost. Because they produce little heat, they’re very efficient to run and also won’t affect the growth of your plants due to temperature variations. They provide targeted spectrum wavelengths for maximum effectiveness, but can’t provide a full spectrum like other bulb types. Perhaps one of the best benefits is their low impact on the environment. Because they’re made mostly of plastic, they can be discarded in a normal landfill or perhaps even recycled. Due to their solid longevity, it will be hard to find an LED grow light going into the garbage anyway.
Fluorescent
Fluorescent grow lights were once the ultimate standard in plant growing. Technology created a wide variety of fluorescents that could be used, but this lighting technology is really becoming outdated as LED advances. Fluorescent bulbs can each produce a spectrum of light that is determined by production. This means that you can buy a full spectrum bulb, or specific spectrums for the growing phase that you need to enhance. The problem with this is that full spectrum lights are much more expensive, but if you buy specific phase spectrum bulbs, you will have to change the bulb for each phase of the plant’s life cycle. So using fluorescents will either cost more for the best bulb, or cause a lot of extra work as you replace the light for every growing phase.
Incandescent
Incandescent grow lights are really a fictional idea. Although they may be marketed as full spectrum lighting, they really don’t produce true wavelengths that light sensitive plants need. Low light or shade plants will still be able to grow, but anything with stricter lighting requirements will not respond well. In addition, incandescent bulbs are very power inefficient. They also have a short lifespan. They will be cheaper up front, but much more expensive when running and will have to be replaced fairly often.
If you are looking to buy a lamp for indoor growing, you probably should be looking at LED or fluorescent lights. LED will be the best for cost, but depending on your particular situation a fluorescent lamp may be the best option.
LED grow lights are an excellent product which allow the hobbyist gardener and professional grower alike to produce great results without the need of natural lighting. This is helpful in cases where plants must be grown indoors due to weather or cultivating outside of their natural climate or season. They give you growing options, run cheaply, and are much better for the environment than other types of grow lights.
Like all grow lamps, an LED grow light will allow you to grow a small herb or flower garden in your home or apartment even in cases where sunlight can’t reach your plants. Natural sunlight is always preferred, but isn’t always available. If you love having plants around, but your apartment just isn’t suited for natural lighting, these LED lights will give you the ability to cultivate almost any plant that you desire.
One of the best benefits of LED grow lights is that they are very energy efficient. When comparing to incandescents (a very poor choice for a grow light both due to ineffectiveness and high running costs), an LED will need less than a tenth of the wattage used to reproduce the same amount of light, or lumens. In addition, most incandescent bulbs are only rated to last for 170 hours. LED lights are usually rated to last for tens of thousands of hours or more. So even if the running costs were the same, incandescent would still lose the battle.
The battle between LEDs and fluorescents is much closer. Fluorescent grow lights are also fairly efficient compared to incandescent bulbs, but still not as efficient as LED lamps. The other way that fluorescent loses the battle is with environmental concerns.
An LED grow lamp is made almost entirely out of plastic and can be disposed of at any regular landfill. Besides that, its long lifespan ensures that it won’t find itself in a landfill for a lot of years. By comparison, fluorescent lights contain small amount of mercury and should therefore be disposed of at a special recycling facility. If not, mercury can leak into the ground and contaminate drinking water.
You really can’t go wrong using LED grow lights as long as you’re not growing the most particular of crops. They meet the needs of almost every plant type by targeting the specific wavelengths of light needed to grow and thrive at each stage of the plant’s life. You indoor garden will never look better once you hook one of these grow lamps up!
The hobbyist gardener who lives in a cold region or in an apartment will revel in the abilities that grow lights allow them to have. Indoor plant grow lights attempt to reproduce natural sunlight wavelengths that are needed by plants so that they can be grown almost anywhere. This will allow for a small herb or vegetable garden to be grown on the kitchen counter or a flower garden to be grown in the living room.
A grow light give you the option to grow plants when and where it is convenient to you, rather than having to own land and wait for the perfect planting season. You can have flowers and vegetables year round, rather than when nature allows. Although they can be pricey upfront, their benefits are numerable and they are cheap to run long term.
The various grow light types all attempt to do the same thing when trying to emulate natural sunlight. They output the wavelengths of light that are most crucial to plant growth and reproduction. Since different wavelengths are needed by plants during the different phases of growth, bulbs exist to target each. There are also bulbs that attempt to target the full spectrum of light, but these will be more expensive due to their flexibility of use.
The benefits of these lights are numerable, but there are also some drawbacks. The most efficient light will still consume energy and increase your electric bill. As technology advances, the impact on electricity use is going down thought.
Another major concern is that grow lights have to run for a fairly specific amount of time each day. You want to try to match the natural lighting environment of the plants you’re cultivating. This can be done manually or with a timer, but make sure you adjust for the change in day length throughout the year. The timing usually doesn’t have to be perfect, since nature’s timing isn’t perfect, but you definitely need to be close.
There are various types of bulbs that can be used as grow lights. The most technologically advanced type is the LED grow light. These use very little electricity when running and are designed to hit the four major wavelengths in the spectrum that are most needed for the different parts of plant growth.
The drawbacks to LED grow lights include their lack of ability to reproduce the full spectrum. Since each LED bulb is targeted at a specific wavelength due to their digital nature, there is a gap between the target light types. Since they are designed to produce the light that plants need, this isn’t a big issue for most plant types, but it can be a problem for finicky plants.
Indoor Plant Grow Lights
The hobby gardener who lives in a cold region or in an apartment will revel in the abilities that grow lights allow them to have. Indoor plant grow lights attempt to reproduce natural sunlight wavelengths that are needed by plants so that they can be grown almost anywhere. This will allow for a small herb or vegetable garden to be grown on the kitchen counter or a flower garden to be grown in the living room.
A grow light give you the option to grow plants when and where it is convenient to you, rather than having to own land and wait for the perfect planting season. You can have flowers and vegetables year round, rather than when nature allows. Although they can be pricey upfront, their benefits are numerable and they are cheap to run long term.
The various grow light types all attempt to do the same thing when trying to emulate natural sunlight. They output the wavelengths of light that are most crucial to plant growth and reproduction. Since different wavelengths are needed by plants during the different phases of growth, bulbs exist to target each. There are also bulbs that attempt to target the full spectrum of light, but these will be more expensive due to their flexibility of use.
The benefits of these lights are numerable, but there are also some drawbacks. The most efficient light will still consume energy and increase your electric bill. As technology advances, the impact on electricity use is going down thought.
Another major concern is that grow lights have to run for a fairly specific amount of time each day. You want to try to match the natural lighting environment of the plants you’re cultivating. This can be done manually or with a timer, but make sure you adjust for the change in day length throughout the year. The timing usually doesn’t have to be perfect, since nature’s timing isn’t perfect, but you definitely need to be close.
There are various types of bulbs that can be used as grow lights. The most technologically advanced type is the LED grow light. These use very little electricity when running and are designed to hit the four major wavelengths in the spectrum that are most needed for the different parts of plant growth.
The drawbacks to LED grow lights include their lack of ability to reproduce the full spectrum. Since each LED bulb is targeted at a specific wavelength due to their digital nature, there is a gap between the target light types. Since they are designed to produce the light that plants need, this isn’t a big issue for most plant types, but it can be a problem for finicky plants.
