Grow lights are rapidly becoming an essential component of indoor gardening. They can facilitate you in growing plants that would never grow in your home normally. You must first understand how to use LED Grow Lights for your indoor plants to get the best results. For that, we have shared the process of using LED grow lights for indoor plants. Keep reading till the end to know everything about the process!
Introduction
LED grow lights can help you produce various indoor plants, whether you want to grow a rare flower or just some herbs and greens.
Growing indoors provides you with several benefits over outdoor gardening. One of the most apparent benefits is that you can control the temperature better. Most plants only bloom or make fruit when the temperature is within a narrow range.
The humidity level is another factor you can change in an indoor growing environment. Some plants love the air that is moist and humid, but other plants are more likely to get sick in those same conditions.
On the other hand, many succulents and cacti are like a dry environment, which you can create in a room with air conditioning.
On the other hand, outdoor gardening has one clear advantage over indoor gardening: it gets more sunlight, which many plants need to grow.
Luckily, LED grow lights can give your plants all the light they need quickly and cheaply. And we have shared the process of using LED grow lights for indoor plants here for you!
What are the LED Grow Lights?
LED grow lights are special LEDs with a full spectrum and are made to help plants grow with little or no sunlight. Light Emitting Diode (LED) grow lights are great for all kinds of indoor and outdoor growth and greenhouse growth that need extra lighting.
Unlike regular lights, they don’t need gas to work inside a bulb. Instead, they only have a small diode of light. LED lights last longer than regular incandescent bulbs and HID bulbs like metal halide and high-pressure sodium (HPS) because they don’t have a filament that can burn out.
This also saves money over the life of an LED lamp because you won’t have to replace bulbs as often as you would with older lighting technologies. Whereas an HPS or metal halide bulb might last up to 20,000 hours, most modern LED chips are now rated to last 100,000 hours, five times longer than older technologies.
LEDs also stay bright for a much longer time. Halfway through life, an HID lamp can lose half its brightness. A DLC Premium-rated LED light will keep 90% or more of its lumen output for 36,000 hours after the HID lamp has burned out.
One advantage of LED grow lights over HID grow lights is that they are more efficient. LED lights don’t make as much heat as other kinds of lights, which means they use less electricity but still give off a lot of light.
This is another huge benefit of using LEDs for lighting in horticulture. It saves money because you don’t have to use expensive cooling systems and the electricity those systems use to keep growing areas from getting too hot and killing plants.
LED technology can make the light very similar to the sun’s light, making it possible for all plants to grow indoors. Innovative companies like CREE are always improving LED technology, and current LED horticulture chips are made with full spectrum lighting that includes a wide range of light wavelengths. This makes them perfect for growing plants at any stage of their lives.
It’s time to throw away those old HID lamps and move on to LED full spectrum lights, the future of lighting for horticulture.
What are the Types of Grow Lights for Indoor Plants?
Incandescent
Incandescent grow lights are the cheapest option but also use the most energy. They give little light, but they give a lot of heat, so you can’t put them too close to plants. There is more red light coming from incandescent bulbs than from blue light.
Fluorescent
Fluorescent grow lights use less energy than incandescent grow lights, but they usually cost more. They give off a good range of light for plants and don’t heat as much as incandescent bulbs. But they can break easily and last less time than other lights, like LEDs. Most fluorescent lights come in tubes, which is only sometimes the best way to light just a few indoor plants at once.
LED (Light Emitting Diode)
LED grow lights use less energy and cost less, giving off the right kind of light for all plants. Plus, they don’t give off much heat, so you don’t have to worry about burning your plants if you put the light too close.
High-Voltage Discharge (HID)
High-intensity discharge (HID) lights give off a lot of light and are most often used in large-scale commercial growing operations. Also, they are expensive and are usually sold as large installations instead of tiny bulbs.
Is there any effect of LED grow lights on plants?
The different colors of LED grow lights are directly related to their intended use. Studies have shown that certain colors affect plant growth by affecting root and flower formation (blue and red light spectra).
This means that most plant types will grow normally if exposed to blue and red grow lights. Adding other colors, like green, far-red, and deep-blue, to the spectrum helps this process by giving plants more information about their surroundings, which leads to better plants overall.
A spectrum with all colors is called a “full spectrum,” It mostly looks like sunlight, and the light will look white to our eyes if it has a lot of green. This isn’t essential for plant growth, but it does make working around the lights easier and lets you see the plants to check on them.
How to use LED Grow Lights for Indoor Plants?
While many houseplants thrive indoors with whatever natural light comes in through the windows, others can be coaxed to bloom more consistently or to grow more healthy leaves with additional light from artificial sources. In addition, when starting vegetable and annual flower seeds indoors, they frequently require the assistance of lights to develop appropriately. While it is difficult to completely replicate the extraordinary power of sunlight, grow light fixtures outfitted with simple fluorescent or LED bulbs can come close. Here’s everything you need to know about how to use LED grow lights for indoor plants!
Use Grow Lights for Seedlings
Bright lighting is essential for starting spring transplants indoors. Most rooms lack sufficient light to produce dense, healthy seedlings. Even a south-facing window frequently falls short of the time sunlight can shine through. Seedlings germinate in a sunny window and have their first set of leaves. The “stretch” begins when stems desperately seek more light to fuel their rapid growth.
Grow your seedlings under artificial light created by standard shop lights ($16, Walmart) outfitted with fluorescent tubes or energy-efficient LED bulbs to avoid leggy plants. These bright lights emit a combination of blue and red light waves, which are required for healthy plant growth. Look for “full-spectrum” bulbs, which your plants will need.
Using Grow Lights for Houseplants and Herbs
If you shine a light on your favorite flowering houseplant, like an African violet, it will bloom more than it would with only natural indoor light. In the same way, you can use artificial lighting to get more basil, rosemary, parsley, and other easy-to-grow greens indoors during the long winter.
Red light waves make houseplants and food plants flower and produce more fruit. Choose a source of light that gives off a lot of rich red wave light. On the Kelvin color temperature scale, for example, warm white light is between 2,700K and 3,200K and has a lot of red wave light. Check the package of a bulb to see what its Kelvin rating is.
FAQs about LED grow Lights
Are LED Lights Better?
LED lights and grow lights are not the same in just one way. Even though LED lights cost more, they last more than twice as long as other lights. Also, they use less energy, which saves money in the long run. Also, no gas, mercury, lead, or filament can break, and the bulbs are harder to break and are made of more robust materials. LEDs are also more remarkable than many grow lights, so they can be placed closer to plants without burning the leaves. Use LED lights. The cost of setting up your grow light and how long it will be used can help you answer this question.
How long to use grow lights for indoor plants?
Most plants need a lot of sunlight to flower and bloom, so the best time to grow vegetables outside is in the summer. It is best to give your plants 12 hours of light a day. But remember that your plants need some time in the dark to rest. Look for LED grow lights with easy-to-use timers so you can control how much light your plants get.
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