Published: Jul 19, 2021
Why LED grow light is the best solution for growing cannabis indoors
LED are efficient in providing appropriate brightness to the plants. Light is an important element for plants to grow and perform photosynthesis. For growing good quality cannabis, you need to ensure that your plants get adequate sunlight. Lighting becomes very important when you start growing a marijuana plant in an indoor setup. LED grow lights are cost-effective and better than other types of grow lights available in the market.
LED grow lights are efficient to grow marijuana indoors. They are powerful, cost-effective, and help to get a higher yield at the end. There are several grow lights in the market such as HPS, Fluorescent, and many more. Out of many traditional grow lights, the LED lights are more efficient. However, you may find them costly, but their durability and effectiveness make LED worthy.
There are many indoor marijuana growers who prefer LED for indoor cultivation. It provides the correct colour spectrum that influences the THC content, terpenes in the marijuana plant. So you tweak the plant growth according to your requirement. In this article, we will learn about the LED lights, their importance, and many more
A good lighting will help you grow healthy cannabis. It will also save the marijuana from pests and moulds as well. With adequate lighting, you can easily store the main product for a long time. It will preserve the plant’s THC content, aroma and effectiveness. There are different types of LED grow lights to grow your plants healthy.
The Different Types of LED Grow Lights
It is important to know different types of LED grow lights if you are opting for growing cannabis indoors. Generally, there are about three different types of LED that you should know about. You can use these lights according to your need and the type of growth you want to achieve. Read the following to know more details about their advantages and disadvantages.
Spread style
The spread-style type of grow light emits an equal amount of light to a large area. The spread style has panels that have small holes. The small LED lights are fitted in these holes on a large area. The spread-style LED lights are further divided into quantum board and spider-style.
- Quantum Board: The quantum board light is a type of spread-style grow light. They have diodes with low wattage. This significant feature of the LED lights is very helpful for cannabis growers. It is because it improves the growth of the plants with the correct amount of lighting.
- Spider-Style Grow Light: They match with the Quantum Board lightings but are smaller than them. The diodes are set on a panel that have arms that look like a spider. They are very costly, but they provide promising results of the best quality weed in the end.
Traditional Panel
The traditional panel-style of LED grow lights are also efficient for growing cannabis. They are specifically designed with small and medium wattage to provide appropriate lighting. They are compact, and nowadays, manufacturers are now focusing on this style of lights. They resemble similar features of both COB-style light and quantum board.
You can say it can be a hybrid of these two LEDs. You can adjust them accordingly and use them as per your need. These types of lights emit a wide spectrum of light that helps you to produce good quality weed.
COB Style
The full form of COB is Chip on Board. It is a well-known LED grow light and remains in demand among quality cannabis growers. Every COB produces intense and bright light as they have several LED lights, particularly small areas. The COB-style light also consumes substantial electricity. You can replace several diodes with COB and can produce the same results.
They have strong lenses and throw light straight to the cannabis plants. It means the plants will receive efficient light up to their roots. You will also find auto COBs and single COB lights that you can choose as per your need.
Advantages of LED Grow Lights for Growing Marijuana
LED grow lights are largely used by growers to produce quality marijuana. They not only produce the same intensity of light but save you from having a high electricity bill. Here we will discuss about the different advantages of LED that you should know.
Energy Saving: One of the main features of these lights is that they consume very less energy. It is found that LED lights save up to 50-70% more than other grow lights. Also, the intensity of the lights doesn't fade away with time. LED lights are expensive but their durability and energy-saving features make them the first option for growers.
Low or No Heat Emission: The LED grow lights produce the least amount of heat. As compared to the HPS, or HID lights, they emit significant heat that burns the plant foliage. LED lights produce enough light and brightness for the plants and also reduces the emission of other harmful particles.
Safe for Environment: grow lights are environmentally friendly as well. Along with low heat and energy saving, they are beneficial for the environment. These lights are also recyclable which means they are eco-friendly.
Durability and Longevity: LED Lights last up to more than 3-4 years if used properly. This is why the traditional grow lights are now replaced by the LED lights. They contain no chemicals such as mercury and are safe for growing cannabis at your home or grow room. It can produce lights for about 50,000 hours.
Low Maintenance: Traditional lights need ballast, reflectors, bulb fixtures, sockets, etc. But, LED grow lights are easy to install and they can work efficiently without any maintenance issues. You can simply forget about maintenance after installing LED and focus on the growth of plants. This will save you money by reducing the use of various lighting equipment.
Quality of Plants: With the traditional grow lights, the plants can get burned and dry if you don't manage the temperature properly. They also emit ultraviolet rays that are harmful to the plants. But, with the LED grow light, no UV rays are produced, and can protect the plants and help produce high-quality weed.
These are the top advantages of LEDs which make them stand out from other traditional grow lights. They are easy to manage, cost-effective, and produce high-intensity lights for your plants. Also, they can emit the same amount of light for years, so don't have to change your bulbs frequently. Thus, you should choose LED grow lights for growing cannabis indoors.
Use LED Grow Lights for Growing Indoors
There are different types of grow lights for growing cannabis indoors. Among them, the LED grow lights are efficient and produce the best results to get high-quality weed. If you want to become a professional in this field, you must use LED lights. These lights not only cut down on expenditures such as electricity bills, but are safe for the environment.
High Quality Weed: It was found in a study conducted by the “University of Tennessee” that plants produce high antioxidants, minerals, and taste compounds if they are provided light with perfect spectrum. The LEDs light do not emit much heat which means they are suitable for your plants. They contain around seven bands in the right proportions. This feature is beneficial for producing good quality plants.
Maintain Moisture and Save Water: Other grow lights emit heat that soaks the water in the plants. Thus, you will save a significant amount of water if you use LED lights. Because LED grow lights can also preserve the moisture of cannabis and produce a higher yield.
Calculate How Much Light You Need: If you want to avoid the expenditure on other components, LED grow lights are the best option for you. You just need to calculate your area and figure out how many lights you will need for growing cannabis indoors.
It is important to measure the intensity of lights your cannabis plants require. In that way, you can adjust the height of the lights. If the light has high intensity, you need to keep the lights at a certain distance. Otherwise, you can keep the lights closer to the marijuana at a minimum one-inch distance.
Important things to know before growing cannabis at home
Growing Marijuana NowThe Alternatives of LED Grow Lights
Here we will discuss different types of lights, they are HID lights, Fluorescent Lights, HPS, and Induction lights. These lights have been used for many years. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. You will understand why LEDs are the best option for producing high-quality cannabis.
- Fluorescent Lights: They are available in tube form and are generally less costly. They do not consume much electricity. But, they need ballast and other equipment to set up. You can adjust the intensity of the light. Along with that, Fluorescent bulbs do not emit heat that prevents the cannabis from scorching. They do not give much light that is important for cannabis growth. Therefore, you have to keep the lights close to the plants.
- Metal Halide: Metal halide lights are a type of HID lights that are used for marijuana indoor cultivation. These lights emit efficient blue spectrum during the flowering stage. Metal halide bulbs are not efficient in providing a good amount of blue light which is important for plant growth. Whereas the Led grow lights are not only efficient but also have a wide spectrum of light to promote plant growth.
- HPS Lights: The full form of HPS is High-Pressure Sodium Light. They are mostly used by marijuana growers when the plants reach the vegetative stage. Also, they are expensive and require ballasts for proper emission of lights. However, they have longer durability and also improve the quality of the yield of cannabis. They generate lights when elements of halogen and metal mix with each other. They have a broad colour spectrum which is efficient for cannabis to grow. During the vegetative stage, cannabis plants require enough light for about 16 hours a day. But they are not effective to produce blue lights which are necessary for the plants as well.
- HID Lights: The high-intensity discharge or HID lights is one of the efficient grow lights for yielding quality cannabis. They emit a huge amount of heat that can affect the plant foliage. You have to maintain the ventilation of your room, otherwise, it can overheat. Along with that, they are expensive and complicated to install properly. Also, you have to change the bulbs regularly to maintain the intensity of lights.
These are the different types of grow lights that you can use for growing marijuana indoors. With new technologies, the manufacturers are trying to enhance the quality of LED grow lights that make them more efficient. Hence, LED grow light is a more popular choice for growing cannabis inside.
Growing cannabis indoors requires lots of patience and care. Light is among the main factors to help the plants grow into healthy plants. These grow lights have various benefits that you must take advantage of. You need to make sure that you are providing the cannabis a good amount of light.
LED grow lights are a great option and it is expected that these lights will replace all the traditional lights in the future. If you liked this article, please share your views below.