LED Grow Lights: Is the Right Grow Light for Your Indoor Hydroponic Growing?

People living in northern state in the U.S. always face hardship to find appropriate spot for indoor gardening that are not cold-hardy and an excellent place to start flowering and vegetable hydroponic gardening. Many plants require long-growing season hence can’t be grown indoors in January. An innovation has taken place in plant lighting, with LED grow lights being marketed in place of HID lamps and fluorescent tubes. LED grow lights have been hyped as the right solution for indoor lighting problems. A High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lights are bright but bulky, generating immense heat. This makes them costly to use and incompatible for living areas of a house. But are they accurate for your indoor plants? Let’s find out.

Advantages:

Cooler and Efficient:  LED lights are 80% more efficient than other heat-generating lights such as HPS and halide lamps. Thus LED runs cool on normal room temperature and is proved to be very effective at promoting plant growth. These LED light array are offered with lamps, that results in various wavelengths of the light spectrum. They are just the right lights for your indoor plants which is require at different stages of life cycle. Few arrays include beams that produce light at four or five different wavelengths, and some manufactures offer a display of 11 wavelengths. There is a need of using higher wattage LED lights, which emits more lights in a small space. These large LED lamps, though brighter, are very efficient than using a series of smaller lamps for hydroponic growing.

Convenient:  LED lights do not require a handy power source in their grow room to keep them lit. These lamps are very convenient as compare to other HID lamps. Arrays are available in numerous shapes, including spotlights which can be attached into CFL lights such as floor lamps, small or large flat panels that can be hung over your growing trays  that can cover the larger area. This makes them suitable to use on wide variety of places in home such as floor, shelf or a table. There are large commercial versions available for use in greenhouse. LED lights last longer than their counterparts. These lights last around fifty thousand hours than HID beams that last for around twenty thousand hours.

Disadvantages:

LED grow are more expensive as compared to other. But as the technology develops, the light will become cheaper and save money than halide or sodium lights in the long time. Traditional lights allow the user to replace the entire bulb if the light goes out. As in LED light, if the enough strip goes out user has to change the entire unit settings. LED functioning depends on the temperature of growing environment. Over-using the light in high temperature can lead to device failure. Heat-sinking needs to be avoided to maintain long-life. LED should be supplied with voltage above the limit and a current below the mark. You have to run your product at appropriate power to ensure best possible balance of operating temperature, power consumption and life expectancy. They also produce blue light which are hazardous for your eye and hence avoids direct contact with your eyes.

Conclusion:

LED lighting is not almost as affordable as traditional lighting. The expense problems get worse if you’re about to change the existing light and start with the new set-up. Though these lights are good or bad to use depends on how you feel about them or you’re willing to make any necessary investment.