3 Step Beginner's Guide To Choosing an LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants 772
by Admin
Posted on 22-02-2023 07:40 AM
March 11, 2021
starting an indoor grow operation can be overwhelming for beginners since there is a lot to consider to make sure your plants grow healthy. One of the significant aspects of any indoor growing system is the lighting, and most people can assuredly say that led lights are the way to go. The question that immediately arises is: what size of grow
grow light
do i need?
there are various brands and types of led grow lights available on the market and choosing the right one isn’t the easiest task. Most first-time indoor growers don’t have any knowledge about the requirements of their indoor garden in terms of space and size.
1. What and how are you growing?
Consider the photosynthetic photon flux (ppf) for each product you look at.
The ppf reading will tell you the total par light output of the lamp each second measured in micromoles. The ppf reading is a measure of how powerful the light is. In general , for a 4-by-4-foot growing area, you're looking for a ppf reading of about 1,000 to 1,500 micromoles per second (μmol/s).
What size led grow light do you need for growing cannabis indoors? unlike the world of metal halide (mh) and high-pressure sodium (hps) lighting, led lighting poses a bit of a mathematical challenge for rookie growers setting up their indoor grow space. Wattage was the conventional approach to calculating the number of grow lights in a grow tent, but it doesn't easily convert into leds' language. When it comes to led grow lights, wattage is not always a great conversion. Instead of strictly relying on wattage, you'll need to look at a few factors to make an accurate estimate for the number of led grow lights you'll need and the appropriate size.
In late bloom many growers aim for maximum ppfd levels of up to/around 1000μmol/m2/s when growing photoperiod feminised cannabis seeds. Some people may even push for ppfd levels of 1500 when supplementing with co2 in late bloom. However, the experienced grower will note that some strains (and indeed certain phenotypes within the strain) are able to be pushed to higher ppfd levels than others before showing signs of stress. So there is no clear ‘one size fits all’ policy when it comes to ppfd and cannabis cultivation. Many autoflower growers using long photoperiods (e. G. 20 hours per day) will err on the side of lower ppfd levels (perhaps nearer 700-800) simply to avoid pushing their plants too hard and risking light-burn problems as a result.
Plants absorb light in the 400 to 700 nm range of the spectrum, and color is used for different stages of development. Blue is at the lower end of the color spectrum, used for early-stage growth and cultivating compact, stocky plants for ground coverage. The red-light spectrum (600 to 700 nm) is ideal for the flowering and fruit stages. White light encompasses all colors in the spectrum, which is why full-spectrum lights are useful for growing plants indoors. Although light outside the visible spectrum doesn’t contribute to photosynthesis, it’s still beneficial. Ultraviolet light can affect flower scent and leaf color, and far-red light (700 to 750 nm) can increase leaf size and cause plants to “stretch” tall and thin.
Before i answer this question, let’s talk about plant numbers. It can be hard to decide the right number of plants to grow. Many home-grow laws limit growers to somewhere between 1-6 plants. While it’s easier to grow only a few plants at a time, more plants result in more strains and often bigger yields at harvest. This plant produced excellent yields but the harvest would have been bigger without empty space under the grow light. Adding more plants would have filled that space quickly. Growing just one plant at a time also creates a single point of failure.