With an outdoor grow setup; the plants depend on the sunlight. However, for indoor growing, you need to install quality grow lights.
The grow lights support the growth and development of hemp and marijuana plants and exert a positive influence on plant health and yield.
Grow lights come in a range of varieties, and certain types of grow lights are more suitable at certain stages of the growth cycle of the hemp or marijuana plant.
Whether you choose LEDs, HIDs, or fluorescent bulbs, each of these grow lights may be ideal in various circumstances. Make sure to choose the best grow lights for your plants.
10 Best Indoor Grow Lights
Traits of Quality Indoor Grow Lights
Whether you farm cannabis for personal use or commercial benefits, with an indoor grow center, you get to supply all factors of plant development including light.
Now, you cannot take your kitchen bulb and put it in your grow room because such a bulb is unlikely to give off sufficient light or have a light spectrum.
The following are some of the traits of quality grow lights:
1. Robust Build
No matter the type of grow lights, they need to consist of a solid frame and architecture. The grow lights need to be made to superior standards with sturdy materials and components. In this way, you can use the grow lights in successive grow cycles for years.
2. Full Spectrum
Full spectrum grow lights give off light energy across a broad range of colors. Hemp and marijuana plants require different light spectrums at different stages of their development. Full spectrum grow lights exert the best impact on plant development by providing the ideal light energy across different stages of the plant’s growth cycle. At the seedling and vegetative stage of the cannabis plants, blue light is most suitable, while at the flowering stage, yellow or red light is most suitable. Optimizing the light spectrum enhances the quality of hemp and marijuana buds.
3. Energy Efficiency
See, when growing cannabis plants indoors, you need to supply artificial light, and you need to observe photoperiod. The cost of supporting the lighting system can quickly add up. And so, it’s critical to choose the energy-efficient grow lights, especially if you’re looking to extract a profit out of your harvest. There are still high-performance grow lights with inbuilt energy-saving features.
4. Reduced Heat Production
When grow lights give off light energy, heat is a natural companion. Grow lights with a high heat output can potentially cause the grow environment to become hostile for plants, especially if the ventilation system isn’t highly effective. The heat can damage plant structure, cannabinoids, and ultimately lower plant health and yield. And so, it’s essential to choose grow lights with minimal heat production. There are high-performance grow lights with inbuilt cooling features.
5. Safety and Reliability
You must not overlook the safety features in grow lights. They need to be easy to set up and use, with proper guidelines on every aspect of the grow light. Generally, quality grow lights aren’t the cheapest option. Substandard grow lights with a poor build and low safety features are open to various issues like malfunctioning and causing accidents.
Types of Indoor Grow Lights
The following are the common types of indoor grow lights:
Fluorescent lights: these are generally considered to be on the lower end as far as performance. There are two types of fluorescent lights: fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lights. Fluorescent tubes are ideal for small spaces and compact fluorescent lights offer greater efficiency.
HID lights: HID, short for High-Intensity Discharge, are high-performance grow lights and are more popular than fluorescent lights. Although they are effective, and even favored by a sizable portion of commercial growers, one of their major downsides is that they produce a ton of heat energy, which requires them to be installed at a healthy distance from plants.
LED lights: LED, short for Light Emitting Diodes, are advanced and efficient lighting systems. They feature full spectrum and broad spectrum light energy and they incorporate inbuilt cooling systems.
Things to Consider in Buying Indoor Grow Lights
The following are some of the things to consider when buying grow lights:
- The cost of the grow lights
- The size of the grow room
- The stage of the plant in the growth cycle