LED lights have quickly become a favourite among home gardeners who are looking for efficient, low-maintenance indoor lighting solutions. These lights give you the option to use nearly any kind of plant you want to grow, because nearly any type of bulb will do in the confines of a grow room. The grow lights have a technology called "light-emitting diodes," or LEDs.
An LED is simply a semiconductor that emits light, rather than the typical incandescent bulb, which uses something called a "cathode" to create the light. The main advantage to LEDs over other grow light bulbs is that they put out a lot of light per watt, which makes them a great deal more energy efficient than their fluorescent counterparts.
If you plan on growing edible hydroponic plants such as watermelons, peppermint, or strawberries, then you should start with a "high-pressure" grow system. High-pressure systems use what's called "white light coverage" to get the nutrients and light levels you want. Basically, white light coverage is when the bulb is filled with just the right amount of neon (or pure white) light, with very little heat.
LED lights are perfect for this scenario and are therefore the number one choice for hydroponics enthusiasts on the market today. White light coverage is extremely efficient, because it means very little energy is lost as it is with fluorescent lamps or backlighting. Depending on the plant you are trying to grow, you will probably find that you need a different type of white light coverage to provide a full spectrum of light for plants that need different proportions of red and blue light. Keep in mind, though, that you can always switch out the white light coverage as you grow, if necessary, for other kinds of more appropriate lighting options.
More about grow lights
There are some important things to remember about using light emitting diode grow lights in your hydroponics room, one of these things is that because these LED bulbs put out a lot of light per watt, you might be surprised at how economical and efficient they are. Typically, you will have to use metal halide grow lamps (or fixtures) in order to supply the proper light level for the plant you want to grow, but these can be very expensive and LEDs are an excellent alternative.
If you are planning on using a hanging hydroponics system, be sure to place the base of the pot directly over the bulb and leave enough space between the plants and the lights to avoid burning the leaves; the same goes for growing plants in conventional setups. Also, be sure to check the specifications on your grow lamp to make sure it can handle the wattage you are planning on putting out there, there’s nothing worse than building a hydroponics setup at home and realising the specifications aren’t quite up to scratch for your needs!
Most hydroponics equipment stores will carry a full line of high output LED grow lights, but many will only have a small selection of high-end compact fluorescent grow lamps. You'll probably also find that they don't have a wide range of indoor plant growing products, like nutrient powders, ropes, or pots, among other things. Many companies, mainly the large ones, will only carry hydroponic supplies from one brand or another - such as LED grow lights from Sonoma, Hanging Gardens, and others.
If you want to order hydroponics supplies for your indoor plants at home, chances are that your hydroponics store will be happy to help you, because their shelves are stocked with mainly high-performance brands and their staff have plenty of knowledge and experience. Shopping around online with smaller suppliers might be your best bet as you can find some great deals. Amazon is always a great choice when looking for some inexpensive yet still high-quality products, and with customer reviews available to browse, you can be relatively sure of a product's quality prior to purchasing.
If you already have a grow room setup, then one of the best things to use as an alternative to LED grow lamps would be fluorescent bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs do a great job at simulating sunlight for plants, but they're also not very efficient as the LED lights mentioned above, since they only put out a small amount of light relative to their energy consumption. Instead, look for lights that offer a high amount of light for your plants to thrive in. The best bulbs to use for this would be grow lights that offer a high level of intensity, and a fairly low level of wattage, since the intensity should be high enough to keep your plants growing, but not so high that the light will overwhelm them.
