All New For 2010 – LED Grow Light Review

The indoor gardening world was rocked a few years ago with the introduction of LED grow lights. In the midst of controversy, many questions arose as to whether or not they could give true results and live up to the hype. By putting in a bit of research, you can plainly see that, not only do LED grow lights deliver, but they are here to stay.

The key to understand with LED grow lights is that you are trading in the brute force concept of high-intensity grow lights such as metal halide and high pressure sodium for the finesse and quiet power of the technology in an LED grow light.

With a typical HID light setup – replete with expensive accessories like fans, ducting, ballasts, etc. – the full spectrum of white light is emitted. From red to blue and all wavelengths between, your plants are bombarded with light and a tremendous amount of heat without regard for its actual effectiveness. HID grow lights have an average of 15% efficiency, the lion’s-share of energy is thrown away in the form of wasted light (un-absorbable) and unnecessary heat. Do you like throwing away money?

The best LED grow lights boast 95% efficiency, which is to say that nearly all of the light emitted can be absorbed by the plants you grow. They produce a negligible amount of heat and near zero light is wasted. This is accomplished only by thorough research and development to target specific wavelengths of light which contribute the most usable energy to the process of photosynthesis. The most beneficial colors for growing plants is in the blue, red, and to some extent, orange wavelengths. If you think about this for a minute, it makes perfect sense because, after all, plants are green, which means they reflect all green light and most yellow light. This renders green and yellow light useless to plants – so why buy a grow light that wastes electricity on producing these spectrums?

To pick the best LED grow light for your indoor growing venture, many things need to be considered. Of course there is a wide range of quality in the lights produced which depends on the manufacturer – just like any other product you buy. From the most basic (and cheapest) lights all the way up to the Porche of LED grow lights, designs and applications range in shape, color of light, price, and individual LED power output. I have found that you get what you pay for with these lights.

It’s not to say that the only way to be successful is to buy the most expensive thing out there because cost is not the determining factor of quality. More important that cost is the quality and composition of the components used in manufacturing your LED grow light that is more closely related to growing success.

What you need to look for in an LED grow light is the power of each individual LED bulb. It is common to find 225 LED grow panels for sale very cheap – around $50-$100, however, you would totally waste your money. Each bulb in such an array typically has only 0.06 Watts. This is severely underpowered – unless of course you only want to grow a 4 inch tall plant. Because of the lack of power, you will get poor results, no canopy penetration, spindly plants, and some plants just wont grow or flower at all. The minimum power output to look for is 1 Watt per bulb – about 16 times more output than “bargain” LED grow lights and you are still saving a ton of money in electricity.

When using high quality LED grow lights you get powerful, highly targeted light to your plants. You will enjoy the success of thick, stocky plants with huge blooms and the biggest yields possible when growing inside.

Get a more in-depth LED Grow Light Review. Stop by Cora Ladd’s site where you can find out all about LED Grow Lights and how they can benefit your indoor garden.