- Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:12 am
#69277
In addition to standard fluorescent grow lights, LED (light-emitting diode) lights are becoming more available and somewhat cheaper than they used to be, although still much more expensive than fluorescent grow lights. The LED lights are purported to have some advantages over fluorescent lights in that they are designed to produce only the frequencies of light that plants actually use, and produce almost no heat, saving a tremendous amount of electricity. In addition, LEDs are said to last many more years than fluorescent lights, from 5-10 years depending on brand, type and use.
This is a discussion topic that anyone with a knowledge of, experience with or interest in LED lights can participate. Hopefully it will be educational and helpful to all of us.
Here is a photo of some plants I have growing under the LED grow lights. The LED lights produce almost no infrared nor ultraviolet light and instead concentrate on the parts of the spectrum that plants use most. They produce almost no heat, use very little electricity, and introduce almost no stress to the plants. In addition, the light from the LED's is very focused rather than being diffused as in fluorescent and other lighting; the LED light can be aimed directly at the plants with little light wasted.
I'm finding the LED grow lights to be very good so far for the initial stages of growing plants after they are deflasked from Matt's tissue culture. These plants, which have grown in tissue containers in 100% humidity are extremely delicate and can burn, dry and die in just a few hours after being taken from their culture containers. These LED lights are very gentle on the plants, while providing them with all the parts of the light spectrum to make them grow well and keep them happy.
These particular LED grow lights are more expensive than most people would want to spend for this purpose, but they (reportedly) have a very long life (7-10 years with no light degradation) and I'm impressed with them so far. There are much more reasonably priced LED grow lights on the market too, for those who wish to experiment. I have no experience yet with any other brand however.
More information about these LED Grow Master lights:
http://led-grow-master.com/
This is a discussion topic that anyone with a knowledge of, experience with or interest in LED lights can participate. Hopefully it will be educational and helpful to all of us.
tc3driver wrote:Sounds like it is time for someone to experiment... I am currently looking into some lighting systems for my in-door plants.I'm currently experimenting growing with some very expensive but really interesting LED grow lights that were originally developed for a NASA program.
Here is a photo of some plants I have growing under the LED grow lights. The LED lights produce almost no infrared nor ultraviolet light and instead concentrate on the parts of the spectrum that plants use most. They produce almost no heat, use very little electricity, and introduce almost no stress to the plants. In addition, the light from the LED's is very focused rather than being diffused as in fluorescent and other lighting; the LED light can be aimed directly at the plants with little light wasted.
I'm finding the LED grow lights to be very good so far for the initial stages of growing plants after they are deflasked from Matt's tissue culture. These plants, which have grown in tissue containers in 100% humidity are extremely delicate and can burn, dry and die in just a few hours after being taken from their culture containers. These LED lights are very gentle on the plants, while providing them with all the parts of the light spectrum to make them grow well and keep them happy.
These particular LED grow lights are more expensive than most people would want to spend for this purpose, but they (reportedly) have a very long life (7-10 years with no light degradation) and I'm impressed with them so far. There are much more reasonably priced LED grow lights on the market too, for those who wish to experiment. I have no experience yet with any other brand however.
More information about these LED Grow Master lights:
http://led-grow-master.com/