It is essential for every green plant to perform photosynthesis. For which it needs a certain amount of sunlight. But in the case of greenhouse plants, it’s not always possible to provide them their required optimum sunlight. So to solve this issue, one of the remarkable solutions is the grow lights. A grow light is basically something close to an electric lamp. It helps to achieve the function of stimulating growth in the plant. These lights complete this task by emitting electromagnetic radiation in the visible light spectrum. Which goes on and helps the indoor plant to perform their required photosynthesis. These lights are also called as plant lights. It is extremely useful for indoor gardens and greenhouse where sunlight is insufficient or worse, no sunlight at all.
So the indoor gardener can now add a touch of greenery and nature into their greenhouse without worrying about the plant getting enough sunlight. In other words, they can place their plants wherever they want to without relying on natural sunlight. Other important things about grow light is that these lights can work in two ways. This light can be used to provide plants with a broader light spectrum or may have a more specific light spectrum designed to cultivate some certain plants. In this product review section, we’ll talk about five of the best grow light for greenhouse.
If you are not in a mood to read the whole review you can simply check the below comparison table, to give a quick look to our selected best grow light.
Best grow lights for plants in the greenhouse
1. King Plus 1200w LED Grow Light:
Because of its top quality and excellent customer support, king plus LED grow light is one of the most popular grow light in the market. Not only that this company’s grow light has some unique feature that is very helpful for greenhouse and indoor plant. One of the most useful features is energy saving. We all know in most of the case grow light consume a lot of electricity that increases the greenhouse or indoor garden maintenance cost. King plus 1200w LED grow light only consumed .235KW per hour. This light dimension is 15.8 x 8.4 x 2.4 inches which are ideal for 3 feet x 3 feet x 6 feet tent. However, it can also be used in a large tent or greenhouse.
Pros:
1. This grows light provides the full spectrum lighting facility. That means it’s light includes all the visible wavelengths that presence in the natural sunlight.
2. Durable and long lasting.
3. Effective Cooling System
Cons:
1. Some of the bulbs can be burned up over time.
2. Roleadro LED Grow Light:
Roleadro is one of the most renowned brands in the LED grow light industry. This company is most famous for its LED grow light, LED aquarium lights and LED underwater light. They have a strong and developed R&D department who are working in this LED grow light industry for almost 11 years. Galaxyhydro Series 1000W is one of the most popular and quality grow light of this company. This grow light is suitable for almost all types of indoor plants. This light has a perfect combination of blue, red, IR & UV which are the main ingredient of sunlight. That’s why almost all types of indoor plants and vegetables grow very well under this grow light. Its Dimension is 12.1 x 8.2 x 2.4 inches and weight is just 4.74 pounds.
Pros:
1. Strong heat removal System
2. Can be used in any growing stage of the plant
3. Added more red light that helps to increase the productivity
Cons:
1. After using more than five or six months some of the light can be burned out or damaged. But Roleadro has an excellent customer support system, who can solve this issue easily once informed.
3. Litever Grow Lights:
Placing, installation and setup of the grow light is always a complicated task. Usually, we have to spend some extra bucks to buy some additional accessories used for the installation. But in case of this Litever grow light we need not think about those extra accessories. Because it comes with some handy grow light kit that helps to install the grow light without spending any extra money. This grow light dimension is 16.1 x 1.1 x 0.6 inches. So, it’s especially ideal for portable greenhouse and for the small indoor garden.
Pros:
1. Comes with some very useful installation kit
2. Best for vegetable, succulent and small plant
3. Durable and long lasting
4. Comes with top quality adaptor
Cons:
1. Don’t have any proper heat absorption or cooling system.
4. Zeyucao Dimmable Spectrum Plant Grow Lights
If the user wants a grow light just for your small indoor office or home potting plant then this grow light is ideal for them. It has a smart timer system. So the user needs to be too worried if they forgot to turn those lights off. It has three different working mode that is 3 hours,9 hours and 12 hours. So the user can preset the timing of their grow light using this smart timer mode. This grow light can easily connect with any kind of electrical device like a laptop or normal computer using its USB port. Moreover, this grow light has five different levels of brightness adjustment level. So the user can easily adjust that brightness level according to their plant’s requirement. This grow light dimension is 13.4 x 5.4 x 3.4 inches.
Pros:
1. Very affordable price
2. Lightweight
3. Smart automatic turnoff system
4. 360-degree adjustable stand
Cons:
1. Using its auto timer system the light can be turned off automatically but it has no automatic turn on system.
5. Viparspectra LED grow light:
Viparspectra is in this grow light industry for over 10 years. They are most popular for their durable and quality LED grow light. Reflector Series V300 300W LED grow light is one of them. This grow light is most suitable for indoor vegetable and flower and succulent garden. Fire-resistant reflectors increase the safety of this grow light. Moreover, this light is UL certified that ensures safety in this grow light. The Item dimension is 12.6 x 7.9 x 3 inch and weight is just 6.4 lbs.
Pros:
1.Full Spectrum lighting
2.Suitable for all kind of horticulture indoor plant
3. Fire-resistant iron housing ensure the safety issue
4. Smart aluminum cool absorber heat sinks and high-speed quiet fans absorb the extra heat of growing light.
Cons:
1. Though this LED grow light is great for the growing stage but not suitable to influence flowering.
Importance of Grow Lights in a Greenhouse
Increase production :
Every plant has a different photoperiod which is based on time and intensity of the light. That is also different at different stages of cultivation. So by using a grow light a gardener can actually imitate sunlight to simulate certain photoperiods. As a result, increasing the plant’s yield of fruits and vegetables.
Extend the growing season:
Grow lights are mainly used in greenhouse lighting as they require up to six hours of direct or full light each day. But that sort of lighting sometimes can’t be achieved naturally. This is when grow lights come into the picture. Grow light not only promote crop growth but also extend the growing season.
Multiple color and temperature:
There is a range of colors used in grow light, which also includes the sun’s light and temperature. So that the user can select their desired grow light color and temperature according to their plant’s requirement.
Contribution in the economy :
These grow lights have been used to grow plants since 1868. Due to the extensive use of grow light in the greenhouse production increases around $2.73 Billion from the last two decade and expected to cross $5.11 Billion by the end of 2022 in the USA.
LED grow light and its impact on indoor gardening:
It can also be said that LEDs may revolutionize the lighting practices and market in the near future. That includes with their multiple benefits. They have a long lifetime and color mixing possibilities make them an ideal light for indoor farming. Because the other Fluorescent and HID grow lights aren’t as safe and preferred for the greenhouse, Moreover they have many drawbacks too. While LED grow lights may seem to cost slightly more than others initially, you can expect and be assured that they will outlast every other lighting. Because they illuminate for many many hours and don’t heat up as much as HIDs light.LED light actually uses up less energy and convert into savings for your greenhouse. Another advantage of LED grow lights is that it can also be used for almost all kind of succulents type indoor plants except air plants. Because though air plant is a famous indoor plant but it needs natural sunlight for its growth
Help to get the optimum light for better growth:
Many plants require at least 12 good hours of light per day for their daily processes and for healthy growth. So adding grow lights to greenhouse is an amazing option for those missing rays that plants desperately need. With grow lights, we can supplement the sunlight and also the quality and intensity of the light to customize it according to the plant’s needs.
Contribution in greenhouse cultivation in northern region:
The gardener who lives in the North where they normally don’t get, many hours of winter daylight, probably know how hard it would be to maintain healthy plants in their greenhouse. Grow lights can solve this problem for the greenhouse. Because most lights’ can be set based on the intensity they want for their plant. So they don’t have to rely on natural light anymore for their greenhouse plant growth.
Things need to consider before setting up the grow lights for Greenhouse:
Calculating the desired wattage according to square foot:
Firstly, We need to measure the amount of light energy needed to completely illuminate the greenhouse space. So that each plant is receiving enough light. This can be achieved by calculating the desired wattage according to per square foot.
Setting up light power according to the plant’s requirement:
Also taking into consideration the light needs according to the plant type and its light requirement. The user can then purchase the lighting according to their results like 20-30W for crops that have low light requirements. Or they can also maximize yields by pushing the wattage up to 60-70W.
Choosing the right light reflection:
The gardener then has to choose the light reflectors as it is extremely important. They should choose a reflector based on the wattage of their lighting system. Normally a 400W light can do well along with a smaller reflector. While a 1000W light does well with a larger reflector. If you have multiple lighting systems in your greenhouse you might want to choose air cooling reflectors since the excess heat can build up if not removed.
An important concern about LED light:
When we calculate light energy for our LEDs we need to know that most LED bulbs do not operate at their full wattage mentioned, and even though LEDs produce more ratios of PAR, most plants still require the same wattage per square foot as that of HIDs.Also before purchasing any of the LED grow lights, it is necessary to know exactly how big your indoor space is going to be. That will help to decide the shape, size, and intensity of grow light required for our greenhouse.
How far should led grow lights be from plants
Well, that is always an important question. Because If we place our LED grow light too far from our plant, we could not get our desired result in our farming. On the other hand, when we place our grow light to close to our plant it can easily burn our plants. Sometimes over expose of grow light makes some yellow spot in plants leaves or create the nutrition deficiency. So the success of indoor gardening or greenhouse gardening while using grow light mostly depends on the lighting position. Which position of grow light is suitable for the plant? This question answer varies from plant to plant. It also depends on the indoor garden size, shape and wattage of grow light.
In most of the cases when we purchase a grow light, the company provide a catalog, that indicate which distance is suitable for which plant. But if you don’t get it while buying a grow light you can take the help of the manufacturer through mail or over their phone number.
As we already mention that there is no exact computation technique to determine how far should LED grow lights be from plants. But in bellow, we provide a chart that will help to get a basic idea.
Things to check before buying the best grow lights for greenhouse :
When we are going to finally purchase the grow light we have to check a few things before finalizing them. So here are some things to ponder over
The distance variation due to light type:
It is always important to consider this issue. Because Incandescent lights should be at least 24 inches from your plants in height. while Fluorescents and LEDs have a comparatively lesser heat output so we can be at a height of 12 or 6 inches from the plants.
Heat :
Fluorescent Grow lights have modest power efficiency and naturally produce more heat than an LED. But surely lesser than HID (High-Intensity Discharge)for which you will have to use fans and ventilation tools to decrease the extreme heat.
Color :
Most grow lights give out a balance of cool on the blue spectrum and warm as in the red spectrum of light. Each spectrum of light will promote a specific effect on the growth of the plant.
Lumens :
This is a unit of measure for a total quantity of light. These determine the maximum amount of light the plant can absorb. Without enough lumens, your plant may not be able to grow as effectively.
Vendor Quality :
It is always best to consider a trusted brand when buying expensive grow lights for safety and quality purposes.
Common Grow Light Accessories :
There is also a need to consider other additions while purchasing grow lights like the Ballast or fixture which regulates the power supply in the grow light. Those things can be purchased independently or incorporated into the unit.
Scalability :
We need to consider the pros and cons of the types of grow lights available in the market, which as of now are- CFL (Fluorescent), HID (High-Intensity Discharge), LED(Light Emitting Diode)
Safety:
This is also an important part of choosing to grow lights. Even after purchasing a grow light users must first go through the instructions carefully and a lot of lightings advise to wear eye protection when working with such things.
Cleaning and Maintaining requirement for grow lights
In order to maintain the grow light systems in Greenhouses, it is said that the reflector and the bulb must be kept clean periodically. It is estimated that the light output can be reduced by a good 15% due to the dust, dirt and other residues that form on the reflector overtime.Even if you believe your environment is clean and crisp the reflectors tend to attract dust and dirt over a time period.So before start cleaning the bulb it is always important to unplug the reflector or disable the power. Even after that, it should be left for some time to cool down. Now the bulb should be removed with either gloved hands or cloth. After that, the cleaning should start.
Some other instructions you should follow are-
1. With utmost care, remove the reflector from its fixture then clean it water both inside and out to remove the contamination. You can even spray it with a hose, this will remove most of the dirt from the reflector.
2. Fill a large container with vinegar and water of ratio 1:100 and insert the reflector into it while cleaning with a soft brush.
3. Fill another container with clear water and rinse the reflector in the water to remove the solution from it.
4. Rinse the reflector once more with distilled water to completely clean it.
After this, place the reflector back into the fixture and now either clean or completely replace the bulb. For this, isopropyl alcohol and clean cloth will do the trick.
Reflector and bulb maintenance should be performed in at least once a year. If not every six months since this is an extremely important part of maintaining your Greenhouse. Especially if we have chosen HID type light as grow lights for our greenhouse.
Conclusion :
Grow Lights are largely growing, in the current market as an alternative to natural sunlight and in some areas is used alongside natural sunlight. Thit is the best possible method of growing plants and increasing efficiency in Greenhouse.
Grow lights can either make or break our gardening season, so if we invest a good amount of money in your lights, but if we end up using them the wrong way it won’t work for our greenhouse. We have to know our budget that we are ready to shell out for our grow lights and then try to find out the best ones.
Another important thing is to always know the limitations of our grow light and not overuse them. Because that can be dangerous. You can easily choose one from the above list. Because most of them are not only budget-friendly they are also very durable and come out with a lot of quality.
The Grow light market only seems to grow as its increased use in indoor farming.So overall Grow Lights can really solve any problem of indoor gardening… Surely there are a few things to keep in mind and a little maintenance required, but all of that can easily be done. And not much of a headache for the returns we are getting. So That’s all for today’s Best grow lights for greenhouse review. Hope to come out with a new review very soon.
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