LED Grow Lights for Hydroponic Gardens

Hydroponic gardening or soilless gardening can be defined as growing plants in nutrient solutions, rather than using soil as a growth medium. At times, inert medium such as gravel, perlite or rockwool is used in soilless gardening. Usually, hydroponics is practiced as indoor gardening. The necessary plant growth factors like temperature, light and humidity are maintained in controlled conditions, so as to promote the growth and development of plants.

For better efficiency, artificial lighting systems called grow lights are used to supplement the scarcity of sunlight. These grow lights emit electromagnetic spectrum similar to the sun rays, which enhances the photosynthesis of the plants. Previously, metal halide and high pressure sodium are used as hydroponics lighting systems. Though these grow lights provide an ideal light spectrum for the plant growth, they generate excess heat and consume large amount of electricity. Thus, these traditional grow lights are very expensive to maintain. A more energy efficient lighting system is the LED (light-emitting diode) grow light.

LED Grow Lights for Hydroponic Gardens

In recent times, LED grow lights are becoming very popular for hydroponic gardening due to various advantages. One of the major benefits of this lighting system is low cost of maintenance. The technology of LED grow lights is to emit only the color spectrum required for the plant photosynthesis. Hence, they consume less amount of electricity in comparison to the traditional lighting system and other grow lights. On an average, a LED grow light consumes less than 5 watts of power for operation.

In LED grow lights, wide-spectrum red light and narrow-spectrum blue light of specific wavelengths are configured in a particular manner. The red spectrum supplements natural sun rays, whereas the blue spectrum makes an ideal light for the plant growth. Thus, LED grow lights provide ideal light conditions for the better growth of all types of plants and/or crops. In addition, this lighting system contains no toxic mercury, which is used in fluorescent lights and metallic vapor.

There are several models of LED lights, each suitable for various types of plants and their successive stages. For example, some LED grow lights are designed for vegetative growth, whereas some are specially configured to promote flowering and/or blooming. Speaking about the installation, LED grow lights should be hanged or mounted in hydroponic gardens, as per the manufacturer's guidelines. While using LED grow lights, the height should be maintained in such a way that it covers the maximum plantation area.

Another advantage of LED grow lights is the less production of heat. With minimum heat production, water requirement also reduces due to less evaporation. The problem of high temperature root damage and plant dehydration is thus solved by using LED grow lights. Hence, with this lighting system, there is no need for installation of fans or cooling ducts.

As this grow lights are available readily with plugs, no ballast is required for the initiation and regulation of the lights. Thus, there is no problem for ballast burning and/or replacement, which is so in case of fluorescent bulbs. LED grow lights are long-lasting; a superior quality may last for 10-12 years. Overall, LED grow lights are easier to maintain and cheaper than other lighting systems used for hydroponic gardening.