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 most important concept to understand about LED grow lights is that you are swapping the brute-force tactics used by metal halide and high pressure sodium grow lights for the gentle strength and simplicity of the technological break-through of LED grow lights.

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 be sure, choosing the right LED grow light for your indoor garden has its challenges. Just like any other product in existence there is a wide range of quality represented by the various brands available on the market. From the very basic models up to the Mercedes of LED grow lights, styles range in price, shape, light colors, and power output that all play a part in determining your success as an indoor grower. I can tell you from experience that, for the most part, you get what you pay for.

I am not telling you that you must buy the most expensive model you can find because cost is not the sole factor that determines quality. It is the composition of the LED grow light and the quality of the components used in its construction that is the real factor.

Although it is common to find 225 LED grow light panels for sale very cheap - under $100 - what you really need to look at is the power of each individual LED bulb in the panel. In this example, each bulb in the array comes in at 0.06 Watts. Unless you only wish to grow a 4 inch tall, spindly plant, you are wasting your money on this severely underpowered grow light. With this lack of power comes very poor results, little to no canopy penetration, leggy plants, and even no growth or flowering at all. In my experience, the lowest output per bulb should be no less than 1 Watt or about 16 times more output than the example. Even still, power LED grow lights can save you tons of money in electricity costs.

LED grow lights emit powerful, highly targeted light to your plants without blowing your budget. In this way, you can enjoy the success of growing thick, luscious plants with monster blooms and the largest yields possible when growing indoors.