ECO Farm ECOD Samsung UV+ IR 480W Dimmable LED Grow Light VS GrowPros HM480 LED Grow Light
Humans have relied on cultivating plants for at least 12,000 years. But these days, growing indoor plants is getting downright trendy, thanks in part to our windowsill companions and mainly our growing desire for food independence.
Scientists are proving that bringing these splashes of green nature inside our homes lightens our moods and lowers our stress. But as the season's change and the days grow shorter, sometimes our leafy buddies also need a little boost. Enter grow lights.
“With the resurgence of indoor plant popularity, many plant enthusiasts have discovered their favourite plants may not thrive in their low-light conditions,” says Leslie F. Halleck, an author and certified professional horticulturist. “Or they want to grow seedlings and edibles indoors, which pretty much always requires to grow lighting.”
How Do LED Grow Lights Work?
LED (light-emitting diode) lights are another option for indoor growers. LED grow lights are electronic-based.
These lights are made up of LED chips, which, when combined with the lenses that cover them, create the diodes. The chips are made of two different semiconductor materials:
Once the voltage is applied, an electric current flows through the light — which causes electrons and holes to collide in order to release energy (light).
The lenses of the diodes are what direct the light from the chips, and these lenses can be tinted to change the color of the light by determining how much of which colors pass through. LED lights also come in a range of wattages and styles.
Traditional Panel LED: A traditional LED light is pretty compact compared to the other types. These typically feature small to medium wattage diodes.
Spread Style LED: This type of grow light is a larger option and is made up of small LEDs that are spread over a wide area.
COB LED: COB (chip on board) grow lights are made up of just a few (or sometimes just one) chip onboard bulbs, which are made up of tiny chips covering a small area. These feature strong lenses that give plants great, direct maximum light.
Due to the range of lenses that control the color of their light, LED grow lights have a very flexible wavelength spectrum, which will vary from model to model. LEDs can offer a range of different color spectrums in the visible, infrared (IR), and ultraviolet (UV) ranges.
Why Are Grow Lights Effective?
Grow lights help plants photosynthesize. That allows them to survive and even flourish in winter, by turning the season’s short days into more summertime-like conditions.
Grow lights are only effective if their intensity is strong enough for each plant’s particular needs. Spending the time to research what lamp to buy based on what you intend to grow will greatly increase your chances of success.
ECO Farm ECOD Samsung UV+ IR 480W Dimmable LED Grow Light
Features:
The ECO Farm full spectrum LED grow light was designed to help enhance photosynthesis so you can enjoy stronger and healthier crops! This linear horticulture lighting fixture produces a broad-spectrum lighting output made for Vertical Farming and indoor use. This premium LED growth light is an energy-efficient system that helps you to make important savings. This full spectrum LED grow lights come with 876pcs leds. Excellent spectrum mimics the sun spectrum, optimizing the whole stages of indoor growing plants from seed to flowering, to maximize the yields and ensure crop quality. It has a 2.8 umol/J efficiency level so you can make sure that this grow light system is a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for your garden. The aluminum housing material is durable and reliable. This top growing light for plants uses broad spectrum LEDs that can enhance nutrient absorption. It has an IP65 waterproof design that is perfect for indoor use or greenhouses. At 480W, 1009.8 µmols light output is higher than HPS lights, while using less energy.
Features:
This GrowPros grow light, with an increased lifespan over traditional grow light sources, cultivates healthier, happier plants. The HM480 Series produces 1.8 gram per watts (dried) of crop yield. A high-PPFD and PAR indicates high efficacy, or light output produced per expenditure of unit of power. Generating about 50% more in energy savings over traditional HID and HPS light sources, the HM480 gives you meaningful savings over time. Will not produce the same results without CO2 supplementation. A full-spectrum LED rack lighting solution designed for commercial indoor and greenhouse applications, enabling control over the plant cycle from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage. Indoor plants grow best under full-spectrum lights, which replicate the natural spectrum of the sun. Almost 100% of power expended converts into growth-targeted light energy. The HM480 Series system runs cool thanks to a passive cooling thermal management system, meaning your lighting systems last longer while retaining high light output levels.
Signs Your Houseplants Need More Light
How do you know when your plants need more light? Thankfully, there are a few signs to look out for, such as leggy growth, faded leaves, and loss of variegation (only in variegated plants).
Long Leggy Growth
Long, leggy growth, also referred to as etiolation, is your plant’s way of reaching up to try and get more light. This is very common with succulents. These plants usually have a very compact growth — their unmistakable rosettes are beautiful — but without enough light, they will grow tall and wiry and will sometimes fall over.
You may think that this tall growth is a sign of the plant growing well, but if tall growth is accompanied by the plant looking thin or weak, it is actually the opposite.
Some plants make it harder to notice etiolation than others. The key symptom to look out for is an increased distance between leaves in newer growth. Other symptoms include plant weakness (it’s more likely to fall over), longer leaves, and apical dominance — meaning the plant puts all its energy into growing up and doesn’t grow branches.
Once they are brought home (or sometimes even before that, if they are being sold at a grocery store) and placed in lower-light conditions, the new, leggy growth emerging from the centre of the plant will look very different from the older stem and leaves.
Faded leaves
Another sign that your plant wants more light is faded leaves. The oldest leaves may turn yellow and fall off as the plant attempts to conserve its energy. Its leaves only produce food when they are exposed to light!
Even if they aren’t turning yellow, the leaves on your plant may be fading or losing their vibrancy because the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves has gone down.
Loss of Variegation
Variegated plants are prized for their beautiful, multi-coloured leaves. But if varieties like Marble Queen Pothos do not get enough light, their new leaves could come out as fully green.
This is the plant’s way of acclimating to the low-light conditions. Greener leaves mean more chlorophyll to produce more energy! It works the other way around too: When receiving adequate light conditions, your Marble Queen will produce new leaves with lots of white marbling.
Do note that old leaves will not suddenly change color to contain more or less variegation. This loss of variegation refers only to new growth.
This also does not apply to all variegated plants! Take, for example, the popular variegated Monstera, Albo Borsigiana. This cultivar’s variegation does not respond to light conditions but rather the number of mutated white cells present in the growing tip. A new leaf may emerge fully green despite getting enough light, or it may be mostly white despite growing in a darker room. It all comes down to what’s happening at the cellular level.
In general, variegated plants will need more light than their all-green counterparts because their leaves do not contain as much chlorophyll.
How To Get The Most From Your Grow Light
The Importance Of Distance For Grow Lights And Indoor Plants
So Watts tell us what we’re pulling out of the socket on the wall. PPF tells us how much useful light is being emitted. The next concept you need to get your head around is understanding how, and how much, of that light is actually making its way to your plant.
We need to introduce two more terms in order to complete this story; PPFD and DLI.
PPFD (or photosynthetic photon flux density) is a measure of the amount of PAR (measured as PPF) that actually arrives at the plant. Where PPF is measured in umol/s, PPFD is measured in umol/m2/s. The main variable that impacts PPFD is the distance from the source of the light.
Light intensity degrades quickly as you move away from the light. In fact, a ‘point source of light follows what is known as an ‘inverse-square law’. What that means is that every time you double the distance from light, the intensity reduces by a factor of 1/4th.
Conclusion
Plants can grow with artificial light, but you have a lot to consider. Think about your plants, where they are, and how much light they need. That way, you can choose the best lighting to use to help them grow.
