Indoor Gardening Under LED Grow Lights

Indoor gardeners can benefit from the lighting used in commercial agriculture. LED lighting is one of the most significant and influential introductions to indoor growing in recent years. Such lighting has made it much easier to grow plants indoors—in particular, flowering and fruiting plants.

Here to talk about the benefits of LED lighting for your houseplants is Luis Rivera, president of Advanced LED Lights since 2015.

Advantages of LED Grow Lights

A wide variety of benefits exist for growing your indoor garden under LED lights. Here are some of the top reasons to do so.

High Yield Indoor Lighting

“The biggest advantage of LED grow lights is the high yield,” says Rivera. Expect more overall growth when you grow under LED lights indoors, as well as more flowering and fruiting.

Lower Heat Output

“LED grow lighting emits far less heat than other types of indoor lighting,” says Rivera. “This is important because too much heat can be damaging to the plants and decrease their growth and lifetime.”

Another perk of lower heat output is that you don’t need a complex cooling system. According to Rivera, “there are two types of cooling systems: active and passive. Active cooling systems consist of fans attached to the lights. The disadvantage of these fans is that they could accumulate dirt and generate noise.

“However, there are fan-less LED grow lights that feature passive cooling, which absorbs the excess heat and makes sure it will not reach the diodes,” says Rivera. “The type of cooling system is crucial when picking the best LED grow light.”

Cost-Efficient Lighting

“LED grow lights are an investment for future growing,” says Rivera. “The lights aren’t cheap, but they last a long time, have low maintenance costs, and they don’t generate huge electricity bills. This type of light is a stable and secure option for regular indoor growing.”

Light Spectrum Control

“LED grow lights allow you to have spectral control, which is beneficial for growing plants indoors,” says Rivera. “Each of the light panel’s spectrum can be independently controlled. Whereas traditional grow bulbs have a spectrum that is single and can’t be manipulated, the different colors of LED grow lights (reds, blues, and whites) can now be turned on or off in different combinations, depending on the growth stage and requirements of the plants. For example, blue light causes vegetation, and red light causes flowering.”

Dimming Control for LED Indoor Lights

LED lights have dimming controls that enable the grower to customize the proportion of wavelengths transmitted to the plants, says Rivera. Many LED grow lights are dimmable from 1 percent to 100 percent intensity. Sometimes full intensity is not required. With LED lights, you can dim the blues to a different percentage than the reds, depending on what you’re growing and the growth stage of the plant.

Programmable Indoor Lighting

Many LED lighting systems can be programmed to go on and off according to the required indoor growing schedule.

Tips for Choosing the Right Duration of Lighting

No matter what plants you’re growing, you must give them a rest from lighting, says Rivera. “During darkness, plants breathe, and this establishes a balance between rest and active growing.”

When it comes to lighting duration, botanists often divide plants into three categories relating to their preferred day length, as follows:

• Short-day plants, such as kalanchoe, will thrive on less than 12 hours of light per day. They usually go through a series of even shorter days before they will set buds and start flowering.

• Long-day plants, such as citrus fruits, require 14 to 18 hours of light each day. When they don’t receive enough light, there is a risk of their leaves growing pale.

• Day-neutral plants, such as certain varieties of strawberries, like Seascape, which grow well indoors, usually require 8 to 12 hours of light year-round.