Indoor Grow Light Systems

The most efficient way to convert electricity into light that is available to the consumer is HID Lighting. The two types of HID grow lights used for horticultural lighting are Metal Halide, and High Pressure Sodium.

Metal halide is the blue spectrum of light used in indoor gardening. This blue spectrum promotes optimal plant growth. It is also excellent for green leafy growth and keeping plants compact. If little or no natural sunlight is available the Metal Halide bulb is the best primary light source. You should expect to receive about 10,000 hours out of the life of this bulb. When you use the bulb past its life expectancy you can expect to have a gradual decline of light output. Remember to change out your bulbs, as you will be wasting energy and money with the bulb not running efficiently.

The HPS or High Pressure Sodium Lights instead of giving off the blue spectrum, they produce an orange-red spectrum. This spectrum of light is what triggers the plants to increase flowering and/or budding in plants. Perfect also for supplemental lighting with natural sunlight, and ideal for growing in greenhouses.
Just like the Metal Halide bulbs once they pass their average lifespan they will start to draw more electricity while producing less light therefore making them more expensive to operate. So the key to HID Lights is to replace them once they near their life expectancy. Although with the HPS Bulbs you can expect to receive approx. 18,000 hours, about twice as many as Metal Halide. Without producing the blue spectrum of light it is not encouraged to start a young plant as they will grow thin and lanky unless you are using them in conjunction with the natural sunlight.

Fluorescent lighting is excellent for starting seedlings. It was thought that due to their low output, and their size that seedlings were the only thing these bulbs were good for. The new CFL and T5 full spectrum fluorescent lights have changed the game with these systems. They produce 75 to 90 lumens per watt which makes them energy efficient, and effective. More of the light is used by the plant because of their color rendering, and they produce much less heat than the HID Bulbs. This allows the bulbs to be placed closer to the plants so there is less lumen loss. The 2700 to 3000k bulbs produce the red spectrum while the 5000 to 6500k bulbs are full spectrum with most in the blue spectrum for plant growth.

The new kid on the block when it comes to grow light systems is LED Grow Lights. They are extremely energy efficient, and cool to operate. You want to really do your research with these bulbs are since they are new their efficiency, and usage is still in question. As we test them, we will provide our results on this page.