Grow Light Spectrum Explained: Ideal LED Spectrum for Plants — 2021 Updated

LED stands for light-emitting diodes. LED grow lights have rapidly come down in price and home growers everywhere are starting to make the switch to solely using them as their lighting option.
These lighting systems produce extremely low heat, come ready to plug-and-play, and can produce high yields with incredible energy efficiency.
Whereas HIDs require a reflector and ballast for operation, LED lights do not. They can last for decades, whereas HID bulbs will often need to be replaced every couple of years. But, one of the main reasons LED grow lights are regarded as the best is due to the spectrum they produce.

Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights vs Other Grow Light Options
By far, full spectrum LED grow lights are the best choice for growing. They offer the closest light spectrum that is similar to natural sunlight.
However, there are other grow lights that offer a variety of light spectrums that are worth considering.

• Broad Spectrum LED Grow Lights — these grow lights have a high ration of broad-band LEDs. They are white in color that is a combination of red, blue, and green wavelengths. They do not offer white wavelengths. These lights are perfect for increasing photosynthesis and recommended for indoor use and plants that do not have different lighting preferences for various plant stages.
• Narrow Spectrum LED Grow Lights — these lights use a higher ratio of narrow-band LED or phosphors enabling wide color gamut displays. They are generally purple or pink in color and are optimized for red and blue PAR. They are mostly used in greenhouses for adding extra wavelengths and the red diode efficiency. These lights are not recommended for grow tents. They do not have the necessary full-spectrum lighting.
• Adjustable Spectrum LED Grow Lights — these newly developed grow lights are designed for precision control of plants. They allow you to adjust the grow light spectrum using wireless methods. Many growers use these lights to encourage flowering, improve cell structure, and easier maintenance. These lights are designed for commercial and scientific applications to study and monitor precision.

ECO Farm GLT 500 Dimmable Samsung LM301B Grow Light

Pros

• Bright light
• Worth the price
• Full-Spectrum
• Has Infrared
• Generates little amount of heat
• Ideal for boosting flower development
• Energy efficient

Cons

• Fans are quite loud
• Some buttons tend to be lost

Phantom PHENO 440 LED 440W LED Grow Light

Pros

• Economical price-wise
• Heat is not an issue
• Sturdy design
• Full-spectrum
• Efficient
• Bulb is detachable
• Provides great coverage
• Great for small house plants

Cons

• Though full-spectrum, it has more red lights
• No power cord included

Here are some of the factors that you need to look at before you make the purchase:

• Electricity Consumption: One of the best reasons as to why you should be purchasing an LED lights is that they do not consume electricity as much as the older types of lights do. Most non-LED grow lights consume as much as 30% more electricity than their LED counterparts. However, you must always take a closer look at the electricity consumption and the wattage of the light that you are buying! Given that the LED grow lights that you are going to buy have to run for about 8 to 10 hours every day, you need to make sure they don’t cost you a bomb in electricity costs.
• Spectrum: Plants need ‘light’ to grow. This light can be of any type and can come from any source. However, there’s a difference between just light and optimal light. In order for the process of photosynthesis to happen at an ideal pace and rate, one needs to ensure that the lights that they are using are full spectrum LED grow lights, which can actually replicate the natural light of the sun. Plants need not only the red and blue spectrum lights, but also infrared and ultraviolet rays. Hence, it is essential that for a good growth of your plants, you get a full-spectrum LED grow light.
• Heat Output: A pro-tip for those looking forward to buying new LED lights for growing marijuana indoors is that you must always look for lights which provide a low heat output. While heat is critical for the growth of your plants, you must not forget that too much of heat is the easiest way to kill your plant too! Even lights which have a low heat output need to be placed at an appropriate distance from the plants so that they do not provide too much heat. Lastly, a low heat output is good because lights with a higher heat output have a smaller lifetime as they ‘burn out’ rather quickly.
• The Semiconductor Chips: Semiconductor chips form a critical part of LED grow lights. While their basic job is to convert electricity into light, they form the core of what provides the light to the plants and hence you need to ensure that the semiconductor chips that your LED panel is using is of a good quality. Brands such as Samsung can always be trusted to provide a long-lasting product which will not be easily burnt-out. Light panels that feature a chipset of at least 3 watts should be the minimum that you must aim for otherwise the light will be too weak for a suitable growth.
• Growing Space: Another thing that you need to keep in mind before you purchase your LED grow lights is the actual grow space that you are going to make use of. If your grow space is large and your plants are well spread out, you would require a larger number of lights, or you would need lights which can cover a larger area — you also need to keep in mind that the larger the area a light covers, the lesser the heat it will provide to the plants — hence, all three things including the area your plants are spread in, the amount of light that the LED can provide and the heat need to be considered. A basic mathematical calculation here is that you require 32 watts of power per square foot of growing area for high-light plants.
• Ease of Use: One of the most important things that people often do not consider is the ease of use! Especially the first-time growers need to ensure that the lights that they are buying are simple and easy to use. First-timers don’t need much more than a light which is as basic as plug-and-play and offers essential features like daisy chaining where you can plug one light on to another. You also need to ensure that your lights are flexible in terms of use and you can adjust the intensity of the lights so that it is easy for you to manage the different growth stages.
• Durability: One of the biggest problems with older types of lights is that of durability. For those who have grown in the older setup, it used to be a common problem that the lights (especially the cheaper ones) would tend to burn out and sometimes even the glass would just burst because of voltage related fluctuations causing the chemical vapors to go unstable. However, an LED lamp built using good quality materials can last you for as many as 10 years! Another important thing that we need to talk about here is the lifespan of the lights — a good quality LED light can offer you anywhere between 40,000 to 50,000 hours of light. 50,000 hours is basically continuous usage for 5.7 years — and considering that most growers don’t need more than 12 hours a day, it would mean the lights can last your for as many as 10 years! This is a huge benefit over the older types of lights which used to burn out in as few as 8,000 to 15,000 hours.
• Brand: While there’s an old adage in the markets that ‘the brand doesn’t matter’, that is actually incorrect because the brand does matter. It is not just the quality and durability of the lights but also the after-sales service and supports and companies which have a good reputation in the markets are usually better when it comes to repairing your lights in time and offering you proper refunds and replacements as opposed to a random company which you’ve seen off Amazon with like 2 good reviews!
• Price: The money that you are going to invest is obviously important. A good LED grow light can set you back by a couple of hundred dollars but when you look at the fact that you need multiple such lights in order to cover your entire growing operation, you need to give it a serious thought that are the lights worth it — or would you rather work on traditional old-fashioned lights. However, the one thing that comes in the favor of these LED grow lights is the fact that they basically pay for themselves in terms of the savings that they make you when it comes to electricity costs when compared to older lights.
• Warranty: Last but not the least, warranty services are pretty important and they are something that you must keep in mind before you purchase an LED grow light for growing marijuana indoors. The warranty is an essential element of after sales services and you need to ensure you get the most out of your brand with regards to this!

Final thoughts
Plants just like humans need some vital things to survive, but getting the best of what you need can only result in better quality. In other words, if you provide plants with the best LED grow lights that cover every aspect of lighting a plant needs then your crop can and will be the best it can be. We hope these top rated grow lights will help your indoor garden.
Every grow room is different and certain aspects of an LED grow light might not be perfect. Consider the variables of your grow room, plant, and soil and you can easily determine which LED grow light is right for you and more specifically your plants. ECO Farm LED grow light deserves for your try.