The newest technology available in the indoor gardening field are LED grow lights. They have the potential to give you great results, but you have to be able to distinguish what works and what doesn’t. There are some bad products that take advantage of the hype around LED grow lights, but simply don’t deliver. This has led some people to question if this technology is all that great. The truth is that it requires research to know what will give you optimum results.

Knowing what your plant needs is very important. This is part of the research you need to do to figure out what bands of light you should provide. There are products that will put out 3, 5 or 11 bands of light, but most plants will usually only require blue and orange-red. The first one is for vegetative growth, and the second for flowering. So, imagine that you’ve recently purchased full spectrum LED grow lights, but your plant only needs the minimum to grow. Then, a number of band lights are going to waste, because they are not used by it.

A good LED grow light can be quite expensive. Then again, you don’t need the most expensive one available. For example, an effective 90 watt light can be somewhere around $300. One of these lights will be enough (for most plants) for a growing area of 4′ X 4′, and you can expect to grow healthy plants. You might need a better light than that, or not, that’s where knowing about your plant comes in handy. It’ll prevent you from overspending.

In order to get a good LED grow light you should make sure it’s not underpowered. Each LED bulb should produce 1 watt of power at the least. This is why you should stay away from cheap LED panels. They are usually made of weak lights that don’t penetrate into your plant. The result of growing with LED panels are unhealthy, weak plants. They will only cover a very small area, and they light wavelengths whey produce are not appropriate for plant growing. These panels are basically useless for healthy plant development.

While it’s true that LED grow lights are expensive, you should know that in the long run you will save money. With proper care, they will last a long time, and have a low impact on your electricity bill. If you’re serious about growing with LED and get the best results you’ll have to research about your plant, and what product is best for it. Remember that providing the right bands of light, and powerful bulbs is key.

Consider that LED grow lights are a new technology, so the information about how to use them is limited. If you’re not looking forward to experimenting and tweaking your setup, then fluorescent grow lights might be more suited for you. They’ve been around for a long time, so they are easier to use.