Fortunately, With LED horticultural lights, farming seems to be back in fashion. Once growers relied on the sun, climatic conditions, seasons and had few tools to help, stimulate, and compensate for climatic discomforts.

Today, on the contrary, there are many technologies available, including lighting and therefore cultivation is possible even in adverse conditions.

What is LED technology for indoor cultivation?

Plants need the right lighting in order to grow properly, LED technology also helps in this sector. And therefore, you can use LED horticultural lights for cultivation, lamps that aim at all those who do not have the possibility of being able to cultivate in an outdoor garden or who live in areas with a cold climate not suitable for the growth of some kinds of plants.

How to choose the LED grow light?

It is not easy to choose a Cob LED lamp for cultivation because on the market there are many proposals from different brands at different prices and at different qualities.

Evaluating and choosing the LED horticultural lights based on the wattage does not allow to evaluate what the work of the lamp will be on the plant. This is because the wattage does not directly relate to the well-being of the plants, as is the PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). In fact, plants have a direct relationship with PAR.

The metabolism of plants is influenced by Different factors

It should be noted that the metabolism of plants is influenced by 3 factors:

• Temperature
• Light emission
• Co2 available

If these factors are perfectly in sync, the plant will have a faster metabolism and therefore a faster growth, but if one of these factors is absent, the plant slows down its growth.

It should also be noted that each type of cultivation is different from the other for a whole series of reasons, one of which is the cultivation space. It is essential to know the size of the area that must be covered by LED horticultural lights in order to make a targeted and conscious choice.

LED lamps are closely related to directionality and many panels on the market have a large number of diodes per module, close to each other. The result is a very intense brightness in the area directly under the lamp.

Understand The Area of led light for growing Plants

To be able to understand the area covered by a lamp is to read its PPFD (number of photons) or PAR values on a 4 × 4 grid, carefully evaluating the values of each square of the grid. LED horticultural lights directly relate to the photosynthesis process, so this is the best way to be sure you are choosing an LED lamp that is sufficient for the area to be grown.

An efficient LED lamp must cover all or almost all of the cultivation area with suitable values, for this reason a division of the area in a grid into 4 × 4 squares allow easier reading of the information available when purchasing the lamp. LED.

Furthermore, for each different phase of the cultivation cycle an LED lamp should have certain PAR values.

What to evaluate when choosing the LED horticultural lights for cultivation?

Here are the main factors to take into consideration when choosing the LED Cob grow light

Lumen Maintenance

Lumen sealing is the ability of a diode to use for a long period and the time it will take to lose a certain percentage of emission. This is generally referred to as LM90 or LM80 followed by a score of hours such as 50,000 or 100,000.

The best brands of diodes usually last around 60,000 hours and lose less than 10% of their light output. Generally speaking, a better LED horticultural lights will last longer by emitting more light for a longer period of time than one from a cheaply built brand.

For these reasons, those who intend to make a long-term investment in an LED lamp must opt for a good brand that guarantees optimal duration.

Characteristics of the cooling and ventilation system

A good LED lamp boasts an efficient cooling system consisting of fans and supports for heat dissipation.

Lamp power supply

The task of the electrical power supply system is to supply the voltage necessary to power the diodes. It keeps the current constant over time, despite changes in temperature.

Many LED horticultural lights have constant voltage power supplies. The temperature rises the voltage drops resulting in an increase in current from the power supply. This leads to variations that can quickly damage the lamp.

But there are LED lamps with superior power systems on the market. These are capable of responding to every need of the diodes. This allows the lamp to continue to operate even if one module does not work.

The dimmable spectrum

A feature that some LED lamps designed for the most demanding growers have is the “dimmable spectrum” solution, i.e. The ability to control the intensity of the light emission of each wavelength. If he opts for these lamps, the grower will be able to vary the intensity of each color as needed. It also simulating the seasonality of light along the weekly growth cycle.

What color temperature for LED horticultural lights?

• The temperature of the LED bulb
• Warm light
• Neutral light
• Cold light
• The CRI – Color Rendering Index
• Led color

As we know, by now the old dear light bulb, as we conceived it years ago, classic and cheap (even if not very long lasting traditionally), has almost totally supplanted by the innovative LED lighting system, through bulbs, spotlights, light tubes.

It allows you to choose, in addition to the intensity and shape, also the color temperature that we prefer for our environments, domestic and commercial.

The temperature of the LED horticultural lights

The fundamental element to understand, speaking of the light temperature of a bulb, is the emission of the tone. It perceives in the environment, that is to say the main color produced by the light beam.

Generally, if the light of the bulb tends to yellow / orange we can say that it has a “warm” tone (and therefore a temperature). If the predominant color is white, sometimes even blue, we can say that the temperature is, on the contrary, cold.

The shade of light, in LED horticultural lights for lighting domestic environments or large commercial spaces, even outdoors, is expressed gradually, in a unit of measurement called Kelvin. This symbol is, quite simply, a K The lower the K degrees value, the warmer the color of the artificial light source will be.

In summary:

In conclusion, the choice of a Cob LED lamp for cultivation is a demanding choice. You need to start with clear ideas, rely on leading brands in the sector, and read the product data sheets, carefully evaluating the main data.