How to Set Up a Grow Light

When cultivating plants, one of the first decisions to make is where you will set up, plant, and grow. Planting outside requires reliance on the weather, working the soil, and figuring out a system for water delivery. Growing indoors, however, means that you don’t have to worry about the changing weather or soil conditions. Additionally, the chances of disease or pests attacking your plants are much lower indoors. Growing indoors does mean that you’ll need to create a healthy growing environment using artificial lighting.

 

The most challenging element of indoor growing is finding the right grow light setup for your plants. With the right setup, however, you can grow plants indoors all year long. From complex lighting configurations to DIY led grow light setups, there are numerous options for setting up your indoor growing environment. There are several led options as well as fluorescent setups that you can choose from. The best configuration for you will depend on the size of your indoor garden and the location. Let’s take a look at some tips for setting up your grow lights.

Basic Lighting

The idea of designing grow lights for plants is a really simple principle. Your plants will need a high-output LED or HPS overhead light source. Additionally, the plants will also benefit from a lower-output, blue spectrum light source on the sides. The plants will draw the most from the overhead lights and will be supplemented by the lower blue light source. The intense overhead light feeds the plants and promotes faster growth. The secondary blue lights supplied by LED or fluorescent bulbs encourage thicker growth.

 

Some people prefer a red light as it can promote the production of flowers and decrease the maturation time for some plants. Blue lights, however, can promote more leaves and bushier plants. Setups with overhead-only lighting tend to create plants with weaker stems and lower parts of the plants. A setup with overhead lights and lower blue lights delivers adequate stimulation to all parts of your plants.

Smaller Spaces

 

When setting up a growing environment in a tight space like a closet, there are specific considerations. In a tight space, heat can become problematic as it can harm your plants. As a result, high-output LED grow lights will be the best bet for this type of setup. A full-spectrum LED panel with 300 to 600 watts would do the trick but can be expensive.

 

In the long run, however, you can avoid the trouble caused by excessive heat. As discussed, you’ll want to supplement the LED lights with blue lights or equivalent LED bars on the sides of the plants. If you go with fluorescent bulbs, they will produce some heat, however, a main LED light source will keep it manageable.

Larger Spaces

 

If you’re growing plants in a larger area like a spare room, you will need to isolate your grow area from the surroundings. You can get a grow tent or mini greenhouse that will fit in the room and create an environment for your plants.

 

The key to this will be to ensure that it’s well ventilated to control the heat. Similar to growing in a smaller area, you’ll want to use LED lights for the main overhead light source. You will have more options, however, for your supplemental lighting as you will have control over the heat.

 

Additional considerations will be how you care for the plants in your indoor environment. You could invest in bottled water delivery to give your plants quality pure water. There are also specially designed potting soils for indoor plants.

 

The key to ensuring healthy plant growth for your indoor plants, however, is quality grow lights. You can select a commercial setup or collect pieces for a DIY grow light kit. Whatever option you choose, do some research to pick the best equipment for your setup and conditions.