The Quick Guide to LED Grow Lights

Nate December 6, 2011 LED Grow Lights General Information 2 Comments

Lesson 1	The Quick Guide to LED Grow Lights
Lesson 2	All the light science you need to know to grow a plant
Lesson 3	Is an LED light ideal for your situation? (The truth is LED’s aren’t always the best fit)
Lesson 4	Qualities of Good Lights
Lesson 5	Read My Recommendations and Reviews

There is a lot of information out there about LED grow lights. Reading everything about them on different websites, blogs, and forums can be overwhelming; not to mention it’s hard to trust some of the things said.

There’s almost always one of these on the forums as well:

And finally, you can’t make it through any forums without running into one of these:

The overwhelming amount of information available and the lack of credible sources are leading many people to simply give up on using LED lights to grow their plants. This is a shame because LED lights are capable of doing so much with so little energy.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that growing with LEDs is for everyone. In fact, there are many circumstances where traditional High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lights are preferable. I even have an article that helps you decide if HIDs are a better fit for your situation.

The goal of this site is to provide all the necessary information in one place (emphasis on necessary). With four easy steps (listed below) you will be up and growing. This site is for beginners, not PhD’s (I promise you, you don’t need a PhD to grow a plant with LEDs). You’re not going to see a thousand page debate on light wave-lengths and why this light won’t work and this light will. You’re not going to see a bunch of charts that don’t make sense. And you’re definitely not going to see a philosophical debate on whether plants really exist or not. This site is about the basics; you know the stuff you learned in your first science class, the one where you put a seed in some soil and watched it grow.

One of the things that makes growing plants so rewarding is its simplicity. You put the plant in the soil, you provide it water, you provide it light and the dang thing grows. Against all odds, the thing grows. Remember to (KISS) keep it simple stupid and your time spent growing plants will be much more enjoyable.