What type of light is best for growing plants indoors

As the cultivators choose to go for indoor cultivation, it is very important to understand what indoor cultivation is. What are the equipment that are required for indoor cultivation? And what type of row light is best for indoor cultivation.

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What is indoor farming?

To start with, let us understand what indoor cultivation all about is. Growing plants indoor means the cultivators have chosen to grow their plants with the help of artificial grow lights rather than natural sunlight and growing them completely indoor. There are many methods that cultivators follow as per their plant requirement and budgets like growing the plants hydroponically, Soil
cultivation or soilless (Using coco coir) cultivation. Indoor cultivation can be either as home gardening or in big scales for vegetative farming etc.
What are the initial infrastructures required for indoor farming?

The most important thing that is required for growing plants indoor is having a replacement of Sunrays and natural light. For this there is a perfect technology developed that replaces Sunrays and strengthens plants roots and boots their growth. They are known as grow lights. Hence when you decide to have an indoor cultivation, you need to choose right grow light for your grow area based
on your cultivation size and plants types. Other than grow lights the infrastructures required would be having sufficient grow space where there is space keeping the full-grown trees in mind. And having right nutrients to enhance plants growth and knowledge of their application. And maintaining the pH level of plants. Selection of light that is best for indoor cultivation. Since there are many types of grow lights available in market today. Every type of grow light has a different feature and different product advantages and disadvantages. Before concluding that which grow light should be used, we must understand the types of lights available, their characteristics, their installation cost and regular maintenance cost. Other than the selecting the type of grow lights, these factors should also be considered. The light spectrum required for plants, Hydroponic cultivation, Soil cultivation or soilless cultivation. Units required for grow area etc.

Types of lights:

· LED Grow light

LED’s also known as light emitting diodes, are the most famous grow lights among the cultivators. Reason is that usually they come with a built-in fan that maintains the temperature of lights. LED lights do not need any blaster to ignite the light. It is easy to install and have a moderate maintenance cost. LED lights have an option of all light spectrum which makes it more efficient. It emits less heat hence chances of dry soils and signs of burns in plants reduces. LED lights have the latest technology in them, they can be easily programmed in terms of changing the light spectrum based on life stage of plants. They can either be manually programmed or is pre-programed by sellers. LED lights are good for vegetative plantation like plantation of mint, cabbage, parsley, fenugreek etc. It is used and good for cannabis production as well.

· HID Grow light

High intensity discharge grow lights have now started becoming famous. It has high energy and heat generation. It also need an external device, a blaster to start the machine. Since it emits large amount of heat, It becomes important to have proper ventilation and proper watering in plants as this light may cause dryness in soil and burn signs in plants.
There are many kinds of HID lights like
Metal Halide – Metal halide are the most common type of HID light. These lights produce light spectrum between violet to blue that seems like natural day light colours during spring season. Due to this reason, cultivators find their plants blooming under these lights.
Ceramic metal halide - These are the latest types of HID lights. Other HID lights require blaster to start, but these lights require “Pulse starter” to ignite.
High pressure sodium lights – HPS lights are more popular than metal halide lights among the indoor cultivators. These lights emit yellowish kind of light that is similar to day light. But plants also require a light spectrum of violet.
Combination of Metal Halides and High-pressure sodium lights – Combination of Metal halides and HPS lights has both red and violet spectrum in the same HID bulb.

· Fluorescent grow light – These lights are known to be very good for vegetative indoor plants. These lights come in many shapes including long cylindrical tubes, Spiral bulbs, or in compact bulb shapes. Compact bulbs are also known as CFLs (compact fluorescent lights)
· Sulfur plasma grow lights – These are the latest type of indoor grow lighting system. It has full spectrum led grow lights and the lights of the same is created by sulfur plasma which are extracted by microwave radiations. But these lights are the most expensive one hence they are rarely used by regular indoor cultivators.
Factors to be considered while choosing grow lights for indoor cultivation.
1) Full light spectrum. – As discussed above, Different grow light has different light spectrum. Full light spectrums are very essential for good growth of a plant, Strengthening the roots and creating resistance from disease in plants. Hence selection of light spectrum becomes an important decision.
2) Heat and energy generation – Some grow lights like HID lights, Metal halides or HPS lights generate immense heat. This may suit the plant if the geographical temperature remains low and plants need to be kept warm for better growth. But in normal circumstances if the grow lights are emitting large amount heat, it may cause burns in the leaves of the plants and dryness in soil.
3) Light cycle / Light time tables – Since plants are grown indoor, they should have a black out time. It is very important to follow a light cycle for the plants where in they get a fixed black out time and day light time for photosynthesis process.

Analysis:

After considering all the factors, LED lights are supposed to be a very good option for indoor growers. It has latest technology of Light spectrum programming, it emits less heat, and has no extra expenses.
Thanks for reading the article.