Finally the list you need to select suitable grow lights....
Finally the list you need to select suitable grow lights.
You could spend perhaps dozens of hours in vain trying to select from among a dizzying selection of grow lights and not really understand if you’re getting value for your money.
Even if you get lucky, do you know whether your plants would grow better if the grow light were perhaps adjusted two inches closer? Or two inches away? Will they get bleached if it’s too close?
Despite all the technical details provided with lights the Rosetta Stone you need is one that tells you, e.g., how much PPFD (more below) will endure optimal growth for a philodendron vs a begonia.
I finally found a list that provides the vital information needed to correctly configure grow lights to ensure optimal growth, which I have attached below.
Scroll toward bottom for houseplants:
Genera Specific PPFD Recommendations – Carnivero. https://www.carnivero.com/pages/grow-light-ppfd-recommendations
For those of you for which this is Greek here is a more detailed explanation:
When selecting grow lights for your plants, one of the most important factors to understand is PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density). This might sound technical, but it's simply a way to measure how much light your plants are actually receiving in a given area. Think of it as the intensity of light hitting your plants' leaves, which directly affects their ability to grow and thrive.
You'll see a lot of terms like PPF, lumens, and wattage when shopping for grow lights. These can be confusing, but here’s why PPFD is what really matters:
* PPFD tells you how much light your plants are getting in their specific growing area. It’s measured in micromoles per square meter per second (μmol/m²/s). High light plants, like succulents or herbs, need higher PPFD, while low-light plants, like ferns or orchids, require less.
* PPF (Photosynthetic Photon Flux) measures how much total light the grow light produces. This sounds useful, but it doesn’t account for how well that light is spread across your plants. A high PPF doesn’t guarantee all your plants are getting enough light.
* Lumens measure how bright a light appears to the human eye. The problem? Plants don’t "see" light the way we do. Lumens are irrelevant for plant growth.
By using the recommended PPFD range for each plant type (see link), you'll ensure your plants get the right amount of light, maximizing their health and growth without wasting energy. #MyPlantWantsToBeInternetFamous #optimizedsubstrate
#GregGang #CentralTexasGang #SanAntonioGregGang #GreggersSupportingGreggers #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #PlantAddicts #plantdad
You could spend perhaps dozens of hours in vain trying to select from among a dizzying selection of grow lights and not really understand if you’re getting value for your money.
Even if you get lucky, do you know whether your plants would grow better if the grow light were perhaps adjusted two inches closer? Or two inches away? Will they get bleached if it’s too close?
Despite all the technical details provided with lights the Rosetta Stone you need is one that tells you, e.g., how much PPFD (more below) will endure optimal growth for a philodendron vs a begonia.
I finally found a list that provides the vital information needed to correctly configure grow lights to ensure optimal growth, which I have attached below.
Scroll toward bottom for houseplants:
Genera Specific PPFD Recommendations – Carnivero. https://www.carnivero.com/pages/grow-light-ppfd-recommendations
For those of you for which this is Greek here is a more detailed explanation:
When selecting grow lights for your plants, one of the most important factors to understand is PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density). This might sound technical, but it's simply a way to measure how much light your plants are actually receiving in a given area. Think of it as the intensity of light hitting your plants' leaves, which directly affects their ability to grow and thrive.
You'll see a lot of terms like PPF, lumens, and wattage when shopping for grow lights. These can be confusing, but here’s why PPFD is what really matters:
* PPFD tells you how much light your plants are getting in their specific growing area. It’s measured in micromoles per square meter per second (μmol/m²/s). High light plants, like succulents or herbs, need higher PPFD, while low-light plants, like ferns or orchids, require less.
* PPF (Photosynthetic Photon Flux) measures how much total light the grow light produces. This sounds useful, but it doesn’t account for how well that light is spread across your plants. A high PPF doesn’t guarantee all your plants are getting enough light.
* Lumens measure how bright a light appears to the human eye. The problem? Plants don’t "see" light the way we do. Lumens are irrelevant for plant growth.
By using the recommended PPFD range for each plant type (see link), you'll ensure your plants get the right amount of light, maximizing their health and growth without wasting energy. #MyPlantWantsToBeInternetFamous #optimizedsubstrate
#GregGang #CentralTexasGang #SanAntonioGregGang #GreggersSupportingGreggers #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #PlantAddicts #plantdad
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@TexanExpat Great post John, this tends to be not sufficiently understood so it’s good that you set it all out
#GrowLights #light
#GrowLights #light
@FunKeylimetree you’re very welcome. Drop a line if you have anything particularly vexing you. :)
@Floristsdaisy it’s actually just an image I grabbed online since posts look so incomplete without any pictures. I didn’t feel like tidying up my space for a photo lol.
@Seymour thank you. IMHO, the fact that many manufacturers seem to base their products on lumens and not PPFD is a large part of the problem. For any given manufacturer that offers lumens in lieu of a metric that measures photosynthetic light in their specs, I would advise taking a hard pass, given they clearly manufactured the lights on the basis of visible light not photosynthetic capabilities…unfortunately this leads to mass confusion by consumers
@TexanExpat I also find the advertized wattage of growlights to be unreliable and not accurate in many cases as it’s in the suppliers interest to suggest a different wattage to actual. Hence why I am a big fan of light meter apps like Photone.
I did post some time ago at #growlights and #light #cpclubthursday with some great videos to explain all this but your post is a great summary and clarifies the matter well so thanks for sharing
I did post some time ago at #growlights and #light #cpclubthursday with some great videos to explain all this but your post is a great summary and clarifies the matter well so thanks for sharing
@TexanExpat thank you John! I have been trying to figure that out for over a year! Thank you for putting it in simple, easy-to-understand terminology!
@Lifeis2short your welcome. If you want to run it by me happy to help. Keep in mind thst whatever you buy it will need to be about a foot from the top of canopy. Soltech is only one who manufactures lights that can be father
@SFplantlover I actually spent months at this and it’s very confusing but let me cut to the Chase for you : so Amazon offers a range of grow lights. There are some premium ones that are geared for cannabis cultivation in order to cultivate cannabis. You have to have very powerful lights and there’s a lot of competition there so the price down. The spectrum companies that either for individual plants or lightbulbs or you know kind of a strip lights you know it might be a couple of feet or might be 3 feet.  The issue with a lot of these is that they do not offer the specifications for the photosynthetic qualities of the light produced to me the signals that they did not manufacture these lights on the basis of the photosynthetic light produced they manufacture them on the basis of visual light produced that’s what it means when it says lumens Lumens or something that an interior designer or somebody who buys enough lights knows how much visible light they need to for example light up a corner of a room or to have desk. This does nothing for plants. A lot of these are made and nothing but there business model is to produce inexpensive Manufactured scale they’re not necessarily going to be that mindful of the standards that they manufacture them to because most people don’t understand them at least make sense of the fact that most of the lights sold on Amazon offer the relevant specifications I don’t consider these because there’s no way to what you’re getting unless you spend a lot of money on a PFD light meter which can run $1000 easy Sometimes they offer the spectrum to say that it’s a light because it has you know so many you know nanometers in this part of the visual spectrum. I mean, that is not necessarily what makes a grow light the fact that they have that appropriate standard identified in their specifications, but don’t indicate whether they whether the light actually produces a lot or little photosynthetic light means that you don’t know whether you’re getting Value for that as compared to a normal light or another light Also keep in mind that there’s not really a robust product offering for the type of things that house plant people want for example I have some shelf set up in a tent for some of my more sensitive plants and there isn’t really a good option for plants that I have on the shelf so if I have a 3 foot or 4 foot wide shelf and I want to put a light on there is something that provides that because otherwise you’re having to reconfigure it yet I do have some lights like this because there’s nothing else to really vibe, but it leaves me wondering whether my plants are actually getting good or not or whether they could’ve grown a lot faster or whatever but the best deals or the best things that you can get, especially off Amazon Are some of the that for example geared for like a 2 x 2 tent you’ll see they look like a board with a bunch of LEDs on them. They’re not the most aesthetically pleasing but you can find one with dimmer on it as little as $39 and that’s like a really good light for your plants assuming you know it has the PPD posted some of the cheap ones even though they’re cheap to have that they’re cheap to have that. I have about four potting benches set up in a room and I have these types of lights hanging from them and since you know the four tables you know have such a wide footprint. It takes maybe six or so lights or something so I can adjust them to hide if you need to have some plants taller I can adjust the light up and everything like that. There are some lights that are individual plants provide sufficient light by themselves and they’re more suited towards somebody who may have their plants in the northern window and it’s getting some light, but not quite enough. My mom took the because, you just assumed that it was the light that we had on there was gonna give it enough light. I’m a big fan of salt tech solutions. They are the only company that manufacturers lights with an interior design aspect in mind and by this I mean, you can have them more than a foot away from your plants are designed to be several feet away from the plants so you can hang out like a normal light it’ll light up the room like a normal light actually like a very pretty light and it will also give your plants photosynthetic light Expensive when you think about it in terms of the absolute shock to your wallet, but they’re not expensive when you think about what you’re actually getting how many hours it’s gonna last the bill quality and what you can do with that I mean if you can have a set up in your house that doesn’t look like it’s a bunch of lies but just looks likeyou know there’s value in that I hope that helps
@SFplantlover I first came upon soltech in architectural digest. What makes them noteworthy is that they are interior design worthy lights, just with photosynthetic light. Most Grow lights require you to have them 1’ from the plant. With soltech You can hang the pendant light light you would any other light to illuminate your space.