I will be interested in the recommendations too. I just got my Lemons and mangoes inside and am using a Philips 120W plant light. Dont know if it will help but that was the only one i could get from a local Home depot.

Those are highly inefficient. They are primary for presentation purpose. Majority of the energy is for generating heat. A CFL bulb would be sufficient for a small lemon tree.

Sorry, I don't mean the LED light, I meant the Phillips plant light bulb. The LED is highly efficient. Just very pricy. I found LightHouse Blackstar is the most afforable one so far.

Ebay and Amazon has LED grow lights from a company called Gotham Hydroponics. I bought a 100w LED light from them almost 2 months ago. I've attached some pictures to show you what it has done. The big plant you see is a Lisbon Lemon Tree, so I felt I had to comment, ha.

The tree came distressed from Lowe's. I bought it in July and left it outside through September. As you can see before it went under the LED light, it had recovered quite nicely. The setup is what you see. I started the test on October 18th. The final pictures are in front of a window for better viewing but there was new growth! The growing room was in the basement. The temperature down there was not ideal, so I personally feel that the growth could have been much better if it was warmer in my basement. Not to mention the stale air and such.

The other plant is just a daisy I saved from the cold and as you saw, it drooped considerably. The next picture is three days of being under the LED light. I feel that LED's do work. My only concern at the moment which I'll post in another thread is when plants get too tall, at what height will I need to worry about supplement lighting if at all.

So with your LED fixture, when the LEDs burn out will you be able to replace them yourself with ease, and for how much?

eric_oh, I'm not smart enough to be able to replace them myself I don't think, however I do feel that the company I purchased from would be willing to walk me through it. I tried to put a grow light together myself with a kit and almost started a fire ha. But I feel that the lights are affordable considering the market. They also give you a discount for ordering over the phone.

If an LED light fixture is built properly, you will be replacing the whole light, with what should be several newer generations of LED's, by the time they burn out. If you have to replace any sooner - you got robbed or the light is intentionally wasting the LED's life for brightness, knowing full well that the light will fail long before it should. I'm sure an LED light vendor would call this a "trade off"

Lots of vendors claim their LED with certain watts, but that's not the actual power draw, quite often it's the maximum wattage of the LED multiply by the number. If the LED burns at the maxium wattage, the lifespan is much shorter or become inefficient quickly. Given my 240W LED light for example, the LED is 3W, but the actual power draw is 1.75W. In this rate, the efficiency of the LED is around 80% after 10 years of typical usage. Even after 10 years, the LED will probably still be bright, but just not that efficient.

Quote"
Lots of vendors claim their LED with certain watts, but that's not the actual power draw, quite often it's the maximum wattage of the LED multiply by the number. If the LED burns at the maxium wattage, the lifespan is much shorter or become inefficient quickly. Given my 240W LED light for example, the LED is 3W, but the actual power draw is 1.75W. In this rate, the efficiency of the LED is around 80% after 10 years of typical usage. Even after 10 years, the LED will probably still be bright, but just not that efficient."
They rate them by the bulb size, not actual power. This is my main concern with LEDs,Which I would like to use
One 48 watt unit actually draws 12 watts and a little "12 watt" unit draws 3 watts, useless except right over germinating seedling. . The best I can measure. So how do we figure the actual amount of light from them? Trial and error? To see if it is enough? I get mixed results with my light meter and don't trust it with LEDs. I have a 100 watt black star and it measures the same (light meter)as one of my 48 watt, one foot square one. An other 48 watt doesn't even come close.

Not all manufacturers rate them via installed LED wattage. There are higher quality manufacturers that rate them via draw voltage. This is one indicator of the quality of the unit. Not unlike stereo vendors, where the cheap ones rate in peak wattage whereas quality stereos usually rate in RMS.

I should note there is a HUGE difference in unit quality between vendors. Do your research. The high quality units truly do outperform HPS and are improving constantly.

I just installed the 240W LED from Gotham Hydroponics. It's insanely bright, I took my light meter and it's over 3000 FC reading in a foot distance. My aged UFO only reads a couple hundreds.

This might help you better understand

http://ledbuilder.org/index.php?threads/demystifying-led-grow-lights-led-grow-light-buyers-guide.34/

We have a solution to your predicament! Our 20W LED Decor Pendant
Grow Light, the Aspect, is the light you need. It is full spectrum
lighting (blue, green, & red) and is perfect for your needs. Our
light is made specifically for interior design purposes and will not
give off the red & blue colors of a traditional grow light.

Unlike the UFO lights the Aspect is Made in America with all American components and is rated to last 100,000 hrs which will save you up to $500 in its lifetime. Although the LED lights have high initial costs they last much longer
and use a substantially less amount of energy than CFL or HID lights.

The Aspect also comes with the option of placing a lamp shade over it
if you want to direct the light and/or if you want to match the colors
and design of the pool room. At 3000K this light does not only aid in
the growth of plants but supplies a nice ambient light to any room.

Let me know if you are interested as I can supply you with a coupon code for a discount!

Check us out at www.stsln.com/product/aspect

All feedback matters and we'd love to hear what you think!

Thanks,

This is our little (4ft) lemon tree. Its now started producing lemons!

I think I know the company you are using! You're comments actually sound really good, interested to see what you are making.

If you want professional results, get a professional light using modern technology, or you can build your own. Check out tastyled, there are a few others that make good products also. Look for CREE chips and Mean Well drivers. CXB3590s are basically the best available right now, they can produce over 65% light when driven softly.... Blurple leds are old news, people are doing amazing things with white LED lights! There is a difference between keeping your container plant alive, and keeping it healthy and growing. 20W LED could never keep a 4ft tree happy, Even with the most efficient LED technology, you will need AT LEAST 15 w/square foot of light coverage. Assume your tree covers a 2ft x 2ft area, youll want at least a 60w fixture, but youd do much better using a 100w actual draw device. Consider something like the T1-1750, or even better the T2-1400, from tastyled or do some research into what pot growers are using, they know their stuff better than pretty much any other group, and they are very friendly also, go figure! Rollitup has a really good LED light section for anyone interested in DIY lights.

www.LedBuilder.org has links to some of the high quality and affordable LED grow light companies where you can find afforable pre-built LED grow lights that work really well. DIY kits and information to complete build your own from your own parts are also listed on that website.

Some of the best complete LED grow lights are as follows. Put your lemon tree under these and they will produce lemons in the winter.

• Tasty LED Grow Lights,
• Johnson Grow Lights,
• Northern Grow Lights.
• Chilled Chilled Grow Lights

If you want to build your own there are links to lots of resources, and some half-way DIY options you can purchase pre-selected kits of parts like:

• Growmau5 Grow Kits from Cutter Electronics
• Timber LED Grow Light Kits

If you want to build your own from scratch, you have lots of options on what LEDs and power supplies to buy, you can grow watermelons in your living room if you wanted to.

Some of the best parts around are

• Quantum Boards from Northern Grow Lights.
• Cree, Vero and Citizen COB LEDS from COBkits
• Chilled Grow Lights DIY kits
  

These are all high quality options made with mostly the same high-end components that are better than regular shelf-bought grow lights. All this info is available on www.ledbuilder.org

Just yesterday, I listened to a live broadcast that discussed LED lighting VS CFL. They clearly stated that LEDs transmit NO ultraviolet light that plants require yet the discussion here suggests that some success is being met using LEDs. There also seems to be a large industry in LED plant lights.

Does anyone have any source that states how LED lighting compares with CFL with reference to UV?

No opinions please, just facts....

@gary you can buy uv leds.

leds can give off from 300nm to 800nm and beyond

With LeD you need to check the spectrum to determine if it meets uour plant need.

if you need uv you can buy a reptile bulb to addition your led light.

Hello. I am a new subscriber, and new to indoor gardening. I live in New England, and want to grow some tropical plants, including a meyer lemon tree (already purchased).

I need help in buying a grow light for an area that is 3 ft by 6 feet. Also, it is near a glass door. The heat in the room is kept at 60 at night. Feedback welcomed.

3' by 6' is a large area to cover. And since it is rectangular, you may need more than one light to cover the whole area.

How much light are you trying to provide? Are you trying to actively grow your plants, or just keep them alive inside during the winter?

How close is this area to that glass door? Which direction does the door face? Is there anything outside the door that would reduce the light coming in (such as a large tree or an awning, etc.)?

What are your other tropical plants? Citrus requires very bright light to do well, but most (tropical) house plants do well with much less.

Still confused... sooooo... LED or CDL?

CDL for sure, although whether you choose class A, B, or C will depend on what you plan to use it for.

CDL =?

Lol CDL. they mean CFL (squiggly pigtail bulb). there is no CFL on the planet that works better than the LEDs I own. That’s a fact because good leds are more efficient and have more options than CFL bulbs period. You can get garbage leds though if you don’t know what you’re buying In which case a CFL might be better but eventually even the average crappy leds will catch up and be better than cfl. there really is no argument based in fact that contradicts what I said here but there are a lot of people that won’t understand what I’m saying and argue.

if you want good leds that grow whatever plant you want visit any of these

truenorthernlighting.com

chilledgrowlights.com

horticulturelightinggroup.com

google: synce led

google: gavita LED

google: fluence led

youtube: migro led if you want to learn more about what differentiates a bad led from a good one. good luck ✌🏻

My MARS 720 LED lights, purchased from amazon, have done my lemon tree a world of good. The plant is only a couple of years old, but I harvest about 2-4 lemons every year. The MARS lights can toggle from growth (vegetative, leaves) to flower or both depending on what you need. I live in a cold climate USDA 4, so the lemon tree is indoors from mid-October to May, and then outside during the clement weather. It may be a dwarf tree, but it yields almost full size lemons.