who has experience with LED grow light?

jaycewong

15 years ago

anybody here has experience with LED grow light?

I heard that LED grow light really works,but also somebody said LED didn't work in fact.

I wanna try this new item in my garden.

Anybody here can tell me how led works,if ya have experience on this new product,please tell me.

thanks a lot

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Comments (4)

motanakajima
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Though I am not a plant grower (my wife is a master gardner) and have no experience with grow lamp, I have a bit of knowldge about lighting.

The LED that does not work for plant growing must be regular white LED which has very different light spectrum from sun light. Most of white LED has strong blue spectrum, and no IR, which does not provide necessary light spectrum for plant growth.

Regardless of its type (FL or LED), grow lamp is designed to imitate sun light which is essential for plant growth. So, it should work well.

Follwoing article is from WIKIPEDIA regarding LED grow lamp.

LED grow lamps

LED panel light source used in an experiment on plant growth by NASA. Pictured plant is a potato plant.
Recent advancements in LEDs have allowed for the production of relatively cheap, bright and long lasting grow lights that emit only the colors of light required for plant growth. These lights are attractive to indoor growers since they do not consume as much power, do not require ballasts, and produce a fraction of the heat of HID lamps. The lamps consist of arrays of many wide-spectrum red and a few narrow-spectrum blue LEDs of specific wavelengths. Although LED grow lights have shown promise through plant research by NASA and many universities, it is unknown whether the results are applicable to the cultivation of all plant-species, as their luminous efficiency is much lower.
However, luminous efficiency is not applicable to plant growth since it is based on what wavelengths humans see best. A plant is, for example very sensitive to far-red, while humans can barely see that wavelength. Therefore, LED's can be more efficient for plant growth, while their lumnious efficiency is lower compared to other solu
watergal
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Go on over to the Growing under Lights forum. There have been lots of posts and debates over there, including some allegations that some of the posters are trying to drum up business.

I haven't tried them, I'm happy with my HID and fluorescents for now.
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Hoping someone here can help - A year and a half ago I started a project to try and raise citrus from seed to fruit in NY by giving them better than usual growing conditions in this area. To that end I installed a small 8x8 greenhouse with decent insulation and basic heating to grow them in. Although the greenhouse sits in a far north corner of the prop and therefor receives plenty of sunlight through out the day, I purchased an LED fixture to give them supplemental light as well - especially during the shorter winter days - hoping to try and speed up their maturity by providing better conditions. The LED was an expensive 1000w equivalent with modes for different light spectrums and timers - specifically I purchased this light - KindLED K51000. The problem was and still is that no matter how high i place the light above the plants and no matter how low i set them (Ive gone down to 10% of their capability) the lights seem to scorch the plants and actually appear to be stunting their growth . I have tried them on and off for the past year and a half, and although the trees are overall flourishing, it is mainly when I REMOVE the lighting that they do well. When the lights go on - as is during winter - they simply seem to scorch the leaves and prevent them from growing. Needless to say it has been frustrating as I want to be providing the trees with more red spectrum lights and overall would like them to acclimate so during the winter i can give them much longer daylight hours. The light company was at a loss to explain why this should be happening (in fact originally they attempted to sell me 4 fixtures that they said I would need to light my 8x8 space well!) and are insistent that it must be some other factors causing this. But I have been experimenting with them for a year and a half and it is absolutely clear that it is the lighting that hurts the plants. Ive received some advice from botanists I am friendly with but none had real experience with LED lighting - they seem to think that its TOO much light for the plants since the greenhouse is well lit without them. This might be plausible, but even during the winter - during periods when they were ONLY on during dark/nighttime hours - they still caused the burning. Also, the company as well as a marijuana grower I consulted who does have experience with the lights claim that theres no way the lights could be "too much" for the trees. The light hangs at most , about 3 feet from the tops of the plants and I place the taller ones off to the side so they only receive indirect light. Additionally, I have tried placing light diffusing cloth (double layered) over the lights to make them less extreme - and STILL had the burning. So for now, I have taken them down altogether in the hope that my plants are just too young for such intense lighting , but I really want to know whats going on especially as the light was such an expense and I'm currently getting no use from it. So, any ideas?
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Ftbllboi_gmail_com
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hey there, I came across this page looking for different LED information but I want to try and set the record straight with a few misinformed people, or growers who tried LED's when they came for a few years and those who had poor results. Right now its still a bit of a secret that LED grow lights are giving pro results fast. Like most people, I tried LED 'grow lights' a few years ago when they came out and was highly disappointed. Although, its worth mentioning that ANY lighting you try will not work if you dont have the right spectrum/color temperature (measured in Kelvin 'K'). For most plants there are two stages, vegetative and flowering. Each plant has their stages a little different than another with some likeing short veg growth and long blooming growth, or visa versa. Most can agree on that veg growth requires a Kelvin 'K' temperature in the blue/white spectrum 6000k-7500K, and a blooming temp of 3000l-3500k in the red/orange/yellow spectrum. That goes for all plants and all lights. With that said the next reading on a light is the Color Rendering Index-CRI. The CRI index is a scale from 1-100 and it is how well that particular light Imitates the mid-day sun. there are no bulbs that can give you a CRI of 100, but some tweaked HID's can come close and now so can the LED's.

When they first came out they were in the right spectrum, but with poor watts/USABLE lumen ratios. Meaning that even though its bright, in the right color range, and cost effective. They werent in the form of usuable photosynthetic energy, just in the form of visable lights that humans can see and use. Now they changed that and some high-dollar LED's not only can be fine tuned better than HID(High Pressure Sodium/Mercury Halide) in the form of usable lumens and CRI index up to 99, and the best bulb ive seen in an HID system was a hybrid MH to HPS coming in at 96.

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BTW if your looking for decent lights that are low power consumers, that dont put out alot of heat, and are a sure fire way to grow indoors. Then your best bet is to find a used 4-6lamp(bulb) Flourescent ballast that uses the high output T-5 bulbs. Those have came a long way as well and work very well for small grows......hope it helps!~

-G
TheMasterGardener1
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yea. I know LED will not grow as good as a well cooled HID for a FACT. They are too expensive aswell.

who has experience with LED grow light?

Comments (4)

motanakajima

watergal

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