6 Best LED Grow Lights to Power Your Greenery’s Performance
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One of the main benefits of growing plants inside is the amount of control you can exercise over the growing conditions of your crop. By carefully controlling temperature, moisture, and, as we’ll focus on in this article, light, you can ensure great growth and excellent yields for whatever kind of plant you’re growing.
The best LED grow lights enable you to precisely control the amount and the wavelength of the light your plants are getting. This means that you can dial in certain types of light while your plants are young, and then switch to another wavelength once they start to flower. Whether you’re growing some flowers in pots or setting a hydroponic system, you can benefit from adding a grow light to your setup.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at 6 of the best LED grow lights you can buy online. There are great options to support a number of different growing projects!
Let’s get started!
Key Takeaways
After searching the internet for great products to help indoor growers get their plants the light they need, I settled on the RDJ Bouns 720W LED Grow Light as the overall best LED grow lights. It’s a simple and no-frills product that can help growers provide the ideal lighting conditions for a large 4-foot-by-4-foot growing area. And, since many home growers are looking for lights that provide great value and cover a lot of ground, it will be an excellent choice for a lot of people.
However, if you’re looking for a smaller lamp, I’ve also included a couple different options like the GooingTop LED Grow Light and the KEELIXIN Grow Lights for Indoor Plants.
Best Overall: RDJ Bouns 720W LED Grow Light
Why This is a Quality Choice: Quite simply, the RDJ Bouns 720-watt LED is a powerhouse. It can deliver ample light to every corner of a growing area up to 4 feet by 4 feet. Its aluminum frame not only prevents overheating but also ensures generous spacing for efficient airflow. This product is great for experienced home growers who are looking to maximize the potential of their lighting setup.
Who is this for? If you find yourself cultivating light-hungry plants and are dedicated to providing them with optimal conditions, this product is tailor-made for you.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: The primary drawback of this product, its high wattage, is directly tied to its capability of providing intense brightness to plants. If you deem that such power exceeds what you need, then exploring alternative options will make sense for you.
Coverage: 4-foot-by-4-foot area | Wattage: 720 Watt | Adjustability: Yes | Installation: 1 hour
Best Budget: Yehsence Y2400 LED Grow Light
Why This is a Quality Choice: This Yehsence grow light is low-cost and low-wattage, standing out as an economical and energy-efficient option. It won’t put a big dent in your budget in terms of either the initial purchase and ongoing usage. The adjustable full-spectrum LED lighting ensures optimal conditions for your plants, seamlessly transitioning from planting to flowering stages.
Who is this for? This product is a solid option for novice growers who are first venturing into the realm of grow tents, by offering an affordable and user-friendly introduction.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: Its 240-watt output means that we have to acknowledge that it may not be the most potent grow light. However, it compensates with commendable efficiency, delivering a substantial Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) for its low energy consumption.
Coverage: 4-foot-by-4-foot area | Wattage: 240 Watt | Adjustability: Yes | Installation: 40 minutes
Best for Small Grow Light: GooingTop LED Grow Light
Why This is a Quality Choice: This small LED grow light is quite different from the options we’ve gone over so far. It clips on the edge of a desk or table and comes equipped with two adjustable lamps that can give your plants lights from many different angles. The manufacturer offers two models, one with an output of 50 watts and one that has an output of 100 watts.
Who is this for? This small grow light is the best way to support the growth of a few small flowers or some houseplants that are particularly dear to you.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: This isn’t an option for people who have more than one or two plants they want to put under a grow light, but it’s great if that’s the usage you’re looking for.
Coverage: Lights an approximately 1-foot-by-1-foot area | Wattage: 50 or 100 Watt | Adjustability: Yes | Installation: 2 minutes
Best Premium: VIPARSPECTRA KS5000 LED Grow Light
Why This is a Quality Choice: The VIPARSPECTRA KS5000 LED Grow Light emerges as a premium solution designed for growers seeking precise control over the Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF) across their entire cultivation area. As a result, this grow light eliminates the need for constant plant rotation, streamlining the cultivation process.
Who is this for? As the highest-priced option on this list, this product is most suitable for seasoned indoor growers with a deep understanding of how to optimize the performance of an advanced grow light like the VIPARSPECTRA KS5000.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: A minor concern raised by some growers revolves around the light spectrum, noting a slight bias towards blue light.
Coverage: 4-foot-by-4-foot area | Wattage: 500 Watt | Adjustability: Yes | Installation: 20 minutes
Best Tripod Grow Light: KEELIXIN Grow Lights for Indoor Plants
Why This is a Quality Choice: The KEELIXIN Grow Lights for Indoor Plants is a tripod style set of five grow lights. With five separate lighting elements, this product allows for a ton of adjustability when you’re trying to get just the right angle for lighting your favorite plants. It’s also great for lighting taller plants, since its adjustable tripod base can extend to up to 63 inches.
Who is this for? This product is perfect for home gardeners who don’t want to worry about hanging a complicated LED array. All you have to do with this product is place it between the plants you want to get light to.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: With five arrays pointing in different directions, this product can’t provide the same uniformity of coverage that other grow lights are able to.
Coverage: 2.5-foot-by-2.5-foot area | Wattage: 32 Watt | Adjustability: No | Installation: 2 minutes
Best for Hydroponic Growing: MARS HYDRO 2024 New TS 3000 450W LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants
Why This is a Quality Choice: Living up to its name, the MARS HYDRO indoor grow light is an excellent addition to hydroponic systems. Sporting a reflector at the edges of its LED light array, this design ensures minimal loss of valuable protons to the surroundings, promoting efficient and uniform lighting.
Who is this for? Hydroponic growers looking for a light they can seamlessly integrate into their system should consider the MARS HYDRO.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: Despite its power draw of 450 Watts, the maximum Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) of this product may not reach the levels observed in some other products on this list.
Coverage: 4-foot-by-4-foot area | Wattage: 450 Watt | Adjustability: Yes | Installation: 30 minutes
Buying Considerations for The Best LED Grow Lights
PPFD
When considering LED grow lights, your first priority should be checking out the total PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) that each of them can produce. PPFD indicates the total usable light that a grow light delivers per square meter, which means that it tells you how well a grow light can effectively support photosynthesis.
If you’re all about performance, then you should opt for a higher PPFD, but for other growing projects you might want to consider plant-specific needs. In many cases, a lamp that offers a lower PPFD but more efficient energy usage might be preferable.
Wattage and Average PPE
Another crucial factor for indoor gardeners when selecting a grow light is the wattage and efficiency of the system. Wattage is the amount of energy required for the grow light’s operation, and PPE (photosynthetic photon efficiency) gauges how effectively it converts that electrical energy into light.
Choosing a lamp that offers superior PPE to an alternative ensures cost-effective and efficient operation. However, it’s essential to strike a balance, as the highest PPE option may not provide sufficient PPFD to support the growth of your plants. Finding the optimal combination of adequate PPFD and high PPE is key to getting the best LED grow lights for your needs.
Adjustability
Lastly, whether or not you need a grow light that has lots of adjustability is a crucial factor to consider. Going for an adjustable grow light enables you to modify the emitted light’s wavelength and can help you create optimal conditions for plants at various growth stages.
Young plants benefit from more blue light (400–500 nm) while they’re getting established in soil or a hydroponic setup, whereas plants require abundant red light (620–780 nm) during the flowering stage. Although this adaptability can ensure tailored conditions for your plants, some gardeners will prefer a grow lamp that puts out light in the middle range and will always be appropriate.
How I Choose These Products
I definitely understand that grow lights represent a significant investment for many home gardeners—I just have to look at some of my own credit card statements. That’s why I worked hard to find products that are high-quality and reliable. It’s crucial that products like these not only support your gardening projects, but also do so for a long time.
As a result, I focused on recommending the best LED grow lights for plants from brands that you can trust. To do so, I relied on my own experiences but also reached out to some of my coworkers here at Gardening Product Reviews, who have also written about grow light technology.
Final Verdict
Overall, I rated the RDJ Bouns 720W LED Grow Light as the best LED grow lights you can buy online. They have the power and size necessary to make a big impact on any indoor grower’s setup, whether hydroponic or conventional. Although its power and price might be a bit too much for some gardeners, this list luckily contained lots of other options. I hope you found something that works for you!
FAQs.
Which LED light is best for plant growth?
There isn’t any one product that I’d be comfortable calling the best LED grow light for plants full stop. Exactly which product is best for supporting plant growth depends on a variety of factors, such as the types of plants you’re planning to grow and how large your growing environment is. In general, it’s best to go for an adjustable LED grow light that can pump out enough light to cover your entire growing area.
What LEDs do commercial growers use?
Commercial growers use LED grow lights that are based on the same technology that home growers use. They are usually full-spectrum and tend to be highly energy-efficient, since commercial growers are sensitive to costs.
