Can You Use LED Lights To Grow Marijuana Plants?

Plants that grow outdoors receive natural light all day long, so they get what they need. Those who choose to grow marijuana indoors need to have proper lighting setups. At one time, this involved expensive gear that required a lot of electricity.

Today, you can use less expensive, and more energy efficient LED lights. Today we are going to take a look at the most important things to keep in mind when using LED lights for indoor growing.

Do not Overheat the Plants

While your plants do need to be warm, too much heat can cause a significant amount of damage. One of the first signs of heat damage is a thin outlining on the outer edges of the leaves. You will need to move the light farther away from the plants to avoid any further damage. It is also a good idea to have good ventilation in the room. It is recommended that the lights be placed about a foot to a foot and a half from the plants.

Use Enough Light

While you don’t want to use too much light and overheat the plants, you do need to make sure that you are giving them enough light. The first thing you need to do is consider how many plants you will be growing, and how many lights you will need for proper illumination. Generally, a 200W LED light is usually good enough to help you get a yield of around 100 grams. So, you should have one light for each plant.

Use the Right LED Lights

Another thing to consider is the type of LED lights you are going to use. There is absolutely no sense in getting cheap lights, because you are not going to be able to grow much with them. It’s best to use full spectrum LED grow lights. These are designed for plants, and will provide the spectrum of light that your plants need.

The light spectrum is something that you really need to consider. They need a different spectrum for each stage of growth. For instance, in the vegetative stage, they need the blue spectrum. Using a different spectrum will hinder growth and you will get a low yield.

Use Lighting at the Right Time

You also need to consider a lighting schedule. Too much or not enough light can be damaging to your plants. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is to let your plants have 18 to 24 hours of light throughout the vegetative stage, but only 12 hours or so of light while it is in the flowering stage. As mentioned earlier in this article, make sure that you adjust the lights as your plants grow so the leaves don’t get burned.

Be Careful with Water

One thing that you may have heard about growing marijuana is that the plants need a lot of water. This was true when people were using HID lights that created a good amount of heat, and loads of infrared light, because it dries out the soil. With LED lighting, there isn’t the same high heat. This means that the soil won’t dry out as quickly, and the plants won’t need as much water. Remember, too much water can be just as damaging as too little water.

Other Factors to Consider

Lighting isn’t the only thing you need to consider when growing your own marijuana at home. In order to produce plants that are big and give a high yield, there are a lot of factors that come into play. For instance, you need to have the proper room temperature.

These plants like a lot of heat and humidity. Air circulation is important, and the air should never be stagnant. You also need to have quality soil, and use the right nutrients to help your plants grow large and healthy.

Conclusion

Some people make it sound like it is difficult to grow marijuana at home. While there is a lot of work involved, it is not difficult once you get the hang of it, and when you are using the right equipment.

Using LED lighting is going to help you produce large plants that give a lot of bud, and it won’t run up your electricity bill nearly as much as other types of lighting.