Grow lights are a great way to step up your plant game. However, it is not an easy process. This is because there are many ways someone could go wrong with Led Grow lights. This may instill a certain type of temptation in you to grow some of your own. It might work for some, it might not for others. You can do it yourself. All you need is some patience, the right equipment and the right amount of guidance. So, if you’re interested in knowing what not to do while using led grow lights, keep reading!
1. Never Overheat
Overheating is one of the main reasons why Led grow lights don’t work. Hear this, if the leaf that’s closest to the light source has changed color (a mere brown) then this may be a symptom of overheating. Focus on observing the leaves closely. You will surely see some signs. To make it easier to know whether your plant is consuming too much heat, check the outline. Some weird looking lines may show up on the exterior of the leaves. Also, the leaves might start curling up which is a clear indicator of your mistake.
2. Not Enough Lighting
Just like for the survival of any living object, lighting is key. This obviously goes for your plants too! Firstly, you should consider the scale of plants you’re growing. For instance, consider how many plants you’re growing. This depends also on the capacity of the LED itself. For example, a 200-Watt bulb will be enough to illuminate about 100 grams. You can use this amount to calculate how many LED lights you’ll need to be sufficient for the amount of plants to be grown. You can check out Lumi Growth to learn more about lighting (and lumens).
3. Light Distancing
The distance between the light source and the plants matters greatly in the growing procedure. Insufficient or too much lighting isn’t recommended for plants. This can be the cause of too less or too much distance between the plants and the lights themselves. Although there is no rule book published as to how much distance you would keep exactly, there is a preferred measure. Twelve to eighteen inches from the plants should be enough to keep them happy and healthy.
4. Spectrum of Light
There are different stages of growth for the plants. That’s not all you need to know, that’s obvious. You will need a spectrum of lights to change as your plants grow from one stage to another. Because each stage will require various lights, having a spectrum will make things easier. However, you must be careful. As the growth of your plant progresses, you must make sure to select the right settings each time. If not, you may end up with poorly developed plants.
5. Using Bad Products
There is no purpose in selecting regular lights for your plants. Doing so simply beats the purpose and you are likely to end up with bad plants. What to do? Well, buy the right LED. We recommend purchasing a set of LED spectrum grow lights. These products are made specifically for growing the kind of plants you’re looking to grow. Also, if it works, it’s obviously worth the money.
6. Not Making A Schedule
Like we said earlier, overheating is the main issue. So, just think about what would happen if you left your LED lights on for too long! It would be a big mess. Which is why making a light schedule is an important step. The best way to address that would be using the example of Cannabis. It is the most commonly grown plant in this regard. Taking it as an example, Cannabis needs about 18 hours of lights. This is during its vegetative stage. This implies that you might need to switch around the hours with respect to each growth stage.
7. Other Factors
Apart from the space and the type of lights, there are several other factors to consider. Having LED lights alone doesn’t determine the complete growth of your plants. Factors like room temperature, soil status, nutrients, plant genetics, amongst others are way more important. Attempt to understand the overall process of growing plants instead of focusing just on the light source alone. Once you understand that, it will be easier for you to DIY these types of plants.