LED vs. HPS vs. CFL vs. Metal Halide Lamps

So, having covered seed germination in an earlier video, we now want to talk about another important aspect of growing your plants.
Lighting.

To grow, plants need water, light and nutrients, and the quantity and quality of each will affect how your plants grow.

At this point we have to state for legal reasons that we cannot possibly state what kind of plants we are talking about, but we leave it up to you to form your own, educated opinion!

When it comes to a choice of lighting, there are four types that are generally used for growing plants.
Light-emitting diode (LED) lights, High-pressure Sodium Vapour (HPS) lights, compact fluorescent lights (CFL) and Metal-halide lights.

So, what’s the difference and why does it matter?

There are three principal properties of all of these lights, and your choice to help with growing your plants will depend on just how many plants you have, and the environment where you have them growing.

The three main properties are the brightness of the light, the colour spectrum of the light, and the heat they radiate.

So, with LED and CFL lights the coolest and least bright – these are good for newly germinated seed plants as you don’t want to frazzle them in the first few days and can be suspended immediately above your seedlings.

Once your plants are more established, you can then choose between the brighter and warmer lights.
It is generally accepted that it is best to start your plants off under a metal halide light as the blue spectrum is good for leafy growth, then change to HPS lights when you want the warmer, red spectrum to encourage flowers to grow.

Finally, you need to take into account that the more heat a light generates, the greater the running cost, which can mean a massive electricity bill, which might take some explaining!

Have you any thoughts on which are the best lamps to use and why? Share them with the rest of us in the comments below.

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