When you’re shopping for the grow lights to kickstart your garden this year, there are a few things that you should consider before making your purchase. In this blog, we will go over what to look out for to ensure your garden will bloom beautifully this coming season.
Lumens VS. PPF
While most lights measure their light output in lumens, grow lights use PPF (photosynthetic photon flux) to measure their light output. Lumens is a measure of brightness, while PPF is a measure of light from the PAR spectrum that encourages plant growth. While standard bulbs may produce a lot of light, it is all for nothing if the light isn’t within the PAR spectrum. So when buying an LED bulb for growing purposes, be sure that the light produces light within the PAR range.
What Is PAR?
PAR stands for Photosynthetically Active Radiation. Before grow lights, this wavelength of light that spans from 400 to 700 nanometers was only produced by the sun. The PAR spectrum has two types of light that bookend the PAR spectrum. Blue spectrum light, which exists with a narrower wavelength (400 nm), and red spectrum light that has the wider of the wavelengths (700 nm). These two types of light have different effects on plant growth.
Red Spectrum Light Vs. Blue Spectrum Light
When starting out, you should consider the effects of both red and blue spectrum lighting. Red spectrum light is more effective on plants that are budding and flowering. This makes it great for more mature plants that are producing fruit, vegetables, or just flowers. Blue spectrum light supports seedling, stem, and leaf growth. Blue light is great for taking your freshly germinated seeds to sprouts and fully grown plants. GT-Lite’s grow lights are full-spectrum lights, producing light on the blue and red spectrums.
The Right Lights for You
When choosing the grow light for your next project, you will want to consider where and how you will be using it. You may want to just take a lamp, screw in a bulb, and call it a day. For that purpose, GT-Lite carries A19 bulbs (your standard light bulb) as well as BR30 bulbs that will fit that purpose perfectly. You could also get the even easier clamp light that has an integrated LED. Just clamp it onto a surface and plug it in. If you are looking for a bit more power, GT-Lite carries 10-inch and 13-inch grow light panels. Be sure to check out our full product catalog here.
