These lights broke into the scene with claims of electrical power cost savings, minimized levels of heat and substantial yields at harvest.

So are they doing the job?

Expert medical marijuana gardeners are less than convinced, the common consensus seems to be to stay with the conventional High Intensity Discharge grow lights; at the very least up until the technologies are perfected further. You ought to be conscious of all the hoopla and gimmicks in the marketing and advertising of LEDs. Don't believe all you read about LED lighting till you've tried using them yourself or know someone first hand who has used them.



Here's the harsh truth:

Tests have been done utilizing 1000 Watts HID lights vs. LED grow lamps in carefully optimized conditions. With all other variables looked at carefully, LED lights will not perform quite as effectively as common HID lighting does. Nevertheless, LED's actually DO perform wonderfully if used right. You should do the mathematics for your specific growing scenario. Is a moderate compromise in bud quality something that you can live with? Well that's what you'll have to live with if you wish to decrease the temperature produced and electrical energy used up for your grow set up.



Quick info about using LED lights inside your grow area:



You can save approximately 40% and 75% on your energy expenses by making use of LED grow lights as opposed to HID lights which includes high pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) lighting fixtures.



Significantly less temperature radiated from your grow lights usually means much less likelihood for burning the tips of your medical buds and dehydration along with other heat-based growing concerns.



LED's will be costly. Even so, you need to understand that there's no requirement for conventional lighting system add-ons such as reflectors, vented hoods, ballasts, ducting and other items.



LED grow lights feature approximate lifespans of well over 48,000 hrs. Standard HID grow lights should be swapped out about every 6000 hours. It's important to understand these issues.



My recommendation at the moment when it comes to LED grow lights for growing medical quality bud will be to hold off unless you have a nice amount to invest in this technology. Otherwise, allow the marketplace to move forward. Allow the technology to be perfected by way of other people's analysis and other advancements. There are currently growers all over the internet posting their own personal results with regards to LED lights. For the time being, stay with whatever you know is best suited unless of course high-quality buds are not a main goal of yours.