Probably the most important and necessary part of an indoor grow set up is the Grow Light set-up. Unless you can grow in a greenhouse or a conservatory, then a grow light is pretty much an essential piece of equipment for the indoor grower. In fact, even in a greenhouse or conservatory, from mid-autumn through to early Spring, there will likely not be enough sunlight to grow plants effectively. It follows then that unless supplementary grow-lighting is added, the amount of time in the year that you can grow effectively in this situation is drastically reduced.
The Type of Grow Light
The type of light that is best for you depends a lot on the type of plant that you want to grow.The main criteria that we need to consider are average plant height and whether the crop is predominantly leafy, or if the crop is mainly fruits or flowers.
Average plant height affects how intense your grow light will need to be. Tall plants (about 12 inches or greater) will need the superior penetrative power of a high intensity discharge lamp in order for the light to be still effective down towards the bottom of the plant. Shorter plants may be able to get away with the lesser penetrative power of a fluorescent type grow light.
So, short leafy plants like lettuces and most herbs can be grown very well under fluorescent with a mainly cool-white (slightly blue) type tube. They can also be grown under a cool-white type HID grow light ie Metal Halide (MH).
On the other hand, taller plants that produce flowers or fruit e.g. tomatoes, will certainly veg nicely under blue-white light but when the plant starts to produce fruit, they need to be ideally under a yellow-orange HID light ie a high pressure sodium type HID (more commonly known as an HPS) so that the plant has the required energy to produce large, succulent fruits.
Post time: Mar-31-2022
