( 
)I am a self-proclaimed science nut and a crazy do-it-yourselfer at heart. When I first started looking at LED's as a way to grow plants there was absolutely nothing commercially available. It is my honest opinion that almost all the LED grow lights on eBay would not be able to support plants that have a heavy fruiting cycle.
The lights available on eBay such as the UFO and anything that efficiently uses 40 or more watts COULD work on lettuces, herbs, etc., but would have to be the correct spectrums of LED and I just don't know how much I can trust the specification sheets on some of these lights.
The correct spectrums are another line of debate.
When we refer to spectrum we are referring to the narrow baned of light emitted from the LED. These are measured in nanometers (nm).
LED's, unlike incandescent or flourescent on emit a very specific wavelength of light. This is both a huge positive in terms of not wasting energy but also poses a problem in matching LED's to your needs.
To cover the broadest spectrum most elect to go with Blue at about 465nm (470nm blue is usually very cheap), and red at 660nm's. There is a patent submitted in 2005 regarding red-orange LED's at 612nm (617nm is common, I recommend Luxeon 3 Watt's) to aid the red LED's in vegetative growth. I think this is a needed step and is missing from many of the products available.
Now if you are familiar with growing under artificial lights you know it takes a lot of power. 1000 watts is not uncommon for a small organics or indoor farmer. The attraction of the LED's is in the savings on the electric bill, less heat, and ultimately I would hope healthier plants that have not been exposed to unneeded light spectrums. The power needs from my research to properly grow a fruiting plant under LED's would be 180 watts per square meter. Still a substantial difference from a HID or HPS bulb.
Now that we know how much power we need we have another snag.
5mm LED's just won't cut it. They do not get enough penetration into branched plants. While they have some very high output 5mm LED's they just aren't enough. It would take a thousand or more to be usefull for anything more than a plant booster or a seed starter. We need high power LED's. Luxeon or SSC emitters with reflectors. 1-3 watts or as high as you can afford.
Just remember to try and match the specific light wavelength to the emitter you are buying. That information should be in your spec's sheet.
Powering this bad boy is as easy as finding an old PC power supply with 200-300 watts continuous available. There are great directions on instructables.com on how to make a benchtop power supply from them. Same principle.
The data I have researched suggests 6-8% blue, the rest red and orange for the light. I would also suggest auxiliary blue LED's during the initial growth stage to help with any stretching. It would also be a good idea to provide fruiting plants with some UV exposure. The damage actually sweetens the fruit. An aquarium bulb or a row of UV LED's would do the job quite nicely.
Another idea that I read in a *pot* forum is to string lights of blue LED's onto your plant on the central stalk. I guess for a bushy plant like they were talking about that would be a pretty great idea. Could even use a string of christmas lights and replace the bulbs with LED's then provide the right current.
T5 flourescent- LED Hybrid
This is what I would like to see commercially available. A small T5 growing setup with 60-70 watts of high power LED's to augment it. This would be a powerful growing mechanism and still allow for a large wattage savings over HID or HPS.
The flourescent would help round out the available light wavelengths provided by the LED's and also provide superior penetration into the plant.
Conclusion
SolarOasis and ProCyon have the most effective products in my opinion. SolarOasis bulbs allow you to buy more of them as you need. You can also buy supplemental blue bulbs or red bulbs.
The ProCyon is the bigdaddy. 100 watts of LED POWER. This is the closest I have seen to what I envision it will really take to grow with LED's effectively. It is also very expensive.
If you want to make your houseplants more healthy than the lights available on eBay are a great fit. Most of the products when you track down their source are sold as LED plant growth ACCELERATORS not a full artificial light solution.
Give it 2-3 years and I think this type of product will be available at a slightly higher cost than HID or HPS systems of the same capabilities.
The lights available on eBay such as the UFO and anything that efficiently uses 40 or more watts COULD work on lettuces, herbs, etc., but would have to be the correct spectrums of LED and I just don't know how much I can trust the specification sheets on some of these lights.
The correct spectrums are another line of debate.
When we refer to spectrum we are referring to the narrow baned of light emitted from the LED. These are measured in nanometers (nm).
LED's, unlike incandescent or flourescent on emit a very specific wavelength of light. This is both a huge positive in terms of not wasting energy but also poses a problem in matching LED's to your needs.
To cover the broadest spectrum most elect to go with Blue at about 465nm (470nm blue is usually very cheap), and red at 660nm's. There is a patent submitted in 2005 regarding red-orange LED's at 612nm (617nm is common, I recommend Luxeon 3 Watt's) to aid the red LED's in vegetative growth. I think this is a needed step and is missing from many of the products available.
Now if you are familiar with growing under artificial lights you know it takes a lot of power. 1000 watts is not uncommon for a small organics or indoor farmer. The attraction of the LED's is in the savings on the electric bill, less heat, and ultimately I would hope healthier plants that have not been exposed to unneeded light spectrums. The power needs from my research to properly grow a fruiting plant under LED's would be 180 watts per square meter. Still a substantial difference from a HID or HPS bulb.
Now that we know how much power we need we have another snag.
5mm LED's just won't cut it. They do not get enough penetration into branched plants. While they have some very high output 5mm LED's they just aren't enough. It would take a thousand or more to be usefull for anything more than a plant booster or a seed starter. We need high power LED's. Luxeon or SSC emitters with reflectors. 1-3 watts or as high as you can afford.
Just remember to try and match the specific light wavelength to the emitter you are buying. That information should be in your spec's sheet.
Powering this bad boy is as easy as finding an old PC power supply with 200-300 watts continuous available. There are great directions on instructables.com on how to make a benchtop power supply from them. Same principle.
The data I have researched suggests 6-8% blue, the rest red and orange for the light. I would also suggest auxiliary blue LED's during the initial growth stage to help with any stretching. It would also be a good idea to provide fruiting plants with some UV exposure. The damage actually sweetens the fruit. An aquarium bulb or a row of UV LED's would do the job quite nicely.
Another idea that I read in a *pot* forum is to string lights of blue LED's onto your plant on the central stalk. I guess for a bushy plant like they were talking about that would be a pretty great idea. Could even use a string of christmas lights and replace the bulbs with LED's then provide the right current.
T5 flourescent- LED Hybrid
This is what I would like to see commercially available. A small T5 growing setup with 60-70 watts of high power LED's to augment it. This would be a powerful growing mechanism and still allow for a large wattage savings over HID or HPS.
The flourescent would help round out the available light wavelengths provided by the LED's and also provide superior penetration into the plant.
Conclusion
SolarOasis and ProCyon have the most effective products in my opinion. SolarOasis bulbs allow you to buy more of them as you need. You can also buy supplemental blue bulbs or red bulbs.
The ProCyon is the bigdaddy. 100 watts of LED POWER. This is the closest I have seen to what I envision it will really take to grow with LED's effectively. It is also very expensive.
If you want to make your houseplants more healthy than the lights available on eBay are a great fit. Most of the products when you track down their source are sold as LED plant growth ACCELERATORS not a full artificial light solution.
Give it 2-3 years and I think this type of product will be available at a slightly higher cost than HID or HPS systems of the same capabilities.
Guide created: 27/02/09 (updated 29/01/12)
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