5 Reasons LED Grow Lights are Better Than HID

For decades, people have been trying to effectively grow and maintain plant growth where it would otherwise not be possible. Whether you’re interested in growing bell peppers or tomatoes indoors, the proper lighting can mean the true difference between amazing and poor results. The sun is the most important thing for all living plants and animals on the earth. In order to replicate it’s power and provide the proper lighting for growth, a lot of technology has advanced to the point that now gives everyday people the opportunity to easily grow indoors.

If you’ve been researching indoor growing or horticulture, you’ve probably realized that many horticulturists are deciding to rid their gardens of their typical HID lighting system, and invest in something much more efficient and effective for plant growth – LED grow lights. Sure, they look cool and emit colorful light that stands out, but do you really know the reasons why more and more growers are deciding to use LED instead of the typical Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium lighting systems? Let’s take a look at the five reasons why LED grow lights are MUCH better than any HID light.

#1 – Operation Costs

Keeping your operational costs at a low level is essential for making the most out of your crop. Energy costs are continuously on the rise and increasing each year that goes by. With an HID light, you’ll be using as much as 3-5 times as much energy as you would if you were to invest in a quality LED grow light panel. Although there’s no debate that LED’s cost much more than HID, it’s a not very cost-effective in the long run since you’ll be wasting electricity, and you’re required to change the pricey bulbs after every few grows.

#2 – Happier Plants

Although there’s no doubt that an HID system can produce massive flowers, there’s a new debate that’s been of hot topic that argues LED’s produce better quality, although not always necessarily larger flowers or fruits. Many factors can contribute to your end results, but if you use a high end LED panel, you can expect fabulous results. The majority of LED lights are built to a specific spectrum to provide the proper specifications for incredible growth. It’s very common to experience frostier, healthier, and more luscious plants with the right LED setup. In fact, it’s been proven that LED’s produce tighter internodal spacing and much more resin than any other kind of lighting technology on the market.

#3 – Less Heat

Heat can be a major factor when it comes to indoor growing. There simply is no debate that LED’s operate at a cooler temperature than any comparable HID grow light available. Not only do the diodes operate at a fine-tuned wattage, they often have several integrated cooling fans to keep the temperatures running at optimum levels that have been proven to boost efficiency and stimulate the best vegetative and flowering growth possible.

#4 – Operation Time

Ballasts and inefficient lighting are truly a thing of the past. Not only have LEDs impressed growers with their stunning results, high-end panels have proven that they last longer and are often times built better than some HID setups. LEDs can last up to 100,000 hours, whereas HIDs can come nowhere close to that lifetime. With HIDs you’ll need to replace the bulb for it to work effectively.

#5 – Better Results

Although this could be argued, it’s often agreed upon that overall, LEDs simply give much better results. With a combination of providing tighter internodal spacing, more resin, and more consistent environmental temperatures, more often then not – growers are experiencing better results now with the use of LEDs over HID. If you take a look at any of the popular indoor growing forums on the web, it’s very easy to find conclusive grow journals that share from seed to harvest, what they can really do. But like we said, there’s always going to be somebody to debate this, growing is so dependent on many factors that it can be hard to justify results in certain scenarios.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, it doesn’t make any sense to use traditional lighting methods when LEDs now provide promising results for those who want to spend the time and money to try it out for themselves. Growing indoors isn’t a natural environment for plants – you’ll need to replicate their natural home by providing the perfect lighting and growing conditions. Although there’s no question that it can definitely be a very expensive initial cost, the results will make you happy and wish you would have started growing with LEDs earlier.