Do Cannabis Plants Need Side Lighting?2021 Update
Growing cannabis can be tricky as a beginner, as there are a lot of factors you have to keep in mind. One of the most important, though, is light. Specifically, you need to make sure you're picking the ideal light for your strain and grow space, and that you're keeping those lights on a precise schedule. Here's everything you need to know.
Is Side Lighting Worth It for Cannabis Plants?
So is side lighting worth it for indoor cannabis growers? The answer is unsatisfactory…
Maybe…
Side lighting can be helpful in certain situations, but it’s often unnecessary and may reduce yields/watt compared to adding light from above. Why is that?
It has to do with how cannabis plants respond to their environment. Although buds tend to grow bigger with more light, cannabis plants still favor the upper buds. A cannabis plant can “tell” which buds are at the top of the plant and puts more energy into these “high value” buds even when everything else is equal.
LEDs are less expensive. A lot less expensive.
Yes, the initial price of an LED lamp versus an old-fashioned light is higher, but not as much as is often believed because the cost of LED technology has been steadily declining every year. Beyond that, it doesn’t take long for LEDs to pay for themselves in several ways. A savvy businessperson knows that you have to look past the purchase price of needed equipment to consider the total cost of ownership (TCO).
“The cost of supplemental lighting was always the downfall for indoor growing in the Midwest,” says social entrepreneur Jim Bloom, owner of Toledo-based Sustainable Local Foods. “led grow lights allow us to grow year round and keep the costs down.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), energy costs are the third biggest expense for the vast majority of growers, with lighting costs representing a significant portion of that both supplemental lighting in the case of greenhouses and sole-source lights for indoor operations. LEDs are 66 percent more efficient than legacy HPS (high pressure sodium) lights when measured lamp to lamp. If you include the granular control offered by LEDs that’s not available with HPS lights, the energy efficiency is even higher.
“Energy efficiency is essential, especially in the Midwest,” says Bloom, echoing a sentiment shared by growers across North America and the world. “We think we’re saving maybe 75-80 percent over what would be the case with HPS.”
Not only do LEDs save on growers’ electric bills, they reduce other costs as well. Without the harsh radiant heat blasting plants from above, growers can use less water because there’s less evaporation. Finally, if keeping a grow space cool is a challenge, as it is in many parts of the United States, LEDs represent a significant energy and money savings because they reduce the need for air conditioning.
LEDs help create bigger, better plants.
Legacy lighting systems offer binary control. That is, they are either on or off. If they’re on, they give off the same fixed spectrum for every plant though they may vary in intensity depending on the replacement timeframe (older lamps mean lower intensity). So every plant basically gets the same spectral output as all the others even if you’ve got different varieties in the same space. If you don’t give every crop the same nutrients, why would you give them the same light?
With LEDs and new networking hardware and software, growers can craft proprietary light formulas or recipes to bring out the characteristics of the plants they know will make them most marketable. For instance, at my company LumiGrow, we recently conducted a small study with basil. Our research team grew basil under five different light treatments 0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 percent blue light along with varying ratios of red and a constant level of white light. In a blind taste test, they found a very noticeable difference in outcome depending on which percentage of blue light was used, and that the 32 percent blue light produced spicier, more aromatic and tasty basil. Spectrum control is the new “secret sauce” growers can use to produce the foods and flowers their customers crave.
“[There has been] greater predictability than what I expected,” shares Bloom. “In one of our units there’s no sunlight, and we have been able to generate a full-range harvest cycle. Basil, mustard greens, kale, arugula, I think they’re doing better in this enclosed environment under LED lights.”
In other experiments conducted at respected institutions such as the University of Guelph in Canada or at UC Davis in California, scientists have shown again and again that LEDs lead to more marketable plants than legacy lighting systems using much less energy and the same space as before.
LEDs mean a healthier working environment.
The ability to steer plant growth with LEDs means that there is less need for plant hormones to do that work. In addition to reducing the need for hormones, some studies have shown that LEDs can reduce or eliminate the need for pesticides as well, further benefiting workers who no longer have to be exposed to these toxic substances. And, as mentioned above, the reduction of heat aimed at plants means less evaporation and a need for less fertilizer, so exposure to yet another chemical stew is reduced. Reducing the use of plant hormones, pesticides and fertilizer in confined spaces like greenhouses and indoor growing operations, means a healthier indoor environment for the people who work there.
LEDs mean a healthier environment period.
Controlled growing environments already mean less water waste, less chemical runoff and a more efficient use of space. Add LEDs into this mix and indoor growing becomes that much more environmentally friendly. As stated, reduced heat produced by LEDs leads to the use of significantly less water increasingly important in times of record drought and using light to steer plant growth instead of plant hormones leads to less reliance on chemicals. Include another factor the savings discussed above that aren’t just monetary. The efficiency of LED systems makes for a much reduced carbon footprint as well. Growers like Sustainable Local Foods that operate indoor urban farms can also add icing to the carbon-cutting cake by limiting transport distances from vine (or stalk) to table.
Best recommend for you:ECO Farm ECOL 90W LED Grow Light Bar
Pros:
Produce less heat
Ideal for beginners
Works extremely cool and quiet lighting system
ETL, RoHS, and CE Certified
Release high PAR value with 450 μmol at 18 inches
Provides deep penetration to ensure your plants’ growth
A best supplemental Lighting.
Cons:
Doesn’t come with an additional control switch for an easier operation
Doesn’t offer separate bloom and veg lights for a more efficient effect
In conclusion it can be said that commercially available LED light sources (for horticultural or other applications) can be considered human safe when designed, installed and used in accordance with the applicable standards, regulations and manufacturer’s instructions. Also you can consider HPS grow light.
Overall, in terms of photobiological safety, LED grow lights have similar characteristics to those of any other lighting technology.