Professional lighting for professional growers

A great way to start seeding indoors

Many plants have excellent resilience, while others will wither at the first sign of difficulty. However, they all need light, but figuring out what kind of light can be tricky. However, no matter what you want to develop, the sun can always lend a helping hand. Adding grow lights to your gardening settings can extend your growing season or provide opportunities for new plants that don't necessarily grow in your climate. 

These grow lights will not prepare you to start your own professional operation, but they can treat your plants properly and meet your needs well, allowing you and your plant friends to get the right amount of light to make them thrive.

There are some certified plant fanatics on the PopSci editing and writing team. I am an avid gardener and have been for nearly twenty years. I often start my seedlings inside and then move them to the New York climate. 

To create this list, we investigated dozens of different models online and borrowed from real-world experience. This list represents a wide range of options and can cover a variety of very different situations. Some are more suitable for serious growers, while others are suitable for those who are interested or just getting started. We try to show different technologies and options here in a clear way to help.

Grow your dinner on your counter - or at least your appetizer. Quiet life

Reason for selection: If you don't want to buy a separate light and build a growth room, you can simply buy this compact hydroponic kit, which will automatically take care of your plants. 

As the best growing light for micro greens, this micro hydroponic device includes its own 18-watt LED growing light, which can be turned on for 16 hours a day and turned off for the remaining 8 hours. This simulates the natural cycle of the sun and makes plants happy. 

The base of the lamp is a complete hydroponic device. Insert the seeds into compact peat pellets, and the water will circulate automatically to provide ideal hydration. Everything happens automatically, so you don't have to be inclined to it. 

This method is very suitable for miniature vegetables that grow quickly and easily under these conditions. Once the plant starts to get too high, you can increase the light to make more space for the plant. If you are just starting out, it is ultimately a reliable alternative to buying a single product for a small planting room.

When outdoor plants need to enter indoors, they can use extra light. Lassi

Reason for selection: When outdoor plants need to go indoors for the winter, they do not necessarily need light. These adjustable lights have what they desire.

Some plants can thrive outdoors in summer, but need to enter the warm winter. In this case, they almost certainly need supplementary light help from the photosynthesis department. This adjustable light uses high-intensity LEDs to pump the equivalent of 75 watts of light while consuming 25 watts of power. 

The best growing lights for these outdoor plants have a built-in timer that can be highly customized for periods of three, six and nine hours. The flexible gooseneck design allows you to pinpoint where you need lighting, so you can easily move it closer or farther for more control. 

The full-spectrum light simulates the sun and will not cast strange shadows in your home when it is turned on, which is good for the plants and atmosphere in your home.

These professional light libraries are ready to be upgraded in the plant world. Hydraulic farm

Reason for selection: Many professionals choose fluorescent lamps. This provides a huge output that can cover a lot of areas in case you get bigger.

If you want a professional-grade planting room, this Hydrofarm fluorescent lamp is nearly four feet long and can emit nearly 19,000 lumens when fully equipped with high-output T5 bulbs. That is a lot of light. The specular aluminum reflector is located behind the bulb and directs the light to where it needs to go. 

The bank comes with four 6400K tubes that mimic the color of the sun, which means they will not spread wild colors around your planting room, but will only emit a clean white light. The powder-coated steel housing is large, but also very strong, so if you need to move things, it can withstand bumps and scratches. 

This is not as energy efficient as LEDs, but the total power level you get from this group is indeed much higher than a typical LED. As the best fluorescent growth lamp, these fluorescent lamp groups can also be daisy-chained together and run multiple from one socket, which is very convenient if you have insufficient sockets.

It has what the seed desires. Quick Start

Reason for selection: If you want to start planting indoors before taking the plants out this season, this is a good solution.

If you start planting before the growing season in your area officially begins, you can effectively extend the season and get more benefits from vegetable plants. Jump Start is the most suitable growing light for seedlings. Its lighting system hangs a fluorescent tube above the growing area. You can use an electronic ballast to raise and lower it. You usually want to keep the full-spectrum light about three to six inches away from the fresh small growers, but the adjustment is simple. 

The built-in timer allows you to automate the on/off process by dividing the day in half or dividing it into 18 hours and 6 hours of rest. Fluorescent lamps have a high output, but do not generate much heat, so they are also suitable for plants such as orchids, which can be very picky.

It is like a luxurious apartment for your seedlings and other plants. Gardener Supply Company

Reason for selection: This shelving system is basically a vertical indoor garden, helping to cultivate plants from the very beginning.

LEDs are arranged on the shelf of this bamboo installation, which can emit full-spectrum light to the plants below. The bottom shelf can hold up to 50 pounds of plants, while the upper shelf can hold up to 30 pounds each. 

The bottom of the shelf is lined with galvanized steel, so if you splash water during watering, the water will not damage the surface. The furniture-grade bamboo frame is durable and does not require much maintenance. You can stack these segments in any order, but all three rows of plant growth lights can get all the power they need from a power outlet. Buying the best grow lights for the home is a great way to start and show off a bunch of indoor plants without having to spread them in your home.

The two lights in this list are LEDs and fluorescent lights. The latter has been a very popular choice for growers for decades. The high-output T5 tube can produce an impressive amount of light and can cultivate plants of any level. Fluorescent lamps have high output but low heat, which is great if you don't want to burn young plants. 

LEDs are very efficient and consume less power. Their physical size and shape are also generally more flexible because they do not require long tubes to produce lighting.

If you keep the grow lights for up to 18 hours a day, even if you use high-efficiency LEDs, they will consume a lot of electricity. You want something with a built-in timer, because then you don’t forget to turn it on and off, which is bad for your electricity bills and plants. 

Remember, watts are used to express the relative power of incandescent bulbs, but this is not the case for LEDs. If they say how many lumens they produce, you can directly compare lamps, but when you talk about LEDs, watts are no longer an effective way to directly compare output

Some plants may be picky about how close or far the light is to get the benefits they need. Adjustable lights help ensure that the source of illumination is kept at the required distance from the plants themselves so that they do not starve to death or burn.

The sun uses its light to nurture plants well, but it does not always reach the plants in your home. This is where the best grow lights come in. Be sure to choose the right species for your plants, your home, and your budget.

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