LED Grow Lights For Sale in New Zealand Blog.

How to Grow an Herb Garden Indoors Year Round

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 08:36:09 +0000

If you love fresh spaghetti sauce or pesto, then you've just got to have fresh basil and other herbs all year round! A nice window garden getting at least 4 or 5 hours of direct light from a sunny window will give you something to pinch here and there. Gardens with mint, rosemary, bay leaf, savory, oregano, chervil, basil, and thyme are some of the easiest to grow this way.

Provide adequate light. The goal is a vegetative light cycle (18 hours of light at least), with eight or more hours of direct sun or bright LED Grow Light. If you need lots of an herb, you will need to take care of the herb's lighting needs. For example, basil and coriander (cilantro) need just a bit more light than other herbs, and really prefer 8 hours or more of direct light each day. In addition to this, if you want fresh pesto, just a pinch here and there is not going to cut it. Here's what you can do about it
Whenever the light levels are low, give them a boost. Two or three LED Grow Lights above your plants will greatly increase growth and yield. You can grow enough basil for a few servings of pesto now and then and still have enough always at your fingertips.

With a small LED Grow Light, you would have a larger area with better lighting. You could produce an abundance of any herbs you choose for your culinary and aromatic delights. Basil would take well to the bright conditions under a LED Grow Light, as it is a Mediterranean, sun-loving herb.

Select the proper soil. Some herbs grow better in poor soil, as they can develop a stronger flavour. The oils in herbs make them special. Very fast growing herbs often grow plain leaves and stems more quickly than they can produce tasty essential oils. Often you will hear, Basil grows better in poor soil, or, Your basil will taste better if you don't fertilize. What is really meant here is, Don't grow your basil too fast. (Basil is an example to which this applies).

Correctly set up your containers. When growing in a container it is a little different. The plant still needs some food to grow, and when that food runs out you will need to fertilize. However, as you will see next, this is all taken into consideration together with the growth habits of your herbs
To keep initial growth rates in control, use a soil mix with just enough nutrients. Mix 2 parts coir (coconut fibre) compost to 1 part perlite, and then add 20 percent worm castings. Test the pH of any mix, and if it is acidic, add one gram of hydrated lime for every litre of soil mix. Or, you can substitute with vermiculite, which does not need pH adjusting. Finally, add 1 tablespoon of kelp meal for each gallon of soil to add plant hormones and to give beneficial micro-organisms something to feed on. Use this mix whenever you transplant.

Know when to water. If the surface of the soil feels dry, you need to water. Another way to tell is to pick up the container and check how heavy it is. Your herbs like their soil to drain fast. You need to have containers with holes in the bottoms, and you need to add a layer of broken roof tiles (slate is ideal) or other small flat stones, or a centimetre or so of perlite or gravel to the bottom of each container as you transplant. It is best to water thoroughly but less often. Water the container until some water comes out of the bottom, but don't over-water.

Start feeding your plants after 10 or so days. When the herbs have been in any container for ten days or more, you need to begin feeding them. In a container, the roots are stuck in a small space and will quickly mine it free of any nutrients, especially if you have been going easy on the nutrients to begin with. Feed with half-strength nutrient such as Maxsea 16-16-16 every two weeks.

Give an additional boost to your herbs. If you really want to keep your plants healthy, it is recommended to use 10 mlgallon B1 plant mix and liquid seaweed in every drop of water you give to your plants. The B1 consists of vitamins and root hormones, and the seaweed is trace nutrients and plant growth hormones. This will help with essential oil production. Finally, water basil from around the base; it does not like water on its leaves.

Use your herbs when they're ready. As soon as the herbs have grown enough leaves to be pinched without affecting their growth, you can begin using some of the herbs. This usually takes about 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the herbs. Herbs like basil are best when harvested before flowers open.

LED Grow Light Vs HPS Grow Light

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 15:24:30 +0000

Over several years there has been a strong debate between LED grow light vs HPS grow light. However, the arguments between the two have become less apparent with the new advancements made with LED grow light technology. They are becoming more powerful, still extremely efficient than standard HPS or MH grow lights, and, believe it or not, are producing massive yields in the flowering stages of plants. Continue on as we discuss the basics of indoor grow lights and how you can utilize both grow light systems towards your benefit.

LED Grow Light

A grow light is an artificial light source, used to stimulate plant growth by emitting an electromagnetic ray of light (or spectrum) that helps the process of photosynthesis in plants. Photosynthesis is a process by which the plants convert light energy, usually from the sun, into chemical energy that can be used to fuel the organism.

Some growers use both LED and HPS grow lights together to combine the added benefits from both light sources.Some growers use both LED and HPS grow lights together to combine the added benefits from both light sources.
What’s an HPS Grow Light?

High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps contain additional elements such as mercury, and produce a dark pink glow when first struck, and an intense pinkish orange light when warmed. HPS Lamps are favored by indoor gardeners for traditional growing because of the wide color-temperature spectrum produced and the relatively efficient cost of running the lights. Not only that, but it has been the standard grow light with impressive years for decades.

hps grow light

HPS lights produce red visible light as well as small portions of all other visible light. They are used for the reproductive or flowering phase of the growth. If high-pressure sodium lights are used for the vegetative phase, plants will usually grow taller more quickly which doesn’t benefit smaller grow areas. High-pressure sodium lights enhance the fruiting and flowering process in plants. We have a more in-depth article on the HPS light that explains more on the topic of this popular grow light setup.

So Why Use LED Grow Light?

We mentioned about the future of LED Grow Light before and feel that there still isn’t enough credit due to the technology behind it. Many experienced growers mumble and grumble about the prospects of LEDs used for indoor gardening because they believe the product is not as powerful than HID grow lights. There was reason to believe that 5 years ago, however times are changing and many growers has stepped up and utilized LED grow light to their benefit. We’ll discuss further in a later article on how advances in LED grow light technology is not from the factory but from growers.

In the indoor gardening area, LED grow light systems are becoming popular and becoming the preferred choice by more hobbyist and commercial gardeners. We listed 4 main reasons why LEDs are making a big impact:

1. Saving energy is one of the most important things for anyone who is using grow light. LED Grow lights are preferred because they consume less electricity than HPS lights. According to market research, LED lights consume 90 percent less power than HPS grow lights. You have less load on your amperage and electric breakers at home because LED grow lights enhance the energy efficiency of your indoor garden.

2. In comparison to HPS lights, LED lights have a longer bulb life. With time, HPS bulbs may become dimmer and lose efficiency. Even the actual operating cost over the lifetime of a HPS bulb increases with usage. On the other hand, LED bulbs offer a bit more power during the end of its life.

3. When it comes to HPS lights they emanate more heat than LED lights, which often possess integrated heat sinks. Heat emanated from HPS lights requires ventilation which may cause additional costs. Whereas in case of LED lights, the heat released is less than half than that of its counterpart, HPS.

LED lights need less electricity to operate than that required by HPS lights. This helps you reduce a major part of your indoor gardening expenses.

A comparison of LED and HPS lights clearly shows that LED bulb is the winner in a lot of factors. It saves you lot of operating expenses due to built in heat sinks. It also promises more energy efficiency than a HPS bulb. As they don’t lose efficiency quickly, they will only help you increase your savings over time.

Best Grow Lights In Indoor Gardening

Sun, 04 Jun 2017 08:23:54 +0000

Grow Lights is something important tools if you want to start indoor gardening. There are many types of grow lights for indoor plants available on the market. Choosing the right indoor grow lights will affects your plants growth rate. Example of the best grow lights available on the market include led grow lights, hps grow light, incandescents and metal halide grow lights.

There are many other types of grow light suitable for indoor gardening, but for me the famous one are led grow lights. Led Grow Light is my first choice in indoor gardening as my grow light systems. Why do I like to used led grow lights systems?The first and important factor make me choose led grow lights is energy efficiency when we used it. Led grow lights offer a perfect lighting without wasting energy and produce low heat compared to others.

Hps grow lights is a short form of High-pressure sodium lights. Hps lights use mercury in the arc tube, as well as sodium, and this makes for good color rendering, or colors showing up accurately when lit by the bulb. The advantage of Hps lights is it able to increase the fruiting and flowering process in our plants.Further advantage of hps grow lights are long usable bulb life, and energy consumption are better than a standard incandescent grow light.

Incandescents grow lamps is less energy-consuming grow light alternatives. The average life span of incandescents grow lamps is around 31 days. Metal halide grow lights (MH grow lights) contains argon gas, mercury and a mix of metal halides in their arc tubes. Mh lights require the use of a ballast in to function properly. Find out more about Metal halide grow lights at my website at the link below.

Indeed, these lights have a lot of practical applicability and serve as an easy alternative for growing plants without sunlight. It can also be used for large-scale cultivation of plants, crops, flowers, and fruits. In fact, there is an ongoing development and the latest development in LED lights is Organic LEDs, Quantum dot LEDs, Phosphor based LEDs, miniature LEDs, high power LEDs, SuperFlux/Piranha LEDs, and so on. The options are many and are designed to meet different needs.

Nowadays, there's are many great variety of best grow light for indoor plants gardening available on the market. Before we buy grow lights we need to do some research to get the best value grow lights in order to safe our money and give the perfect lighting systems to our indoor garden.

Indoor Gardening Q&A with LED Grow Lights

Sat, 13 Aug 2016 05:09:01 +0000

Professional and hobbyist growers alike are switching to LED grow lights for the many advantages they offer compared to traditional grow lights such as high intensity discharge (HID) and compact fluorescent. We did a Q&A session with LED to find out more about their line of LED grow lights.

For many years, indoor growers and hobbyists used metal halide, high pressure sodium, T5 & compact fluorescent lights to grow indoors. Why now would they want to switch to LEDs? How do LED vs. HID compare?

LED Grow Light – HID systems like metal halide and high pressure sodium have been the main lighting systems used by indoor gardeners for a couple decades. Although these systems work as indoor growing lights, they have a few shortfalls which have given the impetus to the LED grow lights industry. HID systems are inefficient by nature. They try to emulate the sun by using a very high power consumption bulb which will emit a very bright light for the plants to conduct photosynthesis. However, it is not necessary to have such a bright light, with high Lumen count to have successful photosynthesis. In fact, most of the energy coming off from HID systems gets wasted as extra heat which then needs to be mitigated with expensive venting and air control systems. LEDs are attractive to indoor growers since they consume much less electrical power, do not require ballasts, and produce considerably less heat. This allows LEDs to be placed closer to the plant canopy than other lights. As a result of the reduction in heat, the time between watering cycles is longer.

Can you tell us about wavelength and spectrum needed?
LED grow light - By using LED technology, we are able to concentrate the grow light in the wavelengths that the plants need for photosynthesis; mainly reds and blues, but some orange, yellow, violet & white as well. When you look at a Photosynthetic Action Radiation (PAR) chart, you see that the part of the visible spectrum necessary for plants to conduct photosynthesis is concentrated in the 400-450nm & 630-680nm ranges.

LED Grow lights have gone through many iterations of spectra formulation to achieve the optimal 8-band wavelength ratio that goes into our LED Grow Lights. LED has designed and optimal ratio that not only delivers the blues and reds necessary for vegetative growth and flowering, but also provides a weighted average representation of diodes for the smaller photosynthesis peaks that appear in the PAR chart.

This all sounds good, but is there any proof that LEDs actually work?
Great question! This is one of the most asked questions from our first-time customers and the answer is a definite YES! NASA has tested LED Technology to grow food in space because of the efficiency over other growing systems. Everyday there are more commercial growers who are successfully growing with LEDs and posting their results all over the internet. As more of these grow journals and blogs permeate through the internet, more and more growers will switch to hydroponic LED Grow Lights. As with all grow lights for indoor plants, if you do not have enough light for a given grow area, your plants will not enjoy robust growth. To be sure you are successful with LED growlights, make sure to follow the manufacturer's recommended settings for the amount of grow area a light will cover.

How To Start An Indoor Herb Garden – Tips & Tricks

Sat, 07 Nov 2015 08:37:33 +0000

Indoor herb gardens are easy to grow but challenging as well. They may attract insects and mites. To avoid these one need to be alert and know some tricks to be successful. The indoor herb garden can be anywhere in the home. It can be in kitchen, patio, back porch or even on the window sill. Here are some useful tips and tricks to start an indoor herb garden.

Do not choose terracotta pots as they absorb more moisture and dry out the plants. Use small celled plastic trays so that the herbs can be separated and their roots will have easy time establishing themselves. Moreover, the plastic can hold the moisture longer.

Regardless of the type of the pot, it should have a better drainage to get the excess water out. Use rocks or foam at the bottom to keep the roots from rotting.

To know if it is time to water, insert a finger about an inch into the soil, if it is dry, it's time for watering. This works during summer, when the water may dry out sooner.

So try to keep the plants closer to the window in direct sunlight during the light periods and not just ‘near' the window. Open the curtains, blinds and draws to have the sunlight enter and do not have any light obstructers on the way.

Rotate the plants once a week so that all the parts get equal amount of light. The herbs should get 4-6 hours of light every day.

Choose light weight potting soil for the herbs. It should also have high concentration of organic matter so that there is less need for fertilization.

Herbs do not need extensive fertilization. A good quality potting soil can hold the plants for longer before it requires fertilization. They will need only occasional fertilization mixed with their water.

Look for dried or dead leaves and remove them regularly to allow green leaves to grow.

While harvesting, do not pluck out the plants, simply cut it leaving a few inches above the root to allow new spouts to grow.

Never cut all the larger leaves, as they act as solar panels and cutting them can kill the plants altogether.

The best herbs for indoor growing are chives, mint, parsley, sage, tarragon, thyme, cilantro etc.

Use lazy Susan for small pots and rotating them for even light exposure will be easy. This will also prevent the frequent carrying of the pots around.

Keep the pots at an elevated area to prevent the pets from eating the foliage.

Herbs are best grown from the seeds. Transplanting them can be hard and can also kill the plants. So get some new seeds batch from the market to start your indoor herb garden.

Use LED Grow Light as the artificial light source when needed. They can get enough light for compensation and will also not harm the plants with the harshness.

You may also want to check out the Grandma's Secret Garden – 9 Plant Grow Box and the Gorilla Grow Tent if you plan to do some serious indoor gardening.

Garden Tips Light Intensity VS Brightness

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 02:38:51 +0000

One of the biggest causes of confusion and disagreement in the world of grow lighting is the word "brightness". The problem is that we constantly use the word colloquially to describe how things "appear" to us – it's a bright sunny day, that bulb is a bit bright, etc. It is no way a scientific definition of light intensity – the number of photons hitting a specific area over time – and ignores wavelengths of light that humans are less sensitive to.

Take as an example an X ray light source. Is this bright? Well you can't see it and you wouldn't be able to read a book using X rays. But when you consider that a very short burst from an X ray machine can pass straight through you onto a film plate, casting shadows only where your bones got in the way, you have to conclude that maybe brightness and intensity aren't one and the same thing after all.

Likewise, because LED Grow Light accurately target the wavelengths preferred by plants they both don't need to be and in fact don't seem so bright to us, even though they are actually delivering a greater amount of "useful" light. That perception is further bolstered by the fact that HIDs emit a lot of light in the green/yellow part of the spectrum which increases their perceived intensity to the human eye (unlike plants we favor light around the 550 nm mark). But the fact is that they are just wasting all this additional light since it is of little benefit to plant life.

If we take a 400w HID as an example, about 260 watts of that will actually be completely outside the Photosynthetically Available Range (PAR) so at least 65% of the light (and the energy used to produce it) is completely wasted. So with less than 40% of the light generated by HPS and MH lamps being absorbed by plants, and barely 10% of the electricity you pay to run them being actually converted into light in the first place this is not looking promising for conventional lighting (on these figure about 4% of the input energy ends up doing some good for the plant).

Some LED grow light systems do indeed include additional wavelengths, simply to enhance the visual appearance of the plants since foliage often looks black when lit purely by blue and red light. But there is no getting away from the fact that plants benefit enormously from the capability with LED lamps to smoothly vary the balance between blue and red exactly as needed. Seedlings do better with the balance in favor of blue light, while crop yields can be significantly boosted by switching over to red towards the end of the growing cycle. In this way you can simply replace All blue led grow light for early growth and all red led grow light used later in the cycle with a single, dynamically variable solution that reduces running costs and maintenance issues at the same time.

Indoor Grow Tent - The Ultimate Growing Experience

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 07:39:23 +0000

Indoor grow tent are quickly becoming very popular with people growing their own food. Indoor grow rooms are a step up from the grow cabinet because you can product vastly more plant matter. If you have the room for one, you could feed a family of four with fresh produce almost all year round.

As a controlled environment, indoor grow rooms offer many advantages over outdoor alternatives. However, without adequate ventilation, the plants may consume resources, like oxygen and carbon dioxide, faster than they can be replenished. Adequate gas exchange is necessary for optimal plant growth. Ventilation in indoor grow rooms is vital for maintaining an optimal temperature for the plants. Advanced indoor grow rooms even include air conditioning to keep running temperatures down, as well as CO2 to boost the plant's growth rate.

The plants in indoor grow rooms can be grown in soil, or without, via other means such as Hydroponics and Aeroponics. Not only is growing in a soilless medium more cost effective, one also gets a much higher yield, as well as faster fruit maturation. There will be no weeding out and no bugs to contend with. Soilless mixes usually carry 0% nutrients so the gardener can utilize the perfect combination of nutrients for the crop. Vermiculite, Perlite, Coconut husk and Rockwool are the most popular media for indoor grow rooms cultivation.

The three most common varieties of lighting for indoor grow rooms are HID - High-intensity discharge lamps (the most prevalent for this application being: high pressure sodium for flowering and metal halide for growing), compact fluorescent lamps, and traditional Fluorescent lamps. Incandescent and halogen lamps are not suitable for indoor grow rooms as they generate excessive heat, with a low lumen to watt ratio. LED lights are becoming more popular for indoor grow rooms due to their low energy requirements and low heat output. Recent advances such as 165 watt LED grow light have entered the LED grow light market and are proving to be highly efficient as a substitute for sunlight for growing plants.
When choosing the size of the indoor grow rooms you intend to purchase you should take into account the number and the estimated size of the plants you will be growing. A 100*100*200cm grow tent is suitable for 8-9 plants, provided they will grow to full size. Indoor grow rooms with less than two ventilation flaps, should be supplied with ventilation "socks" which are easily installed and would ensure the tent was absolutely light proof. While deciding which tent to choose, note that a carbon filter and a light unit will weigh about 15 kg, so the tent should be rated to sustain such weight. However, modern indoor grow rooms are capable of safely bearing about 30 kg.

The variety of complete indoor grow rooms, ready to set up and start growing in immediately are plentiful. Large and small, they are all designed to be as efficient as possible. Your investment will pay off in no time both in better health and cost saving on groceries. If you have a dark corner anywhere in your house or have space in your basement, indoor grow rooms will provide you with hours of nourishing enjoyment and pleasure.

Which indoor grow light to use?

Tue, 27 Aug 2013 08:37:29 +0000

When you want to purchase grow lights, there are some questions that need answering. To find out the appropriate grow lights is important to become a successful indoor grower, below are some info help you:

What is LED grow light?

LED grow light is the most efficient type of grow lighting that can be purchased. Compare to HID or fluorescent grow light, LED grow light can save 70-80% electricity bill and don't contain any harmful substance for environment friendly.

Is it safe to run these type of grow lights in my home?

These led grow lights are very safe. LED grow light is used in retail and groceries stores, gas stations and in your back yard as a security light. Systems that are CE and RoHS tested help assure safe lighting fixtures.

Why should I use LED grow lights for my indoor plants?

LED grow lights are the most intense source of grow light available. It is also more efficient and the lamps last up to six times longer than other lamps.

Which type of light should I use?

LED grow light with red and blue wavelengths work better for vegetative growth and bloom stage, that should be used as the primary light source for any plants. It works even better than other grow lamps

You are on your way to purchasing the best grow lights available and to search the internet, ledgrowlight.co.nz will lend their expertise advise for additional questions regarding indoor gardening and which indoor grow lights are best suited.

LED Grow Lights Intensity

Wed, 26 Jun 2013 07:23:34 +0000

In midsummer, near noon on a clear day, full sunlight approaches light intensity of 1000 Wm-2. Since about 45% of sunlight is in the 400nm to 700 nm range used for photosynthesis, plants can only use about 450 Wm-2 or about 2000 micromol m-2 s-1. Similar or higher intensities can be achieved using artificial light sources like HPS,MH, LED grow lights, but this requires considerable costs for both power and lamps.

If we consider a plant, for individual leaves oriented at right angles to incoming radiation, it needs roughly 1/3 of full sunlight (about 150 Wm-2) for photosynthesis. These values would be typical for sun-adapted species such as greenhouse vegetable crops. In shade-adapted species, including many foliage plants need lower intensities of receiving LED grow light. This might lead to a misconception that maximum crop growth can be achieved at only 1/3 full sunlight. For many several reasons, however this is not the case. These are:

• Whole plants are not composed of single leaves exposed to direct sunlight coming in at right angles to their surfaces. In a real canopy, leaves are often positioned oblique to the incoming beam lowering the amount of available light.

• In a shoot canopy the leaves overlap, and the incoming light is absorbed before it reaches the lower leaves. (PS. LED grow light emit enough intensity for overlap leaves)

• Differences in light absorbing pigment contents in different tissues cause variation in absorbing light.

For these reasons, well developed leaf canopies require higher intensities to reach the light compensation point than do single leaves. These considerations help us to understand a relationship accepted by many greenhouse vegetable producers, the "1% Rule": for every 1% increase in light intensity reaching the crop there is a 1% increase in productivity.

More about led grow lights, please visit: ledgrowlight.co.nz