Plant Gardens 101

Plants, flowers and vegetables need a certain amount of daily light to grow. Greenhouse gardeners who want to garden all year will usually need the help of a grow light in the winter when the days are shorter and in areas that have a lot of dark cloud cover. Grow lights are greenhouse supplies that are very helpful in these types of situations.

When you are involved in greenhouse gardening as a hobby or a business venture there will likely be instances when you want to start plants from seeds. If this is the case, grow lights are extremely important greenhouse supplies for getting your seeds off to a healthy start. (more…)

If you would like to give hydroponic gardening a try, one of the hydroponic supplies that you will need is HID lights. HID, or High Intensity Discharge, lamps will provide the strong light that plants need to thrive in an indoor setting. In order for these lamps to work properly, they must function in conjunction with a ballast.

Grow lamps consist of a glass tube that contains tungsten electrodes, gas and metals. You see light emit from the tube when an electrical arc is struck across the electrodes. The gas helps the light to start, and once the metals are heated they function to produce the light. Hydroponic gardening reaps the benefits of using these lights because they provide light that most closely resembles sunlight, a definite plus when you are growing plants indoors without exposure to sunlight. They are also cost efficient, because they last longer than other light bulbs and are more energy efficient. (more…)

When you are considering appropriate grow lights for hydroponic gardening, there are several factors that will impact how much light you need. Grow lamps are used in lighting systems that come in different wattages, so how do you know how much wattage you need? There are a few guidelines you can follow to help you determine what size system will work best for you.

The area in which you garden will have an impact on your choice of hydroponic lights. If you garden in a room with no exposure to any other light besides the lighting system, you will need more light than if the room had any access to natural light. Conversely, if you practice hydroponic gardening in a greenhouse, your lighting needs will be lower due to the availability of sunlight.

The types of plants you grow hydroponically will also play a part in selecting an appropriate lighting system. Some plants require high intensity light and heat in order to grow well, while others thrive in a shadier growing condition, so it is best to determine this before purchasing a lighting system. (more…)

The determining factor for a good grow light is one that provides the correct amount and type of light for the plant being grown as well as its during different stages of development. Plants of course use light as an energy source, which it converts into chemical energy by means of photosynthesis. In an indoor garden this requirement is met through grow lights. The amount that a plant grows and provides is directly dependent on the amount of light available to it.

Because light is so important to plant health (upon which everything else depends!), the purchase of grow lights requires a bit of thought and consideration. Fluorescent grow lights are very efficient and cool compared with incandescent bulbs, which are not a particularly good choice because of the heat generated. Fluorescent lights provide full spectrum light, which many indoor gardeners think to be a good thing. However, the fact is that plants do not use the full spectrum at all times. (more…)

Before entering into a discussion as to why digital ballasts are superior to the old-fashioned magnetic core and coil types, it may be helpful to know exactly what a ballast system is in terms of grow lights and grow systems.

All standard grow lights used in hydroponic gardening – whether some type of metal vapor or fluorescent – employ a ballast system. This consists of a housing, within which is contained electronic components that in essence “prime the pump.” A fluorescent light has its own built-in ballast system; this builds up the energy required to activate the molecules inside the fluorescent tube, which in turn causes them to glow, emitting light. Metal Halide and HPS grow lights have “remote ballasts” which are housed inside a metal container. The components are what make up these lamps’ main power supply. Together, they function as a “pre-heater,” which allows electrical power to build up to the point that the lamp will run. (more…)

Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) are two types of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights used for hydroponic gardening grow lights. MH grow lights are generally used during a plant’s growing cycle – i.e., when it is not blooming or bearing fruit. HPS grow lights are used during a plant’s fruiting/blooming phase. There are two sub-types of HPS lighting: one is enhanced for the blue spectrum, which is better for fruiting, and the other is red spectrum enhanced, which specific benefits flowering. In addition, there are mercury-vapor lamps, which are similar to modern streetlights, and fluorescent grow lights.

All indoor grow lights make use of what is known as a ballast system. With MH and HPS lights, these are remote, meaning that an external box is required in order to house an electronic pre-heating system, which in turn runs the lamp itself. (more…)

When it comes to grow lights and other electronic devices, a ballast is mechanism that acts as a type of resistor. Similar to the “power pack” used with electric trains, its purpose is to regulate the amount of electrical current flowing through a circuit.

If grow lights – such as metal halide, high pressure sodium grow lights or even fluorescent lights – were connected directly to a power outlet, they would continue to draw greater and greater amounts of electric current until they burned up, exploded, or destroyed the power source. This is why a ballast is necessary. The ballast provides positive resistance which limits the flow of electricity to the lamp. Today there are two options for a grow light ballast, either an electronic or a digital ballast. (more…)

With the release of hard-hitting documentaries such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11th Hour energy consumption and its relationship to global climate change has become a prominent issue. What people often fail to understand is that the best solutions are not great actions on the part of a few, but rather small actions taken by the many. For example, if everyone in the U.S. were to replace incandescent lights with fluorescent ones, it could eliminate the need for Middle East oil.

LED Grow lights are another example of a small thing that can make a great difference. If you are growing your own food hydroponically, you’re already taking a step toward saving the planet. The use of LED Grow Lights allows you to take the next step in reducing your footprint on the planet. Not only to they operate at a fraction of the voltage of conventional bulbs (less than 20 VAC as opposed to 120), but they are free of mercury – a highly toxic metal used in metallic vapor and fluorescent grow lights. (more…)