Growing cannabis indoors exposes you to different technological options. Hydropic growing is one of the best options for growing cannabis indoors. Lighting is critical to your cannabis hydroponic setup and its overall success. Adequate lighting significantly determines cannabis growth because plants react to light and other environmental factors for proper development. 

Improving your indoor plantation’s lighting is one way of boosting cannabis production. It’s explained by the fact that the quality of lighting you use in your hydroponic system determines how well marijuana processes the necessary nutrients. 

A beginner has different grow light options. You can use LED or HPS to light your hydroponic environment. But which alternative is better, HPS or LED? This post examines these two options to help you make a smart choice. 

Why is Lighting Vital for Your Cannabis Seeds?

Let’s examine why light is vital for your cannabis growth. Photoperiod marijuana grows better when it gets a specific amount of light hours daily, usually 16 or more, during its vegetative stage. Upon reaching its budding phase, its lighting needs reduce to 12 hours daily. 

Failing to expose your indoor cannabis to the right lighting amounts during any development stage has the following consequences: 

• Marijuana won’t produce chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants, eventually turning pale green, yellow, or white.
• Cannabis stems lengthen and become thinner, appearing to reach toward a light source. 
• Your marijuana grows long spaces on branches between its leaf nodes. 
• Leaf dropping occurs, especially among older leaves.
• Your cannabis becomes variegated, with green and white leaves that sometimes revert to pure green.
• Cannabis may not produce flower buds.
• Excessive light exposure scorches and bleaches marijuana’s leaves.

Now, let’s examine and compare the two leading lighting technologies you can use in your hydroponic cannabis grow.

 

LED and Cannabis Growing: Benefits and Drawbacks 

LED is one of the favorite lighting options indoor growers use. Below are its benefits and drawbacks.

• They remain cool despite high energy output. LED lights remain cool despite high energy output. Depending on your chosen quality, these lights can produce the same energy amounts as HID but with lesser heat. This technology directs the system’s energy through hundreds of its small lights, wasting very little energy. 

• Reduced heat reduces water consumption. LEDs are excellent for hydroponics because they emit less heat, reducing water consumption. This benefit is more pronounced when managing a hydroponic system without a substrate because LEDs cause less evaporation. That means diminished watering schedules save you water consumption and costs. 

• Less water consumption leads to fewer nutrients. We saw that reduced water usage is one of the benefits of using LED lights. This advantage ensures your cannabis takes in fewer nutrients. Check your cannabis’s nutrient density using an EC meter. You can use it at different points, like drains and the main tank, to optimize your cannabis nutritional requirements. 

EC meter readings can sometimes rise because of increased water evaporation, causing greater nutrient concentration in the solution. Indoor growers usually correct this situation by adding more water containing plant nutrients. Therefore, decreased water requirement directly affects the nutrient levels your plants consume. 

• High light intensity. LED’s ability to emit high light intensity offers your cannabis higher light levels. Traditional systems usually emit more heat while lighting plants. Consequently, they expose plants to excess heat that burns them. LED lets marijuana absorb more light intensity and necessary energy without worrying about increased heat intake. 

• Overall energy efficiency. Finally, indoor cannabis gives you overall energy efficiency because the system wastes less energy when creating heat. These lights use lesser energy to create more light. Moreover, unlike other lighting alternatives, you don’t need powerful vents or cooling systems to deal with the heat. 

Drawbacks of LED for Hydroponic Growing 

While LED has beautiful benefits worth exploring, it also has shortcomings. Here are some of its drawbacks. 

• Blue light isn’t good for you. LED produces blue light your cannabis benefits from, especially during vegetative stages. However, this light isn’t good for your eyes. Prolonged exposure to it could damage your eyes’ retinal cells. So, limit this contact whenever possible.
• It’s a costly investment. While this lighting system is excellent, many small non-commercial growers avoid it because of its high setup costs. Purchasing a decent LED system requires making a large initial investment. Thus, this investment is only viable if you intend to recover the money long-term by making savings due to its high-efficiency levels. 
• Possible light bleaching. Possible light burn is another drawback of using this lighting system in your hydroponic setting. Locating your plants too close to the lights can expose them to this damage that makes their leaves yellow and then white. Gradually, such plants produce bleached leaves that offer your consumers little value for their money. 
• No established industry standards. So far, we don’t have an established industry standard regulating specs among various manufacturers. This variation means more homework for cannabis farmers. A grower must do additional research about a given system they will get before choosing. Otherwise, you might buy incompatible parts that won’t offer you value for your money and time. 

You may also face difficulties comparing various products before choosing the most appropriate ones. However, we expect things will change as more indoor growers embrace this lighting technology, making manufacturers see the need to standardize and streamline their product specs. 

HPS and Cannabis Growing: Benefits and Drawbacks 

HPS grow lights fall under the High-Intensity Discharge (HID) category. These lights emit light when an electrical current passes through a tube full of inert gas, xenon. This gas comprises sodium and mercury vapor. The final light is potent in producing red/orange spectrums up to around 2,200K.

The above spectrum is suitable for blooming cannabis. This system provides a color spectrum with yellows of 570-590 (nm), oranges of 590-630 (nm), and reds of 630-750 (nm). These lights ruled the market until LED appeared, setting a heated debate to establish which option is better. 

Pros 

Using this indoor lighting system has the following benefits:

• HPS grow lights are powerful, producing over 140 lumens per watt, enough for your cannabis lighting needs. 
• The system emits light in the optimal spectrum for budding marijuana.
• These lights are readily available. However, we recommend going for customized grow lights whenever possible.

Cons 

Below are some shortcomings of using this lighting alternative in your indoor cannabis grow. 

• Unlike LED, HPS grow lights generate too much heat, which can be really problematic for confined grow spaces. Therefore, you need to invest in heavy ventilation to counter this effect. 
• The lighting’s ability to generate more heat means placing the lights farther from the plants. Putting your lights far away from plants means the light will be less effective. For example, light that shines 4 feet from the bulb is 8 times weaker than the light 2 feet away. 

• This lighting needs a ballast to control the power flow to the bulb. Previous ballasts operate on a bulky magnetic system and are separated from the light unit. Fortunately, the latest ones have smaller, lighter digital electronic ballasts built into the lighting’s housing. 
• The system’s bulbs don’t last long. Typically, they produce some 2,500 hours instead of the 50,000 hours LED grow lights produce during their lifecycle.
• These lights are less heat-efficient than their LED counterparts. That means you will spend more money running them for the long term. You will incur higher power bills when using this technology, at least 55% more than you would spend on LED lighting.

Closing Remarks 

LED and HPS have various advantages and disadvantages, as seen in this post. But whichever grow light option is better for your indoor cannabis cultivation depends on different factors. For example, many growers who prioritize a longer lifespan, size, energy efficiency, and low-temperature emissions find LED lights ideal for hydroponic growing. However, installing a decent LED lighting grow system can be expensive initially but cheaper in the long run due to minimal power consumption. 

Inversely, indoor farmers who want a high-powered light spectrum choose HPS. However, these lights generate more heat that increase overall electricity consumption. You should pay attention to this downside before choosing HPS lighting systems. 

Based on the above comparison, we can say that LED grow lights have the upper hand over their HPS counterparts, their drawbacks notwithstanding. We hope this information helps you make an intelligent choice that gives you the right grow lights for increased productivity. 

The article was written by Denys Svirepchuk, an author and weed-growing expert at AskGrowers. Denys is always searching for the best growing setups and shares his personal cultivation experience to ease this task for novice growers.