Invented and in use since the 1960s, LED lights for home use have only recently reached a stage of research and development that allows their widespread use at the consumer level. The use of LED growing lights offers a number of advantages over the traditional artificial-light gardens: they are significantly smaller in size and considerably longer lasting. However, their still-new status makes an LED grow lights setup a serious initial investment that may put off many gardeners.
Still, the long-range savings on energy consumption and the very long life of LEDs can offset this initial cost. In ideal conditions, a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) can function for 35,000 to 50,000 hours (up to 100,000 until complete failure). Indeed, many of the LEDs made in the 1970s and 1980s were used primarily as indicator lights in electronic devices, and are still in service today. In addition, sudden failure is less likely for LEDs, which tend to fade and fail over time, thus providing ample warning time to change a unit.
By comparison, fluorescent tubes typically are expected to last from 10,000 to 15,000 hours, again depending on the conditions of use, while incandescent light bulbs only last 1,000-2,000 hours. Although both are cheaper, the time investment needed for labor that is more frequent must be factored into the cost.
As with incandescent lights, heat emission is a factor that must be factored in any plans for growing with LED lights. Smaller LEDs emit less heat, while larger ones produce more. However, a system with a greater number of units, while allowing the use of smaller LEDs, may prove more difficult both to set up and to manage.
The specific configuration of an LED grow light system will depend on the plants being cultivated. While backyard outdoor growing requires a passable knowledge of the local climate and soil, indoor gardening under LED grow lights demands additional research. Fortunately, the information on the spectrum (mixture of red and blue light) needed by each plant is readily available to gardeners. The plants’ needs may also change over their growth cycle, and LED growing lights need to be adjustable to provide a different ratio of red to blue, as needed.
With the increase in popularity of LED grow lights, manufacturers have made available pre-wired LED growing lights and complete mini-gardens in a variety of sizes and configurations. However, for the more hands-on gardener, do-it-yourself instructions are readily available both online, on general knowledge sites and in specialized forums dedicated to avid gardeners, as well as in print in garden stores and home improvement centers.
In addition to the light setup itself, growing with LED lights will require special soil mixes and plant food, but that is not very different from the requirements of a more traditional indoor garden built under incandescent or fluorescent lights.
As research into LEDs continues and technology improves, many more people will be exposed to easy indoor growing with LED lights for home gardens, the initial cost will continue to fall, and the promise of tabletop crops of sweet tomatoes or berries will increase the popularity of the miniaturized gardens under their private suns of LED growing lights.
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