5 Tips to Choose the Right LED Grow Light for Grow Tent

Grow tents provide a convenient and compact way for indoor growing. Grow tents take less space and time to set up than grow rooms. With the additions of fans, LED grow lights, thermometers, and other tools, growers can control the growing environment in the tent freely. Since the growing factors for each grow tent can be controlled individually, growers are able to create different environments for the plants in different grow tents within the same room. Higher productions and yields are achievable in optimal growing environment. Due to the limited space and insufficient natural light of indoor environment, LED grow lights are critical. LED grow lights offer mimic sunlight and supplement light during winter days and bad weather periods. Although grow tents are beneficial for indoor growing, growers cannot gain the desired results without right LED grow light selection. It is just a waste of money and energy for adding wrong LED grow light for grow tent. This post will show you 5 tips to select the right LED grow light for your grow tent.

1. Calculate the size of the grow tent

When it comes to the choice of LED grow light, the size of the grow tent is the basic consideration. Of course that smaller size and lower output LED grow lights fit for smaller tent. While larger grow tents require more powerful LED grow lights. Grow tents are of various sizes. 4 ft x 4 ft grow tents are the common selections for home growing as they can grow most flowers and vegetables. But one size cannot fit all. Measure the space that you plan to place the grow tent, and then choose the grow tent of suitable size. Once you decide the size of grow tent, you can figure out the wattage of LED grow light that is applicably to your grow tent. There is a table about the rough recommendation of the wattage of LED grow lights for grow tents in different sizes. This is one of the simplest ways to select LED grow lights, but it is also the most inaccurate one.

2. Type of the plants you plan to grow

The aims of using LED grow light in grow tent are to help plants grow better, promoting flowering, increase yield, etc. Thus, the key point of the choice of LED grow lights is the type of plants you plan to grow. Approximately, plants are divided into high light plants and low light plants by their light requirements. High light plants need more light for flowering or fruiting, like cannabis and tomatoes. Plants like lettuces and ferns, require less light as they do not flower or bear fruits. Low light plants will wilt or even die under prolong exposure to intense light. High light plants require about 30 to 50 watts per square foot of the grow space. For example, if you plant to grow cannabis in a 4 ft X 4 ft grow tent, the theoretical wattage ranges of LED grow lights should be 480 watts to 800 watts. Considering the type of plants is an easy and quick tip for selecting the right LED grow light for grow tent. But the problem is the actual wattage of the lights are varied from manufacturers. In other words, the LED grow lights with the same theoretical wattage from two manufacturers may a huge variation between the actual wattage. Choose a reliable LED grow light manufacturers like Atop can help you save efforts to select the right LED grow light.

3. Which growing stage does grow tent serve

The growing stage served by grow tent is also important for the selection of LED grow light. Does grow tent only served for single growing stage? Or it is utilized through the whole life cycle of the plants? If grow tent is used for certain growing stage, it is easier to choose LED grow light as the spectrum and power of LED grow light just need to cover the needs for certain growing stage. As known, blue light is beneficial for plant growth, and red light is useful for flowering. Light spectrum of LED grow light affects the plant growth. Not only the light spectrum, but also the light intensity is critical. With the development and growth of plants, they require more light. Therefore, seeding stage has lower light requirement than vegetative and flowering stage. Take cannabis as an example, 25 to 35 watts per square foot is enough for seedlings and clones stage. But requirement of flowering stage increases up to 75 watts per square foot. If the grow tent is served for the full production of plants, LED grow lights selected for the grow tent should at least be full spectrum to fulfill the need in every stage. A more effective way is to choose the adjustable LED grow light. You can control the light intensity according to the stage of the plants by simply switching the dimmer. Horti-Eco is an ideal choice for your tent with dimming function. It also delivers powerful full-spectrum and evenly distributed light for plant. Here is a picture about the controllable light intensity of Horti-Eco for each growing stage:

4. How many plants to grow in grow tent

Except for the size of grow tent, the amount of plants you plan to grow in tent is also affect the selection of LED grow light. Plants grow larger and taller from seedling to fruiting stage, which means the spread of canopy of plants will increase. If you grow too many plants in the same tent, plants may be crammed together. As a result, plant growth is limited by the small space. Moreover, the leaves of plants may be layered on the top of each other, resulting inadequate lighting for plant growth. Keep enough space from one plants to another for the plants to thrive. To ensure the bushy growth, keep at least one square foot for each plant. The exact distance depends on the type of the plant you grow. In addition to allowing adequate light interception, knowing the quantity of plants also helps to figure out the lighting coverage area you need. A 4 ft X 4 ft grow tent can hold about 6 plants in 3 gallon pots. But you may only grow 2 plants in the grow tent. Therefore, LED grow lights with 4 ft X 4 ft coverage area is unnecessary.

5. PPFD of LED grow lights

Calculating PPFD of LED grow lights is most the accurate but also the most difficult ways to make a choice of right LED grow lights for your grow tent. PPFD means Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density. It is the measurement of the amount of the PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) that reaches the plants from a specific distance. PAR refers to the spectral range that are beneficial for photosynthesis. Thus, PPFD can verify the actual lighting output that plant received. The PPFD level of the LED grow light should meet the needs for the plants. Requirements of PPFD level are varied from cultivars and growing stage. That is the reason for considering the type and growing stages of plants grow tent served. Generally, a healthy plant requires 200 to 400 PPFD during seedling stage, and it requires up to 1000 PPFD for budding or flowering. But selecting LED grow light is hard with PPFD because it is influenced by hanging height. The higher LED grow lights are placed above plants, the lower light intensity plants receive (in the same grow tent). For example, PPFD of Horti-Eco 250W can reach up to 1300 at 12”, but it reduces to about 500 at 23”. Keeping appropriate distance from LED grow lights to plants allows plants to absorb light more effectively. Wondering the optimal distance for LED grow light above plants? Click Here and find the answer.