Cannabis Grow Lights

There are various types of grow lights on the market available to cannabis cultivators. It is important to choose a grow light that suites your needs and fits within your budget.

High Intensity Discharge Lights (HID):

HID lights, also known as horticultural lights are the most highly suited, commonly used light type for a cannabis indoor grow room. They have the right amount of wattage and CCT levels, are safe and easy to manage. If you want to do it right, then you should be looking at using a HID set up.

There are two main types of HID lamps, these are High-Pressure Sodium lights (HPS), and Metal Halide lights (MH).

High-Pressure Sodium Lights (HPS):

HPS lights tend to be the favorite of most cannabis cultivators. They have a wattage range of 75-4,000 watts, come in all shapes and sizes, have ideal CCT levels and produce a good amount of lumens. Part of their popularity stems from the excellent growth their light spectrum promotes during the flowering stage.

Metal Halide Lights (MH):

MH lights are a great choice when you want to promote strong and rapid growth. They tend to be best for the seedling and vegetative stages of the cannabis life cycle as they usually have high CCT levels.

Both HPS and MH lights can be used for all stages of the cannabis life cycle, they just tend to have their own part of it where they specialize.

Other types of lighting:

Fluorescent Tube Lights:

These are the tube lights you often find in commercial buildings and occasionally in a domestic building, such as a garage or utility room. They tend to have a wattage of 10-300W. They can be used in a growroom, but to not get the grower very good results. This type of light has a very low intensity that does not do your plants any favors.

Domestic Lights:

These are your bog standard lights you use around the house. They normally have a wattage varying between 15-150W. They are completely unsuitable for growing cannabis plants.

Halogen Lights:

Halogen lights create a lot of very intense light. They are often used for lighting large areas. Unfortunately they create a vast amount of heat that makes them completely unsuitable for a growroom setting as they pose a real safety hazard, as well as easily overheating your plants.

- As you can see, there is a lot to consider when choosing and sorting out lighting for you growroom. You will find HID lights are the way to go, and you should be able to find out the wattage/lumens and Kelvin of most bulbs in their product information. Many growers do not have an understanding of lighting to this level of detail. They simply know they need HID lights and that they need to be on for certain photoperiods. They do not understand the full implications and effects they have on their plants. This is fine, you can still get reasonable results, but having a deeper understanding will help you hone and temper your skills, allowing you to get better results with each grow - becoming a true cultivator of worth.