The Down Side of LED’s

If you have read my blog from the beginning, you know I’ve gone from thinking the best light is an HPS, to using LED’s and loving them.  The intensity of the tri-band and seven-band LED’s from HTGSupply.com have proven to be awesome at growing plants indoors.
No one light is going to be the best for everyone everywhere.  A friend of mine has a detached garage, and I helped him put in a 10x10 grow room in the garage.  The garage gets hot in the summer, and he is thinking about putting in an A/C unit.  I suggested he just grow outdoors in the summer and save electricity.   I also suggested when he wanted to try something different he use LED’s instead of the 1000 W HPS he had.  The plants are growing great.  However, what he’s noticed as the weather gets colder is that the often unwanted heat of the HPS was needed in the grow room.  The HPS was run at night, and keept the grow room in the 60’s on cold nights.  This week he noticed that the room was getting down into the 40’s when it was in the teens.  40’s won’t kill plants, but it can stress them out, and will really slow down growth.  Worst of all, winter is just getting started.  So, if you are in a situation where the heat from an HID is necessary to keep the room warm in the winter, then you may not want to switch to an LED.
Good growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers