Employing LED grow lights is an excellent way for individuals desiring to promote plant growth in an indoor environment. LED grow lights are an alternative to natural light and support plant growth. Hobbyist growers also find LED grow lights beneficial as they are efficient and yield better results.
Indoor plant growth enthusiasts adopt LED grow lights as they have less energy than other processes. The idea also supports the environment with less energy usage.
Need For LED Grow Lights
- While planning for indoor growing of plants, especially in grow tents, the LED grow lights work wonders. The main intention of choosing LED grow lights is to render flawless lighting conditions similar to natural sun. The sun’s spectrum is essential for plant growth as plants photosynthesize by the light energy from the sun. The LED grow lights are an impeccable solution as they radiate shallow energy and heat.
- The best aspect of installing these LED grow lights is that they can render a complete spectrum of light that helps plant growth at every stage. However, the varied colors in the LED lights play diverse roles in plant growth.
- Interestingly, these lights support plants’ branches, stems, and leaf growth. However, flowers and buds develop with the assistance of red light. The yellow and green lights also play their part in plant growth. Irrespective of all colors, red and blue colors stay as critical players for home growers growing plants in grow tents.
Working Of LED Grow Lights
- The LED grow lights provide invisible and visible light energy for the escalation of plant growth in indoor environments. The LED grow lights emit rays similar to the sun, making them a perfect choice for indoor gardening.
- It is worth noting that LED grows light comes in different colors, and every color has a varied function in plant growth as given above. Moreover, the LED grow lights owe infra-red and UV rays. Hence, growers looking for plant growth can opt for blue light for better plant growth and red or green light for blooming and germination.
- The best feature of such LED lights for plant growth is the wavelength adjustment according to plant growth requirements. During the plant’s vegetative stage, the UV rays prove beneficial. The central concept is that the wavelength boosts the cell division rate resulting in instant plant growth.
- Similarly, switching to Infrared Rays is suggested during the flowering stage. The IR rays are instantly absorbed by the plant’s tips and buds, leading to quick blooming. Hence picking LED grow lights with adjusting wavelength options helps regulate lightening per plant growth and needs.
Wattage Calculation For Installing LED Grow Lights Per Square Foot
While running through artificial grow lights, The grow lights of LED rank higher for better lifespan and highest PAR. 10,000 hours is the running time for an typical LED light. However, companies decided to prolong lights’ lifespan by limiting their total capacity usage. Few lights in the market are tagged with a higher watt label and render fewer watts. Such aspects hinder the calculation of grow lights requires in watts for each square foot.
However, 400 watts is sufficient for growing plants in 10 square feet area, and the wattage requirement for every foot is about 30 to 50 watts. Few grow lights are proficient besides consume fewer watts. Hence 40 to 50 watts stay as the standard watt for LED grow lights. Considering an average wattage, a 4*4 tent mandates 500 watts of LED grow lights for better coverage.
What Are Aspects To Focus For A 4*4 Grow Tent’s LED Lights?
Planned and calculated LED grow lights for indoor plantation aids better plantation of plant growth and photosynthesis.
1. Category Of Plants
- The category of plants opted for is significant in deciding on the LED grow lights for a 4*4 tent. The LED grow lights are selected based on the plant growth type. Simple and inexpensive designs are perfect for hobbyists growing indoor plants. At the same time, commercial growers mandate LED lights that have ETL or UL certification.
- The next major factor is the amount of light the plant needs. Based on the plant type and light needed, the grow lights are shopped. Different plants mandate varying light intensities. Plants blooming on foliage mandate less light, such as Ponytail palms, Chinese evergreens, aroids, and Philodendrons. Few vegetables also fall under the same list.
- However, low light grow lights are suitable for growing a few leafy vegetables, whereas flowering plants additional light is required for flowering plants as they mandate energy to bloom. For example, Cacti, marijuana, and succulents fall under the above category.
- It is also worth noting that additional light to plants results in a condition called light saturation point. Extra light for a plant also results in poor growth and less yield. The lighting condition varied for vegetables and flowers, where vegetables require less light intensity and wattage compared to the flowering category of plants.
2. Light Intensity
Indoor garden lovers must be curious about the light intensity needed for the plants. The growth stage of plants differs based on the light the plants receive every day. The measurement of the intensity of light is lumens. The light intensity can be an advantage or a disadvantage to plant growth.
Henceforth focusing on it is necessary. The amount of lumens in plants help in sparking the process of photosynthesis and promoting healthy growth. The amount of lumens required for a particular plant depends on the plant type. Every square foot needs 300 to 800 lumens of light intensity. Cannabis also mandates 300 to 800 lumens of light intensity.
3. PAR
During photosynthesis, green light isn’t utilized when sunlight is transformed into carbohydrates in green plants. Since plants reflect green lights, they look green. The green leaves owe the property of absorbing more red and blue wavelengths.
The spectral band of PAR ranges from 400 of the purple to 700 of the red in nanometers, which is mandatory in all leafy plants and the process of photosynthesis. PAR’s unit measure is obtained from micromoles or the light particle number/ square meter or second.
4. Per Square Feet Watts
By comparing with HID grow lights, LED grow lights are energy efficient. Any conventional LED grows light consumes thirty-two watts for lighting one square foot of flowering area.
However, the LED grow lights for 4*4 tents consume a few watts to generate light than conventional lights. Few low-light plants like herbs and lettuce need eleven to eighteen watts for each square feet in a 4*4 area.
Based on the grow space, the wattage can be hiked. It is important to note that one square foot grow tent space mandates thirty-two watts. With all these data, a 4*4 tent grow 512 watts which may vary from 500 to 650 watts.
5. 4*4 LED Grow Light Selections
The configurations to pick for a 4*4 grow tent are abundant such as single spot lamps, COB grow lights, and LED light panels. Considering the color balance is the most significant aspect of all the options.
However, a 4:1 to 8:1 variation is found in ratios with red to blue color variation too. Also, ensure to focus on the wavelengths while choosing the color ratio factor.
The wavelengths 660nm and 460nm falls for red and blue respectively. Apart from all these, the market also provides tri and bi band LED lights. A good piece of advice is to choose the tri-band as the other designs seem insufficient. Always go for LED grow lights of more than 90 watts and 120 plus watts. However, apart from all the suggestions, opt for LED grow lights that suit your plants.
6. Light Spectrum
The light generation of LED lights is usually in a narrow spectral range. The best feature of LED lights is that they are available at varied wavelengths leading to better flexibility.
However, the generation of white lights is accomplished by blending two different wavelengths of LED or with phosphor coating of the blue LED.
Intelligently engineering these lights in the first and second phases of plant growth renders the wavelength required for photosynthesis. Research reveals that, by exploiting blue, red, and green parts of the light spectrum, the plants benefit a lot.
There are nearly fourteen wavelengths, and the latest models come with infrared, UV, blue, violet, white, and red LEDs. The engineering in wavelengths is designed in order to work extraordinarily in vegetative plant growth and flowering plants.
Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]
Q1. How many watts is required for a 4*4 grow tent?
A1. By gathering present data, the per square foot wattage is 32 watts, depending on the plant type. Hence 4*4 requires 512 watts.
Q2. How many plants can a 4*4 tent accommodate?
A2. A 4*4 tent accommodates 8 to 12 plants.
Q3. Do three LED lights, 1500 watts overkill?
A3. For a 4*4 grow tent, 512 or plus watts are vital. Also, based on the plant type, higher wattage may overkill the plants.
How Many LED Watts For 4×4 Grow Tent? [Conclusion]
Plants always mandate varied light requirements throughout their growth. The color and intensity of lights play a significant role in plants that grow in a 4*4 grow tent. Considering the above pointers for powerful light spectrum and full coverage, the yield in indoor plants is assured. For one initiating to grow plants in 4*4 grow tents, the above highlights prove beneficial in purchasing and installing LED grow lights.