Whether you're a grower wanting to extend your season in the hoop house or greenhouse, an urban rooftop farm, or a small indoor start-up - horticultural lighting gives you the flexibility and assurance that you will be growing the highest quality products year-round.

With demand for locally grown produce increasing, it's not surprising to see many small growers expand into off-season growing with horticultural lighting. Adding horticultural lighting helps create a more sustainable and profitable business model for many operations. So, let's look at ways in which lighting can help your small-scale farm operation, and which lighting options might be the best for your application.

Which light is best for my garden?

When searching for the proper lighting for your indoor garden, a common question that may come up is "Which light is best for my plants?" This question has many different factors to consider before a concrete decision can be made. Firstly, which type of plants do you have in your garden? If you have plants that are leafy greens, seedlings or have lots of foliage, it would be best to have lights with cooler spectrum bulbs (6,500 K). If you have flowering or fruiting plants such as citrus, warmer spectrum bulbs (2,500 K) will be best suited.

The next question that you may find yourself asking is "What does K stand for?" K is short for Kelvin, a scale of temperature measurement. Similar to Fahrenheit and Celsius, the lower the number, the cooler the temperature. However, the light spectrum acts oppositely; (the lower the number the warmer the light).

The last piece of information that can be useful to know is what color corresponds to what side of the light spectrum? Warmer light tends to be yellows or reds while colder lights tend to be blues and whites.

What is the light spectrum and how does it relate to my garden?
The electromagnetic spectrum is a wide range of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. In Layman's terms, there are invisible waves all around us with different sizes and speeds. These waves are so small that they are measured in nanometers (nm). A nanometer is one billionth the size of a meter. Some more well-known parts of this spectrum include X-rays, microwaves, and radio waves.

One part of the spectrum that you may not realize is part of it is the visible light spectrum. This portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is the only part visible to the unaided human eye. These waves range from about 400 nm to 700 nm. The classic acronym "ROYGBIV" that was used to remember the colors of the rainbow can also be used to remember the order of the visible light spectrum. Red is at the upper end of the spectrum (700 nm), violet is at the lower end of the spectrum (400 nm) with yellow/green light in the middle (~550nm). You can use this information to better understand which light produces these wave frequencies to provide the correct color of light to your plant.

HYPHOTONFLUX HPF4000 Full Spectrum Led Grow Lights

Features:
HYPHOTONFLUX led plant growing light is equipped with Samsung LM301B diodes and a built-in MEANWELL driver. It draws 480 watts from the wall, achieving the efficiency of 2.7 μmol/J and higher average PPFD with 1300 μmol/s at 4'x4' flowering coverage, completely beat the 600w HPS grow lamp. Proven high-yield full-spectrum(Top-bin Samsung LM301B 3000k+4000k) with enhanced deep red 660nm. Born for big buds, Rapid plant response from seed to flower speeds up flowering time and boosts yields. Easy dimming design meets the needs of indoor plants at different stages of growth. The driver is removable, with the DC extension cords, you can place the driver outside the tent, reduce the heat in the tent and make the tent more clear.

Spider Farmer SE5000 480W LED Grow Lights

Features:
This Spider Farmer LED grow light has a unique designed 6-LED bar to provide more even canopy coverage, especially to the outer edges of cultivation areas. With 2016pcs SAMSUNG LM301 diodes, SE5000 Led grow lights draw 480 watts with 1317.4umol/s, achieving an impressive PPE of 2.75 umol/J, coverage for 4'x4′ of high-yielding full-cycle growth. Full-spectrum (2800–3000K, 4800–5000k, 380–410nm, 650–665nm) is perfect for veg to bloom, to adapt to each phase of the plant cycle. The dimming knob is ideal for growers to adjust the light intensity according to different growing stages. Bar light design and aluminum material on the back contribute to better airflow and great heat dissipation. SE5000 plant growing light comes with a detachable driver and long power cord, thereby reducing ambient heat in your growing space for an extended lifespan.

How to choose the best full spectrum LED grow light?

As we explained earlier, not all LEDS are built to be full-spectrum. Some LED lighting companies claimed their lights to be full-spectrum just to promote their LED fixtures.

When buying a full-spectrum LED grow light, you need to be really careful.

"When a company decides to call their products a Full Spectrum Grow Light, they usually mean that their product outputs a broad, continuous, and significant light across most (if not all) of the PAR range. That's it. In fact, remember this: "Full Spectrum" as a term, is only as reliable as the Grow Light manufacturer. It is by no means a certification standard; whether legal, industrial or otherwise."​ - - Epic Gardening
Get an affordable full spectrum grow light with the ideal light spectrum for your plants. This is good.

Get an affordable full spectrum grow light with not only the ideal light spectrum for plants you are planting currently but also with optional light spectrums for future needs? This is much better.

There are also full-spectrum lights with dimming function, spectrum tunable function, daisy chain, etc.

Get to know your plants and this won't be a difficult decision for you.

Conclusion

Lighting can seem like a big upfront cost, but the rewards are well worth it if you want to ensure a steady profit and consistent crop yields. Including supplemental lighting in a hoop house or greenhouse, to extend your season is a great way to make extra money on quick crops like lettuces and microgreens; to get an early start on high-value fruiting or flowering crops, or to provide year-round offerings on high-value ornamentals and produce. As daylight becomes shorter in the winter, this can delay crop cycles by up two to four weeks, depending on the crop, so just imagine all the extra profits you could be making with the addition of lighting. Remember, you don't need a big setup to be a profitable year-round farm - just the right equipment.