Everything A Beginner Needs to Know About Grow Lights

It's difficult to read reviews online because there's too many companies paying for reviews and 5 stars.

Best tips: "just get growing. Don't complicate it. Work within your limitations." I WAY over did it last year. We're in a 3 bedroom top floor apartment and my garden was across the street. I was hauling trays and trays of my little guys out there daily to get them the sunshine they needed because I didn't have the set up for it. I will definitely be scaling back this year. :) Thanks for the encouragement and permission to, in this case, go small.

You can double or triple the amount of light hitting your seedlings BY USING ALUMINUM FOIL REFLECTORS to keep the light energy in the growing area....and NOT ILLUMINATING the whole room as is shown here. Apply some aluminum foil to some cardboard sheets to make panels that reflect the light (and heat) back into the growing area on the top, bottom, ends and sides (monitor that heat so it doesn't exceed ~75 degrees F... the LED Lights do produce some heat). The rest of the room should be pretty dim if you've minimized the light energy escaping from the growing areas. Any light that escapes is wasted energy on your electric bill. DO NOT BUY "GROW LIGHTS". Instead, buy LED "Shop Lights" at ~ 1/3 to 1/4 the price. A single 5000 lumen LED (~40 watt) can be purchased for under $15. The Spectra (the wavelength profile of the light) ARE NOT optimized for plant growth, but I'VE NEVER SEEN any growth difference between the $15 shop lights and the expensive $90 to $150 optimized "pink/purple Grow Lights". Two of those $15... 5000 lumen lights will take care of a typical 20" X 4' growing shelf BUT ONLY IF YOU USE THE ALUMINUM FOIL REFLECTORS. Without the reflectors, you'd need 3 of the 5000 lumen fixtures for each shelf instead of just two. The savings from fewer light fixtures + the decades of power savings will pay for the $3 of aluminum foil (and cardboard) you'll use immediately (from the $15 per shelf saved by eliminating one light fixture for that shelf). The aluminum foil panels ALSO keeps the growing area humidity levels up. Seedlings love that higher humidity. If you start seeing mold and fungus growing don't worry too much about it (unless your seedlings are wilting). Your seedlings LOVE fungi and bacteria growing in the soil. If it grosses you out, go ahead and open up the panels for some air flow...OR quit watering so much!! The mold and fungus will only grow (on surfaces) in very high humidity conditions. You will need to water these growing shelves less often...so watch out for the mold thing. And monitor the temperatures - adjust ventilation to keep humidity below ~70%. Amazon has cheap thermometers that show both temperature and humidity.

"I'm not growing other things..." 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Luke you're a trip. I so enjoy your personality and your channel. Keep growing and sharing my friend.

Take-away: Buy the best you can afford; be realistic; test/learn; understand what the light is doing in terms of distance, etc. Great resource, but this video is essentially a "I am not going to give you specific recommendations and do your HW first"

Love this video. As a pretty new gardener who is investing pretty heavily in grow lights - this was a great, easy breakdown of all the information I'm struggling with in my own research. Thanks for making it all a bit easier and putting me at ease this season!!

Helpful hint: Hold the back of your hand beneath the lights where the tops of your plants are, if it's too hot to hold it where it is than the lights are too close.

Most INFORMATIVE VIDEO on Grow Lights I have ever seen!!♥️ I'm newish to gardening and start plants indoors in a south facing window. I'm in zone 5 and have been wanting to have fresh greens in the wintertime, but all the confusion over grow lights has stopped me dead each time after some online searching. Even youtube light reviews were a waste of time. THANK YOU!!! I finally feel I can go out and buy a light.

I believe the intensity of a light decreases according the inverse square law. That is, if you double the distance the intensity that reaches the plant is 1/4. 3x the distance is 1/9. The video says that the 30,000 lumen bulb can be 30 times further away than the 1000 lumen bulb. Actually you would use the square root of 30 (approx 5.5). Therefore a 30,000 lumen bulb at 5.5 ft provides the same light as 1000 lumens at 1 ft. The video is correct to point out that the closer the bulb, the more lumens reach the plant. But as you increase the distance the lumens drop off much much faster than the simple ratio described in the video.

Oh my gosh thank you so much for this video. You explained it so simplistically but even this old lady understood exactly what you were saying. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I have been thinking about getting grow lights for a little while now and this video has helped me immensely in my choices. I had no idea that there were so many variables.

10:00 "These lights are 1,000 lumens; these are 30,000 lumens. That means I can have these lights 30 times as far." Nope. Light diffuses by the distance SQUARED. That means a light 30 times as bright can be ~5.5 times as far away (the square root of 30), not 30 times as far away, for the same effect. So if you would want to keep that little light 5 inches from your plant, you want to keep the bigger light about 27.5 inches from your plant to get the same effect.

Thank you so much. After many failures on my beautiful light table, I followed the instructions in this video. This year my seedlings are beautiful and healthy!

your experience and the way you explain things for an old man like me makes your presentations enjoyable as well as informative. Thank you

Love the video. It is so nice as a gardner that is new to starting seeds to have a video that gives you the information without overwhelming you. This is the first video about grow lights that didn't say you needed a specific set up and instead gives you the tools to make the best choices with your budget. Thank You.

You did the BEST job of explaining grow lights in a way that was both understandable and logical. Thank you!

I've been trial-and-error gardening for a few years now. Last year's seed starting was a leggy disaster. I think I finally understand lighting! Thank you!

The size and height of the grow area determines the light you want, the taller the plants you want to grow, the more likely you will need more powerful lighting. For seed starting and small plants, small grow tents are wonderful. I have a 2x2x4 tent turned o it’s side with 150ish watts of t5 lighting, and 3 heat mats(for starting) and a 4x4x4 with 600w of led for getting full size tomato and peppers out at the beginning of the season, and my neighbors are always jealous of my massive early harvests in mid April

Lumens are what humans see. Plants see PPF Photosynthetic Photon Flux, which means how many photons of light per second make contact with your plants. Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density is that measurement of PPF at a specified distance from the bulb.

Dude, I love your videos, seriously, what a wealth of information you carry in that head of yours. You are very kind to share it all with us. Great energy, too--although I have noticed you're a little more cranky in your winter videos, which I suppose is completely understandable! I appreciate all of your vids and once again, thank you.

"You should spend as much as you've got in your budget" What can I get for 12 cents?