Growing cannabis can be tricky as a beginner, as there are a lot of factors you have to keep in mind. One of the most important, though, is light. Specifically, you need to make sure you’re picking the ideal light for your strain and grow space, and that you’re keeping those lights on a precise schedule. Here’s everything you need to know. With seeds ready to be germinated, pots ready to be filled, and your grow room ready for a long, rewarding season, you may be feeling ready to cultivate some cannabis. You’re just missing one more vital component: the lights!
It may seem like you can just use any sort of grow light and achieve sufficient results, but that’s far from the truth. Different lights are calibrated for different plants and grow spaces. Some may not provide enough light, causing wilting and poor development, while others exude too much heat and cause burning. It can take quite some time to do research on the right types of lights for cannabis, especially when you don’t have much experience growing. We’re happy to walk you through what makes a perfect grow light for beginners!
Why Is Light Important for Growing Cannabis?
Light is vital to photosynthesis, and thus essential to the growth of almost all plants. But, the specifics of how cannabis plants receive light are especially important. For instance, photoperiod cannabis (non-autoflowering cannabis) grows best when it receives a particular amount of light hours per day, usually 16 or more, during the vegetative stage of growth. Once plants hit the flowering stage, that light requirement changes to around 12 hours per day. This, of course, is in line with the shift in sunlight hours that occurs in the spring, summer, and fall. With that external signal, female cannabis plants (that haven’t been pollinated) know to start shifting their energy towards producing resin-loaded buds. If they don’t receive that signal, however, they won’t know how to distribute the energy they take in from the sun, and your yields will end up smaller than they otherwise would. In turn, if you’re growing your weed plants indoors, it’s vital to ensure that your grow lights not only simulate the sun’s energy output, but shine on the same schedule as well.
What’s the Best Type of Grow Light for Beginners?
Considering just how important light is in the growing process, beginners should focus on getting a light that not only helps them achieve high yields, but saves them money as well. So, what lights fulfil that role? Well, there are plenty out there that will deliver fine results, and plenty others that’ll save you money, but the only ones that balance both efficiency and power are lamps fitted with LEDs.
In the next blog we’ll share more details with you, please wait and see!