Best Cheap LED Grow Lights For Growing Indoor Plants

Marijuana is easy to grow at home from seeds to buds if you have the right equipment. Hydroponics and soil are both great options for home growers, depending on your skill level and experience, your preference for organic vs. synthetic fertilizers, and how much time and money you have to set up a quality grow op.

One thing that all indoor gardeners need is good lighting. Even outdoor grow operations can benefit from supplemental lighting during winter months, or for starting seeds or clones.

LED lighting is the most advanced tech in grow lighting today, and can end up saving you a lot of money in the long run. In years past, weed was grown indoors using High Pressure Sodium or HPS lighting. HPS or HID lighting is expensive to maintain because bulbs must be replaced yearly and burn out very quickly.

HID also emits a lot of heat so you pay more money in both electricity to power the lights and in Cooling your grow room with fans or air conditioners. LED grow lights use less than half of the electricity of HPS, and they do not emit very much heat at all. They are much more light weight and user friendly, and you can daisy-chain multiple lights together as your grow op expands with more plants.

In this article I am going to go over the best inexpensive LED lights for growing cannabis, including lights for cloning and germinating seedlings, growing one or a few plants, or even growing a medium sized garden with three to five plants.

If you are looking for the cheapest LEDs of all check out my article on the Top 5 Best LED Grow Lights.

As any experienced ganja grower will tell you, you can't have good bud without proper lighting. If you use low-quality light, you will only rack up your electricity bill and end with a dead plant. 

Proper grow lights are essential because they mimic the spectral light wavelengths your plants need to produce energy for vegetation, growing and producing. Indoor grow lights come in many different forms and emit different wavelengths that are important for different stages of the plant's development.  

Furthermore, they come in different types, forms, and at varying price points. You can choose between HID lights, Fluorescent lights, and LED lights. Some are more affordable than others, and all come with their own sets of pros and cons. 

For example, you can find an affordable HID light that you can use to develop your ganja plant from a seedling to a bud-laden tree. However, they tend to burn out quickly.

The key to finding a cheap grow light that also delivers - lies in research. Pay attention to user reviews. See how many people complained about the light dying out after just a couple of days/months, or being dead at arrival. If you find only one or two bad reviews, you're good since it all falls in the margin of error. However, if there are lots of complaints, don't even consider purchasing that particular product.

But, before I start talking about different types of grow lights and which ones are best for what, I have to talk about the light spectrum.

It's All In The Spectrum

Like I mentioned before, you need proper light wavelength so your plants can grow and thrive. 

So, how do we define light spectrums? 

We can define the light spectrum by the temperature wavelength emitted by the colors provided by sunlight. Plants prefer different ranges of wavelengths for different stages of growth. Thankfully, with a proper (and affordable) grow light, you will be able to cover all these spectrums. You just have to be aware of your plant's needs and the capabilities of the bulb/LED/tube you use.

Let's go over which wavelengths are required for different stages of the plant's development. It's not exactly rocket science, so don't worry.

Seedlings and mature plants (vegetative phase) prefer short wavelengths of light. These are found in the blue end of the spectrum. Ganja, in its vegetative stage, requires a lot of blue light and UV light. Hence, you need to use a grow light that can emit both blue light (between 400 and 500nm) and a bit of UV light (between 180 and 400nm). 

On the other hand, if your ganja is in its flowering stage, it will require more red light than infrared light. A grow light that can emit light between 620 and 780nm is ideal, but you can go for one that emits light slightly higher on the spectrum.

Ideally, you want to find a grow light that is both affordable and covers the full spectrum. This is a bit tricky but not impossible. You can use separate lights for different growth stages, and there are even some full-spectrum grow lights you can find at more-than-affordable prices.

Spider Farmer LED grow light is an excellent light for people who are suing hydroponic to grow their marijuana plants.

This light will save a lot of energy, as well. It has an energy efficiency of 2.7 umol/J. Meanwhile, even though it provides an output of 2000W, it only sucks about 2020 watts.

The overall coverage area for the vegetation cycle that you are going to get from this light is 3 X 4 feet. Additionally, the flowering stage area coverage in this best hydroponic grow light is 2 X 4 feet.

You can fit multiple plants easily within these area coverage.

If you have many plants and they do not fit within the area coverage of this light, then you can buy a set and use them with daisy-chaining.

Doing so will increase the coverage area to 6 X 6 feet for the vegetation period and 5 X 5 feet for the flowering period.

As soon as you open this grow light packaging, you will be all ready to just plug and play it. There is no assembly whatsoever required.

This is a full spectrum light, meaning you’re going to get blue, red, white, and Infrared bulbs. The wavelength of light that is emitted from this best LED grow light includes 660-665nm, 3000K, 5000K, and 760nm wavelengths.

With this grow light, your plants are going to thrive and give you ample harvests.

As there is no fan in this grow light, you are not going to hear any kind of noise coming out of it. No fans do not mean that the light is going to get very hot.

Thanks to the slim design and solid aluminum heat sinks, your plants are not going to feel the heat. It is safe, as well.

The cables that are attached inside the light are all safely coated with protective covers. The board in which the LEDs are attached is all waterproof.

Compared to other LED grow light of similar power output, you can expect this grow light to last 50% longer.

As you will get higher canopy penetration and long service life, this LED grow light stands out when compared to other lights.

ECO Farm LED Grow Lights utilize the latest in high yielding LEDs technology today-Samsung LM301B diodes, high Energy Efficiency with 2.7 umol / J, delivers powerful light output and uniform canopy penetration to resulting maximum higher yields.

Running 50% less power than the HPS or other SMD LEDs or Blurple lamps.

Excellent full spectrum - white, blue, red and IR (3000K, 660nm and IR 760nm and UV 395nm). 3000K diodes providing more reddish light. 

The 660nm red and IR light is especially useful during bloom, where it speeds up flowering time and boost yields. Turn your seeds into your own supply. 

And the light looks fairly natural, so it's good for accurately monitoring plant health. The 240W quantum board LED Grow Light is for 2-4 mature plants, with a distance of 12-24 inches from the top of the canopy.

Upgraded series growing lights have a dimming knob and light switch. A single light can be adjusted the light intensity at liberty. 

Multi-light Connection with unified dimming especially beneficial for large area of indoor growing and commercial planting.

What size LED grow light do I need?

A. The size of your room, the kind of plant, and the stage of the growth of your plants are the factors that determine the size of the bulb you need. Plants that are rapidly growing, larger rooms, and more deciduous varieties require larger kinds of bulbs.

Does LED grow lights use a lot of electricity?

A. NO, they don’t. On the flip side, they consume the least amount of electrical power. For this reason, they inflict slightly lower running costs which translate to higher profitability levels on your part. These notwithstanding, they give you the same levels of benefits.

How high should LED grow lights be from seedlings?

A. As a general rule, the lights have to be no less than 30 inches (76 cm) above the tips of your plants. This is to allow for the wider distribution of the energy and to minimize blockages of the light output as well.

For new weed-growers, starting small is always the best way to go, and all the above LED grow lights will go a long way in ensuring that you get everything you need from the crops. Besides being cheap, the grow lights come with all the functions of the more expensive lamps in the market. They come with easy assembly setups and full coverage of full-spectrum light.

I guess you are high in confidence now when it comes to choosing the best cheap LED grow light for weed. I believe in revising things, and I am going to do the same here as well. So, why not to do the revision together?