Over the years, cannabis growers have been planting weed indoors. The major contributor to this trend was escaping the prying eyes of the law. However, even with several States and Countries adopting to the legalization of marijuana, this trend is not changing as farmers figured out that by planting indoors they can better control the planting environment leading to a good harvest.
One of the significant components that need control is the type and amount of light that the plants receive. Technology has not been shy in this field as advancements have seen indoor growers shifting from traditional HID and CMH Grow lights to new LEDs in their search for a cost-friendly alternative.
However, the search for finding a cheaper alternative, most of the time, has led farmers to make the wrong decisions leading to losses in the form of dead plants. Cheap can sometimes be expensive. If you want an affordable lighting solution that will deliver the results you want, you may consider construction your DIY grow lighting system. But how?
If you are a serious indoor gardener, with just a little understanding of light and the color spectrum that plants require, you can construct a lighting system that provides only value to your plants.
Best Selling Led Grow Lights On The Market:
Read More:
Contents
Benefits of Constructing your Own Grow Light System
Some advantages follow when you construct your own grow light system. Such include;
- The grow lights are easy to set up and breakdown when you want to move them or when you no longer need them.
- They are very cost-friendly compared to the grow lights you have to purchase when entirely constructed.
- You will use readily available parts that you can salvage from large departmental stores or online at a bargain.
- You will not have to replace most of the elements that you assemble, apart from the light bulb you choose which you have to replace depending on the recommended working period.
- You can customize your lighting system to cover the whole area in your grow room and deliver light to all the plants in the area.
Here is what you will need to set up your system.
Materials Needed for your DIY Grow Light
- A metallic shelf system
- A bag of zip ties
- S-hooks
- Power strip
- Light bulbs- you can choose between fluorescent lamps and LED light. However, you should note that LED lamps are quite pricy, but they deliver far better results. For the fluorescent bulbs, you can choose to go with a combination of warm and cool tone Fluorescent lamps while for the LED lamp a 60W full spectrum LED strip
- A surge protector
- A digital Timer
Setting up Your DIY Grow Light
-
Installing the Shelf
The metallic shelf is an essential piece of your grow room. It is where you will get to place your seedlings and watch them grow. You should assemble the shelving units and place it in the middle of the grow room to give you access from all the sides.
-
Assembling the Lights
When using a fluorescent lamp, you should set up one warm and one cool bulb in one lighting fixtures and hang it along the lengths of the shelves. Ensure that all the shelves have light bulbs that alternate from warm to cool and are parallel to each other.
The S-hooks will help you to attach the lights on the shelf. You can use an adjustable chain link to give you control over the distance you want the light to be above your plants.
When using an LED strip light, you can tie one strip per shelf. However, what matters the most is the distance away from the plants. When planting seedlings, you can place them 24 to 28 inches above, and 12 to 18 inches above if the plants are mature and in their flowering or fruiting stage.
-
Plugging the Lights
Before you connect the lights to the mains socket or extension cable, you should plug its cable to the surge protector, then to the power outlet. You can use the zip ties to bind up any excess cable lines to make the room look neat.
You can program a timer and set the hours you want the lights to be on every day. Finally, you can turn the entire lighting system on and watch your plants grow and thrive.
Summing Up
Setting up your own grow light system for an indoor garden is not only cheap but easy to accomplish. The most significant area that you need to put much consideration is selecting the right bulb that will provide your plants with the required light. We recommend using a combination of cool white and warm white fluorescent bulbs as they can both provide you with a light that mimics the entire spectrum of the sun. It will lead to healthy growing plants and eventually, a bountiful harvest. If you have any questions about how to set up your lighting system, contact us today, and we will respond to you happily.
