As with any type of indoor gardening method, hydroponic gardening requires  grow lights is the plants can synthesize food and grow.  However if you’re new to hydroponics the information available on the internet may make choosing your lights for hydroponics difficult.  This blog post will give a brief overview of what lights are suitable for hydroponics.

High Density Discharge (HID) Grow Lights

Originally HID lights are were often used for this purpose and still are. HID, or high-intensity discharge lights, come in several varieties, including metal halide grow lights and HPS grow lights. All HID lights require a ballast in order to control electrical current through the light.  However these types of hydroponic lights get very hot and require a cooling system.  They need to be kept at a distance from your plants so they don’t burn them.  They are also very expensive to run but once you have a ballast, this type of hydroponic grow lights are quite cheap to replace.  Just take a look in the shop.

LED Grow lights

LED grow lights are becoming more and more popular. These grow lights, using light - emitting diodes, produce a lot of light in colors useful for plant growth, and are cost effective as well. They are more expensive at the outset but are very cheap to run and last for a very long time.  They are also a lot cooler so they can be placed within the plants to ensure that light gets into all the shaded places.

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL)

For those who have a very small budget and a small space, compact fluorescent lights (cfl) grow lights are probably the best choice for you.  These lights are also know as energy saving bulbs and you can get them in low wattage from your supermarket or DIY store.  You will need to get enough bulbs to create at least 90w of light to grow 1 plant.  It’s much more convenient to buy a specialist plug bulb holder (roughly about £6) and a cfl which is at least 125w.  These grow lights don’t get too hot, you should be able to handle the bulb without being burnt however they will burn the leaves on your plant if they touch it so you do need to ensure that they are moved with the plant growth.

If you’re new to hydroponics I would suggest using cfl for your grow lights, they’re cheap and don’t need any special equipment like ballasts.  If you’re an experienced hydroponic Gardner try out LED grow lights, you’ll save on enegy costs and they can just be plugged into the mains.