The grow tent is up, you have the excellent seeds and soil, the air is flowing just fine, and everything seems to be all set.
However, you have not chosen at this point which lights you should purchase and hang. To be more specific, it is the ideal wattage that you are actually looking for.
Indeed, let us guide you. It is one thing to have the plants with an incredible growing system, and it is another thing to have the ideal light source with a total wattage. Furthermore, that is the thing that can either flood you with fantastic yields or wrecks the entire grow system up.
Hence, to make your job easier when it comes to How Many Watts Per Square Foot For Led Grow Lights You Need, we have got you a fantastic guide. Read to know more!
- Factors to Consider When Choosing LED Light Watts Per Square Meter
- Methods for Calculating Watts Per Square Foot for LED Grow Lights
Factors to Consider When Choosing LED Light Watts Per Square Meter
To have the option to know the watts per square foot for the LED Grow lights, you need to consider the following components.
Your Crops
The main factor that will decide the light requirements for your grow light is the nature of your plant. It would help if you considered your harvests before anything else.
Some LED grow lights are intended for a specific grow. On the internet, you will find a lot of different LED grow lights with additional Watt power intended for growing various plants.
Usually, you will find LED grow lights for growing flowers, herbs, medicinal plants, vegetables, and small plants (however, not restricted to just these plants).
Under your plants, you also need to consider the accompanying elements.
Sort of plant
A few plants will require all the more light, while others need normal light. For example, plants with a canopy need all the more light to enter through them. It implies that you will have to purchase lights with more watts.
Along these lines, before you can settle on the wattage per square meter, you need to know which plants are in your grow tent.
Herbs require average lighting. Different plants like pepper, cannabis, and tomatoes require a high light power.
Grow Stage
Plants go through various stages, from germination, vegetative, and flowering. In each stage, plants will require an alternate amount of light force.
During germination, plants do not need light; as they sprout, they require less light. The requirement for light increases at the vegetative stage. At blossoming, you will also require a high light intensity for your plants to deliver bigger buds.
Nonetheless, during the flowering stage, you need to reduce the number of hours you expose your plant to high-density light. There need to be more hours in the dark than in the light.
Number of Plants in a Grow Tent
Plants need an ample amount of space to breathe. However much you need to get the yield from your Grow Tent, you need to get the right number of plants.
The higher the quantity of the plants in a grow tent, the higher the light intensity you need.
Size of Your Grow Tent
The size of your grow space is one more basic factor to consider while picking the watts of a LED unit. Distinctive grow tent size will accommodate an alternate number of plants as per the need for an alternate amount of wattage.
A large grow tent will require a high LED light intensity.
The following is the standard Wattage level for various grow spaces. These wattages do not consider different factors. It is the norm for harvests that require a basic wattage level at the vegetative stage.
40 Sq. ft (6×7) – 1280 watts
36 Sq. ft (6×6) – 1150 watts
30 sq. ft (5×6) – 960 watts
25 Sq. ft (5×5) – 800 watts
20 Sq. ft (4×5) – 640 watts
16 Sq. ft (4×4) – 500 Watts
12 sq. ft (3×4) – 400 Watts
9 Sq. ft (3×3) – 300 Watts
6 sq. ft (2×3) – 200 Watts
4 Sq. ft (2×2) – 120 Watts
2 Sq. ft (2×1) – 60 Watts
To put it simply, various sizes of your grow tent will need diverse light power—subsequently, the reason behind why you need to pick distinctive light per square meter. We will tell you the best way to calculate the wattage for your various sizes of grow tents.
Kind of LED Grow Lights
You should know that there are a lot of different LED lights you will find in the market. Various plants will require distinctive grow lights. With similar Watts, plants will create various yields when you use various kinds of LED lights.
At the point when you wonder about the types of grow lights, coming up next are the key factors you need to consider.
The Colour of your LED Grow Lights
The color spectrum is a significant factor to consider with regard to picking the type of LED grow light. At the point when you use different colors, your plant will give the equivalent outcomes. White color will not yield the same results as red or blue LED grow lights.
Studies have also shown that growing your plants with a red LED grow light will prompt a sort of leaf disfigurement. To get the best results from a red light, you will have to blend it in with a blue light to bring a pink effect.
A blend of Blue, Red, and White gives a pink light which is an optimal solution for most growers.
In any case, assuming you need to get the best outcomes from your grow spaces, consider White LED or Multi-colored/Full Spectrum LEDs.
White LED lights are the nearest to the natural sunlight. They give a good light intensity that your plants will prosper well under.
The main challenge with white LED grow lights is that they have an excessive amount of green and yellow spectrum, which is useless to the plant.
Yet, to take care of this issue, you will find Multi-colored LED grow lights on the internet easily. These are a blend of the lights that are required by your plants.
They are also known as Full Spectrum LED grow lights.
Heat Output
LED grow lights produce some amount of heat as they work. LED lights with low heat yield give the best outcomes. It is on the grounds that low heat reduces overheating in your grow tent. Thus, you will not need cooling, and your plants will not be influenced by excessive heat.
The Height of the Light
You may install any size of LED light in your grow tent. Nonetheless, the watts required for your plant will also rely upon the height that you place your light over. With every difference in height, there comes a change of the measure of light got by your harvests.
The height of the lights is a way that you can also use for each period of your growth stage. Rather than purchasing new LED grow lights at each stage, all you need is to change the height of your lighting systems. It would give you the best light intensity they need.
In case you are growing your plants from germination to harvest, it is fitting to get a full cycle LED light.
Methods for Calculating Watts Per Square Foot for LED Grow Lights
We have, as of now, talked about the most basic factors that you need to think about while picking a grow light. Now, we will help you with settling on a good choice for each of these factors. The primary focus here helps you with getting the best light wattage for your Grow tent and plants.
Follow these basic steps and get the best outcomes.
Stage 1: Measure the Size of Your Grow Tent in Square Feet
As we spoke before, the size of your grow space is a basic factor that will decide the wattage required for your grow tent.
In this way, start by calculating the width of your space and increase it with length. When you get them all outsize, look for buying the lights with a power that works well with the space.
By and large, under the size of your grow tent, use the dimensions as we had already share. Coming up next are the light intensity for each size.
40 Sq. ft (6×7) – 1280 watts
36 Sq. ft (6×6) – 1150 watts
30 sq. ft (5×6) – 960 watts
25 Sq. ft (5×5) – 800 watts
20 Sq. ft (4×5) – 640 watts
16 Sq. ft (4×4) – 500 Watts
12 sq. ft (3×4) – 400 Watts
9 Sq. ft (3×3) – 300 Watts
6 sq. ft (2×3) – 200 Watts
4 Sq. ft (2×2) – 120 Watts
2 Sq. ft (2×1) – 60 Watts
Stage 2: Choose Light Intensity Needed By Your Plant
Plants require distinctive Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) which is controlled by the light intensity. It is the light spectrum that your yield will require for photosynthesis.
In simpler terms, it is the proportion of energy released by your LED grow light and is used by the plants for growth.
Usually, the light is measured in micromoles per square meter per second (µmol/m2/sec) — the light devoured by your plants per second. The prerequisite of the light intensity also tends to vary for plants at various periods of growth.
Coming up next are the light requirements for ideal yield in each phase of plant development.
Seedlings Stage – 200-400 µmol/m2/sec
Vegetative Stage – 400-600 µmol/m2/sec
Streaming Stage – 600-1000 µmol/m2/sec
When calculating the Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) of a LED grow light, the red, blue, and green wavelengths are the essential variables considered – the light spectrum required by your plants.
For great lighting, consider purchasing a full range of LED grow lights.
Stage 3: Determine the Number of Plants in Your Growing Area
As we mentioned before, the number of plants in your grow room would decide the light intensity they would require. On the off chance that you are growing cannabis, there are specific ways that you should apply to make sure that you get the best yield.
Diverse growing styles would also direct the number of plants you grow per square foot; henceforth, the solution in the distinction in the light requirement for per the square meter.
Coming up next are various styles of growing that will decide the plants you need per square meter.
Ocean of Green (SOG) Technique
Under this technique, you might need around 4 to 16 plants per square meter. This method covers the available space in your grow tent. It also requires LED grow lights with a high wattage yield.
The Screen Of Green (SCROG) Technique
Under this technique, you can just grow one plant for every square meter. You weave your plant over a screen to use the grow space and get the best yield per plant. You do not need a high wattage grow light for this situation.
Topping (Pruning) Technique
You can just grow one plant for each square meter under this technique. A lot of space is required for pruning and allowing the plants to grow to shrubs. Under this case, you will require power prerequisites as a SCROG technique.
Low-Stress Training (LST)
Under this method of growing, you will be able to grow 4 plants per square meter. It is a technique that trains plants to grow as bushes. You will not need high wattage as Sea Of Green (SOG). Notwithstanding, the light requirement will be similar to Pruning and Screen Of Green (ScROG) methods.
Usually, good-quality LED grow lights of 300 Watts can grow 1 to 6 plants easily. In the event that you have more plants, you can add more LED grow lights and place them side by the side of your grow tent.
In any case, the number of watt necessities increases per square feet, depending upon the number of plants grown in the given area.
Coming up next is a guide for the wattage you will require per square foot contingent upon the number of plants grown in a growing area.
12 plants per square foot – 340-380 watts
10 plants per square foot – 300-340 watts
8 plants per square foot – 240-300 watts
6 plants per square foot – 180-200 watts
4 plants per square foot – 120-140 watts
2 plants per square foot – 60-80 watts
1 plant for each square foot – 30-40 watts
Thus, while ascertaining the whole grow tent watt necessity, please take a look at the number of plants per square meter and replicate them with the wattage prerequisite.
The best thing about LED grow lights is that just 5 per cent of the wattage goes to heat discharge. 95 per cent of the entire watts goes to light intensity. It implies when you are selecting a grow light, let it be good enough to give power prerequisites to your grow tent.
Stage 4: Chose the Right Height of Installing the LED Grow Light
The distance between the plant canopy and the lighting system directly affects light intensity. Along these lines, having the right LED grow lights and putting them at the right heights is basic if you wish to get the best yields from your plant.
Try not to keep the LED grow lights very near your plants. It will limit the odds of bleaching, burn from the sun, supplement deficiency, and yellow color on the leaves.
There is no standard height for installing grow lights for each plant. In any case, at each plant stage, you need to alter the heights. During the germination stage, the lights need to be high over the plants. During the vegetation stage, lower them to an ideal height that will supply an abundant amount of light.
Now that we have come to an end, I advise you that there is no rule for the watts required per square foot for LED grow lights. The necessity of the light wattage differs as per different factors.
To pick a LED grow light with the best light intensity, you need first to understand your plants, the size of your grow tent, the nature of the lights, and the height you need to install them. When you know about every one of these factors, you will be in a place to get the proper Watts per square foot.
Above all, make sure that you purchase the right LED lights that will be sufficient light intensity.
