10 Best Grow Lights for Growing Weed Indoors

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Growing marijuana can be as straightforward or as complicated as you’d like to make it. If you’re growing a couple of plants for personal use and you live somewhere relatively sunny, you can simply place your plant outdoors and let the miracle of natural light and photosynthesis do their job. However, the truth is that not everyone has the luxury of living in suitably warm or sunny environments, meaning they can’t easily grow marijuana outdoors without running into a vast array of issues and complications. If that happens to describe your situation, then you’ll need to bring your plants indoors to keep them suitably warm and ensure they have access to enough artificial light.

But even if you do happen to live in a relatively warm and sunny place, you may also need to rely on artificial light sources if you happen to be growing multiple cannabis plants. A single plant in a bright room or discreetly placed on a balcony can grow just fine with sunlight and perhaps a tiny LED, such as what we sell on at a Pot for Pot. However, multiple plants will need access to more powerful lighting solutions to grow appropriately and yield a quality harvest. 

Thankfully, our renowned and trusted growing experts here at A Pot for Pot are ready and eager to help you locate the best possible artificial lighting solutions available on the market to grow your perfect weed crop. Please continue to find out everything you’ll want to know about the best indoor growing lights currently available on the open market so that you can better determine which ones are the best fit for your particular growing needs. And for more information on how to grow quality cannabis plants and reap successful crop harvests, please also consider reading through some of our expertly written educational articles for access to more critical information.

The Basics of Indoor Lighting You Should Understand

There are countless brands of indoor growing lights currently available to eager growers to choose from on the open market. But how do you know which lighting system is best for your particular situation? How can you determine the best brands and avoid getting the wrong kind of light? And how can you be sure that you’re getting the best possible price for the lights that you end up choosing? These questions can be challenging for new growers to figure out the answers to on their own. 

Thankfully, we at a Pot for Pot have compiled this expertly-written list of the best indoor lighting options. But before we dive into said list, let’s take a bit of time to explore the basics of indoor lighting that responsible growers should understand before getting started.

The first thing you’ll need to know is what you are looking for in terms of your indoor lights and their capabilities, and the best way to do that is by learning some keywords and specific phrases. We’ll start this article off by exploring these essential terms, followed by an explanation of some of the fascinating features you’ll want your indoor light to have, before finishing up with the list of the ten best lights available to you.

Lighting Terms That you Should Know

Light Spectrum

Regular (photoperiod) cannabis plants require different spectrums of light to produce flowers. Blue spectrum light is needed during the vegetative stage, while red spectrum light is needed to transition to the flowering stage. However, if you start with autoflowering plants, you will not need to change the lighting to start the flowering stage, so the light spectrum is less of a concern. 

Related: Grow Weed Starting From Seed

For all types of cannabis, it is usually a good idea to purchase lighting that has both blue and red light spectrums. With regular plants, it saves you from the hassles and costs associated with changing the lighting to induce flowering. LED lights have a full spectrum of light, so you can use the same lights from seedling to harvest.

Wattage

Wattage refers to a light’s power rating. Pay attention to this number because it has a bearing on how many lights you will need. For example, if you have a smaller grow space, one light with high wattage may be enough. However, if the lighting you choose has low wattage, you will need additional lights to provide the proper coverage.

Wattage also helps determine how far away you should keep your plants. Generally speaking, higher wattage lights need to be positioned further away from your plants because they can burn them.  LED lights are an exception to this rule because they give off surprisingly less heat when compared to the other types of lighting with the same wattage.

Lumens

Lumens is a measure of how much light a given light source emits during each second the light is on. Like the light spectrum, lumens are more relevant for photoperiod plants. “Regular” cannabis plants require varying amounts of lumens during the different stages of growth. For example, they need between 2,500 and 5,000 lumens per square foot in the vegetative phase, but it jumps to 10,000 lumens per square foot during the flowering phase.

That is why it is a good idea to assess the lumen measurement when considering lights for growing weed. Cannabis plants need lights that provide enough lumens intensity for their proper growth.

Kelvins

Kelvins refer to the warmth and color of the light being emitted. During the vegetative stage, cannabis thrives best when provided cool daytime blue light with approximately 6,400 kelvins. Conversely, flowering cannabis performs best with a warmer red light of 2,700 kelvins. 

As you can see, picking the best lights for growing weed is more than simply selecting the priciest model available. Especially if you are growing photoperiod plants, you should think about how many plants you are growing, where you will be growing them, and how much energy you can afford to spend. 

Each of the above factors is a critical variable to keep in mind when considering your options for the best possible lights for growing cannabis indoors. Now that you have a better understanding of these factors and the importance of considering them during your light selection process, here are some of our favorite cannabis grow lights here at a Pot for Pot:

1. Roleadro LED Panel

Whether you are new to growing marijuana indoors, or a certified expert, you will certainly agree that the Roleadro LED panel is an excellent option because of its versatility. Depending on the configuration of your indoor grow space, the Roleadro LED panel can be used on its own or in combination with other lights. This light emits both blue spectrum light and red spectrum light, meaning your photoperiod plants will have all the light they need.

In terms of coverage, the light from this LED panel can reach 7-8 square feet, so you can easily compute how many you’ll need based on the size of your indoor grow space. The Roleadro LED panel has an estimated service life of 50,000 hours, so they should last for a long time, and, like all other LED lights, this panel emits hardly any heat while working. That means, your plants are unlikely to experience light burn.

2. Sun System LEC 315 Light

The Sun System light emitting ceramic (LEC) is included in our top 10 lights for growing weed indoors because of its solid reputation. It’s been around for a quite a while, and there still aren’t many (if any) negatives to say about it. 

The Sun System light emitting ceramic provides all the far frequencies of red light in addition to all the blue light, so your plants will have all the light needed to thrive and produce huge buds. This full spectrum is superior to what is provided by other lights currently on the market. The Sun System is also easy to set up and was designed to reduce the radiant heat generated by its arc tube. 

3. Advanced Platinum Series Grow Light

This 12-band LED light is ideal for a variety of indoor plants, including weed. One of the best things about this light is the money you can save. When you replace other lights for growing weed with the Advanced Platinum Series LED light, you will immediately notice a drop in your energy use. 

Related: The Cheapest Way to Grow Pot Indoors

This superior energy-efficiency doesn’t come at the cost of light intensity since the Advanced Platinum LED light also boasts of having one of the highest PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation) on the market. It’s also broad-spectrum (since it’s LED) which means less work for you. 

The only possible downside of these lights for growing weed is their sound. Some people may find the fans a little noisy (when compared to less powerful lights).

4. Sunblaster CFL Grow Light

The Sunblaster compact fluorescent grow light is one of the best in its class. It can be affordable, too. In fact, the four-pack provides a great value for those sticking to a budget.  

As a general rule, however, CFLs produce the least amount of light, so these lights are best used for germinating or producing clones.

The Sunblaster CFL light doesn’t require any change to the existing light fixtures since the bulbs are compatible with the common bulb holders installed in homes and other buildings. They, unfortunately, don’t last long. Their rated lifespan is 10,000 hours.

5. Apollo Horticulture MH Light

The Apollo metal halide grow light is rated 400Watts and has 4,200 kelvins. This makes this the perfect light for the vegetative growth stage of photoperiod plants (but not relevant for growers of autoflowers). This light is best suited for those growing a larger number of plants. This is because it is a bit demanding to install and use since it doesn’t come with the standard E26 base. It uses an E39 stand instead, so, you’ll need to install a separate ballast.

The good news, however, is that this light has plenty of options. If you purchase and install a dimmable ballast, you can dim the light as needed. That makes the Apollo MH Light suitable for photoperiod cannabis plants at various stages in their growth process. 

However, with an expected service life of only 10,000 hours, you will need to replace these lights a lot more frequently than LEDs.

Do you enjoy the presence of healthy green plants around your home and the relaxing satisfaction that comes with helping them thrive? Why not put that green thumb of yours to new use and start producing some home-grown cannabis crops from the comfort of your own living room with one of our top-quality growing kits today from a Pot for Pot?

6. Lithonia Lighting GRW

The Lithonia Light GRW is a hanging light that is suitable for both larger indoor weed grow operations as well as small hobby gardens. This is because you can simply adjust the chains to adapt the light system to the evolving size of your plants.

Related: Growing Marijuana: Step-by-Step Guide

The system is user-friendly and designed to be used straight out of the box. Simply plug it into an available wall socket, and it is good to go. The GRW also comes with a lens to help concentrate the light downwards to maximize the light source and better benefit your plants.

7. The Vivavolt T5 Fluorescent Grow Light 

This fluorescent light is very similar to the fluorescent lights you find in people’s homes. However, the Vivavolt T5 also provides the wide spectrum that photoperiod marijuana needs to grow indoors.

The fluorescent light tubes are also two feet long, so the four 24W tubes each provide double the amount of light that you can get from ordinary lights. The T5 is suspended from two points, making it easy to install or adjust relative to the size of your plants. This light system works very well for larger gardens because of how much space a single light can cover.  

Vivavolt T5 lights also cost less than LEDs, but LEDs last significantly longer. 

 

8. iPower 600-Watt Light

If you are looking for a great value, this light should be on your list. It is full-spectrum, and also optimized for marijuana growing because it includes dimmers that help the plants “think” the days are getting shorter. However, if you are growing autoflowers, this isn’t something you’d need to be concerned about. 

One of our favorite features – the main reason we’ve included it in our top 10 lights for growing weed indoors is their safety mechanism. Fires from faulty lighting are a dangerous risk, and this light comes prepared. The bulb has open and short-circuit protection. This protects you from being shocked when it reaches the end of its life, or if you try to switch it on after a defect with its ignition.

9. G8LED Mega LED Grow Light

This light has stood the test of time for more than eight years, so you can be certain that your money will be well spent.

The G8LED Mega LED Grow Light is perfect for indoor plants since it provides the full spectrum that they need, combined with massive coverage. It covers 18 square feet! For photoperiod plants, you can boost its performance during flowering by installing a few 90W red flower boosters. The buds that form will be huge and dense with cannabinoids.  

How do you maintain such a powerful light? Small inbuilt fans keep the lights cool and therefore eliminate the need for additional ventilation. Your plants will not suffer from light burn even though they are receiving plenty of light.  

The only drawback of the G8LED is that it is on the pricier end of the lighting options, but what you get makes this high cost pale in comparison.

10. California Lightworks Solarstorm LED Grow Light

As an LED, the 440Watt California Lightworks Solarstorm will work for your plants’ entire lifecycle. The light provides five bands of high PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation) from the deepest blue colors to the deepest red colors of light – a rich blend of everything your marijuana plants need.

Unlike other full-spectrum options, the Solarstorm is dual operating. The light includes a single switch to provide either blue-spectrum light for the veg phase or red spectrum light for the flowering phase of photoperiod plants. 

The downsides of this light are that it is rather noisy and doesn’t include dimming options. However, it still deserves a spot on our top 10 list.  

As you can see, lights for growing weed can be complex – especially when you need to grow multiple plants or use photoperiod plants. You may have also noticed that many of the top 10 lights are LEDs, and it’s no surprise. LEDs offer superior energy efficiency, varied light spectrums, and a long life. Indoor growers of all experience levels know how well LEDs perform, which is why we offer a Light for Pot for those that choose to grow indoors. We also strongly recommend growing auto-flowers.

Whether you are growing a single plant, or a massive garden, LED lights are some of the best options around.

Hanging Your Indoor Lights: A Key Factor to Consider

Depending on the lights you select to meet your indoor growing needs, there’s likely a decent amount of fine-tuning you’ll have to do to determine their ideal height. Ensuring that you select the best height for your lights will help keep your plants healthy while also promoting more robust, higher-quality crop yields, especially if you’re using LEDs. While there are other kinds of lights you can utilize- as explored in the above list- LEDs are the most commonly used. As such, we thought it would be wise to provide readers with a quick height/distance guide since LED lights can be tricky, especially since there’s such a wide variety to choose from, and many of them don’t look nearly as powerful as they actually are. 

Many lights will appear bright, but others will appear dim, so it’s easy to think that they’re not providing your plants with enough energy to promote suitable growth. LEDs are often deceptively strong, and in many cases, you may find that they actually produce a bit too much energy, despite appearing relatively weak. Because of this, responsible growers need to keep a sharp eye on their plants and look out for signs of bleaching, which can seriously harm your cannabis crop and result in underwhelming yields of low-quality buds. 

Though every LED light is different, the good news is that manufacturers will typically provide recommended heights for their products. That said, this isn’t the case for all products and manufacturers, so it’s generally a good idea for growers to get a general understanding of good lighting practices before they start growing their weed. As a general rule, it’s best for growers to hang LED lights further away than other lights and then adjust them throughout the plant’s growth cycle. Typically, growers will see the best results by steadily moving the LEDs closer to their plants as they progress through their lifecycle and begin to flower.

For growers who want more specific measurements regarding the height for their LEDs, they can rely on the following simple chart as a starting point:

LED Grow Light Distance Chart

LED Strength 240–400W 450–550W 600–850W 900W+
Optimal Starting Distance 41–76cm (16–30″) 51–76cm (20–30″) 61–66cm (24–26″) 66–107cm (26–42″)


Lights For Growing Weed Indoors FAQ

We’ve taken the time to explore the essential light-related vocabulary that responsible home-cannabis growers should understand and listed the top ten indoor lights available to said growers. Now, let’s take another short moment to go through some of the most frequently asked questions about the process of indoor weed growth.

 

What type of light is best for growing plants indoors?

 

Like plants growing outdoors in the sunlight, indoor plants grow best under full-spectrum bulbs

 

What is the difference between a grow light and a regular light?

 

Regular incandescent bulbs give off more yellow and orange light, starving leafy plants while they burn them.

 

Can I leave my grow light on 24 hours?

 

It is not recommended to leave your grow light running for 24 hours straight.

Are you sick and tired of spending so much money on your trips to local dispensaries to restock your weed stash with a selection of quality cannabis? Consider investing in one of our easy-to-use home-growing cannabis kits today from our experts here at a Pot for Pot and start reaping the rewards of a high-quality cannabis crop.

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