4 Mistakes You Must Avoid While Using LED Grow Lights for Your Weed
California is a state of cannabis lovers who have at least one cannabis plant in their homes. Are you a part of that crowd? Well, in that case, you must be familiar with how meticulous you have to be in order to have a healthy harvest of dense nugs. From checking the levels of micro and macronutrients to maintaining a water schedule, there’s a lot of factors involved. One of these factors is LED grow lights.
Most amateur cannabis growers believe that more light means more cannabis. Well, it is true but only if done right. So, let’s walk you through some of the most common mistakes with LED grow lights that may be keeping you from having a healthy harvest.
How Important Is Light for Cannabis?
To cultivate cannabis, you just need some quality seeds, some good soil, a place to grow, and you’re good to go. However, there’s one very essential factor for growing marijuana that we generally forget- light.
Any plant needs light to grow healthily. And apparently, marijuana needs a lot more of it than any other plant. Light plays a very important role in determining the quality of your buds. And therefore, you can’t just be ignorant when it comes to grow lights for your cannabis.
Until now, a lot of cannabis cultivators have been using HID lights for this purpose. However, the trend is changing now. Many weed growers are now turning to LEDs, which, as compared to HIDs, have some very significant advantages. For instance, they consume less electricity and produce less heat, which is a very big advantage, especially for small growers.
Now, medical patients generally have a limit of 6 plants as per law. Some can even get their limit increased with a legit recommendation. Several online clinics such as Long Beach MMJ MDS can connect you with a doctor for a medical evaluation. Even with a high limit, the magnitude is not as big as professional cultivators. So, while changing to LED lights may seem insignificant, it can be beneficial in terms of savings and getting more buds from a few plants.
So, let’s take a look at common mistakes that you should avoid when using LED grow lights for cannabis.
Not Keeping a Proper Distance
This, probably, is the most common thing, we see, novice cultivators do while using LEDs. Since HIDs produce a lot of heat, out of caution, the growers place their LEDs too at a far off distance, sometimes. Alternatively, due to the notion of less heat production, some may place their LEDs too close to the plant, too.
Keeping the light too far may result in your plant overstretching itself in order to reach closer to the LED. On the other hand, if you place the LED too close, the heat may burn the bud.
So, how far should you place your LED? Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as “ideal distance” here. The distance actually depends on what type of LED you are using. Check the manual or your manufacturer’s website for this purpose. But if you don’t find anything anywhere, take your chance with keeping your light between 35 to 45 cm away from the canopy.
Overwatering
As an HID produces a lot of heat as compared to LEDs, the soil dries up much quickly while using the former. But growers sometimes forget this while making the switch to LEDs. In the case of LEDs, heat gets reduced significantly. And thus, your plants do not require as much water as before. So, you need to change your watering schedule accordingly.
Overwatering can cause some serious damage to your plants by making way for pests and other diseases. So, it’s really important to keep an eye on it. And if you doubt something, let the soil dry out before watering again.
Choosing the Wrong LED Light
If you’re getting into LED grow lights, you probably have heard about “full-spectrum” lights. It’s nothing but a buzzword describing that they can be used for vegging as well as flowering. Some models also have an option to switch the light spectrum as per the phase. There are also some other LEDs that are made only for the vegging phase, which emit a bluish light, supporting vigorous and fast growth. While there are a few, with a reddish light, only for the budding time.
So, before deciding which LED light you wanna buy, make sure you know what exactly you want out of it.
Choosing Bad quality LED
The one and only probable downside of LEDs in comparison to HIDs is their expensiveness. Not everyone can afford good quality, full-spectrum LED light. But they still want to enjoy the benefits of the technology. And therefore, they look out for some other cheaper options. Now, the problem here is that there are a lot of low-quality options available online by various overseas manufacturers. However, these lights can barely help you grow a plant, if any. Also, these low-quality lights aren’t very safe to operate as they are often manufactured in a country with much lenient electrical safety norms.
Therefore, it’s better to spend a bit more on a good quality LED than these cheaper options. Your plant will be much happier. Plus the running cost of an LED is far less than an HID. So, you can save a lot here.
See? Growing cannabis isn’t really that hard. You just need to avoid a few mistakes, and in a few weeks, you’ll have your healthy, own grown marijuana to puff and pass. However, there’s one more tip that might help you here- getting a grower’s license. With a cannabis grower’s license, you can legally grow a lot more than other people. And this gives you a very good access to some high quality, self-grown weed. Now, if you are thinking about getting one for yourself, just apply for 420 evaluations online, and you’ll get it in just a few minutes. For any other questions regarding the cultivation of cannabis, refer to this article.
If you think marijuana can help you in any way, you should be able to access it. And what better access can you have than having it in your own backyard?
