Best HID Grow Light Kits for Your Indoor Plants

 There are tons of different grow lights on the market, and making sense of it can get frustrating.

Fear not, because today we’re going to make some sense out of all the noise. While looking at the best HID grow lights, one of the most popular options for growing cannabis.

What Are HID Grow Lights?

HID stands for high-intensity discharge. These lights have been a popular choice for years because they’re cheaper, and give great results.

These lights are different from typical household light bulbs in design. With HID grow lights, electrodes at either side of the light transfer a current through the gas in the bulb. Generating a lot more light in the process.

Depending on the gas inside the bulb, the light produced will be of a different color. This is awesome for growers, as cannabis plants take advantage of different color spectrums throughout their growth cycle.

Metal Halide (MH)
Metal halide bulbs produce a blue light, which is preferable by young plants that are in a vegetative state.

With these bulbs, you’ll be able to deliver the leafy growth your plants will need to excel.

High-Pressure Sodium (HPS)
High-pressuresodium bulbs produce a light with a reddish-orange hue, and it’s beneficial during the flowering stage.

The light triggers certain functions within your plants, and it can increase the yield cannabis produces.

Which Type Is Better?

MH and HPS bulbs complement each other. As cannabis grow better when it gets both blue and red color spectrum.

Good Results: It’s possible use only HPS throughout the cycle, many many growers do. If you have to chose one, HPS is the one.
Better Results: Some lights come with both, MH and HPS. Start with MH bulb as they works best for vegetative stage. Then change to HPS bulb for flowering.

Best Results: You could also have two HID lights during the whole cycle with one of each type. I wouldn’t recommend this for most growers, as it would be cheaper and better getting a proper LED grow light.

ECO Farm 1000W Double Ended HPS HID Grow Light Enclosed Kit

Features:

The ECO Farm grow light has a double-ended system that delivers higher PAR value with incredible uniformity Open design for maximum light output, optimum heat management, and longer lamp life. Cutting-edge adjustable ballast features advanced low frequency Square-Wave technology for high efficiency, reliability and no electromagnetic interference. Sturdy reflective hood is made of German aluminum rated at 98% reflectivity; the contour design and texturing eliminates hot spots and dead zones. Delivers a high PAR and more efficient spectrum for plants.1000W WATT DOUBLE ENDED HPS BULB has the light output Lumens at145,000lm; The jacket is made from quartz glass. It also provides 35% more available energy than the standard high pressure sodium lamp. High output of PAR light (2,050 μmol/s) promotes photosynthesis.

SunStream 1000 Watt DE Double Ended HID Grow Light Kit

Features:

1000W HID grow light kit is made by using quality hardware components and high standard QA process; The system Operates both HPS and MH light bulb with controller port ready for multiple deployments, making growing easier and harvesting better. High-Tech Ballast has a adjustable output power at 600W, 750W, 1000W, 1150W; Support dual voltage Input 120V-240V; Unique graduating fin design for more efficient cooling; Advanced safety protection against short circuit, power surge, ignition failure, overheat. Both UL and ETL listed; Ballast and Reflector-3 years warranty against manufacturing defects; DE HPS 1000W Bulb-1 year warranty. The system will produce heat when it is used in an enclosed area without ventilation; adequate ventilation is advised to prevent temperature.

Gavita SL2 1000e DE 208–240 Volt W150 HID Grow Lights

Features:

The Gavita Slim Line 2 (SL2) fixture features the W150 Reflector, which has a wide spread for optimal uniformity (150° beam angle). This reflector is best suited to overlapping plans. The SL2 features highly ecient passive ballast cooling that helps contribute to long fixture life. Other features include sealed housing with a Gore-Tex® ventilation plug, and controllable output up to 1150 W. The SL2 is also equipped with a Repeater Bus interface. This double-port connection enables control of the SL2 with a Gavita EL Controller (sold separately). Connect up to 100 fixtures in a single daisy chain series, up to five daisy chains per EL controller output. A single EL controller output can control up to five 100-fixture daisy chains, giving you room to grow.

HID Grow Lights: What To Consider

There are a few decisions you have to make. The first is what wattage system you want.

Then you need to decide whether you want a kit with only a high pressure sodium (HPS) bulb or one with both an HPS and a metal halide (MH) bulb.

Finally, you need to decide on the type of reflector you want.

How Many Watts Do I Need To Grow Indoors?

If your area is such that you have several options, always go with more lower wattage lights over fewer higher wattage lights.
First off, the only wattages you should consider are 400, 600 or 1000. Anything below 400 and above 1000 watts is simply too inefficient.

If you want lower wattages, you’re better off going with fluorescent light and anything over 1000 watts just uses too much power and generates too much heat to make any sense.

In general, we recommend 600 watts. This is where HID lights are at their peak efficiency. That said, there are certainly times where a 1000 watt or 400 watt light makes more sense. It basically comes down to the size of your garden.

To simplify things, a 400 watt bulb lights up a 3 by 3 foot area; a 600 watt bulb covers a 4 by 4 foot area; and a 1000 watt bulb covers a 5 by 5 foot area. Obviously the reflector style will change the coverage area a bit, but these are the general coverages for each.

Thus, if you have a 3 by 3 grow tent, it would make most sense to get a 400 watt system. For a 10 by 10 tent, four 1000 watt lights would fit best.

If several options work, more lights of a lower wattage are always preferable to fewer lights of a higher wattage, to cover the same area. For example, a 20 by 20 foot space would be better covered by twenty-five 600 watt lights than sixteen 1000 watt lights.

What Type Of Grow Light Bulb Do I Need? HPS or MH?

Get both bulbs. The metal halide bulb maximizes growth during the vegging stage and the high pressure sodium bulb maximizes bud and flower production during the blooming stage.

You can use one bulb throughout, but will get better results switching bulbs when it comes time to switch from vegging to flowering.

Of course, the best results come from using both types of bulbs during all stages of growth, but that will increase costs considerably. And the increase in cost of running both types of bulbs is simply too high to justify the increase in growth rate and yield.

Unless you are a medium to large-scale commercial grower, use only one type of bulb at a time: MH for vegging and HPS for flowering.

Do I want single ended or double ended bulbs?

Double-ended bulbs are 25–30% more efficient than single ended bulbs, meaning they produce higher PAR ratings for the same wattage. They also last longer, retaining 90% of their output after 10,000 hours of use.

So why doesn’t everyone use double-ended bulbs?

They’re more expensive for one. The bulbs generally cost up to 50% more and the reflectors cost up to twice as much. They also produce more heat. Finally, reflector options are more limited, with only a few styles available for double-ended bulbs.

If you have the budget and the ability to eliminate the excess heat, go with double-ended bulbs, as the increased efficiency and longer life will make up for the increase in cost after a few grows.

If you’re not sure you can deal with the heat or you just don’t have the budget, go with single-ended bulbs for now, especially if your grow area is on the smaller side.

What Reflector Style Is Best?

With so many different styles of reflectors, choosing one can be a daunting task. But the truth is, most reflectors will do a good job and the differences in light coverage and intensity are not really that large.

Example: A large reflector has a large coverage area, but the light is less intense. This means you need to hang it closer to the plants if you want more intense light, which reduces the coverage area. Thus, the large reflector ends up having a similar coverage and intensity as a smaller reflector hanging further away.

So why are there so many different types of reflectors?

Each one specializes in a certain situation. The key is finding the reflector best suited for your grow space.

Conclusion

The most challenging part of setting up an indoor grow room is selecting the light to use. The competition is not only in the different brands creating lights but the different types of lamps to use. However, one of the best ways to escape this confusion is by choosing a grow light by considering the phases of your plant growth. HID light bulbs can provide you with the best results once your cannabis plants start flowering. You can trust them to increase the amount of yield leading to better harvests.