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All Blue LED Grow Lights – Veg Lights to the Max
If you want to grow any type of plants it is very important to introduce blue light during the vegatative phases of growth. The plants are in desperate need of blue light and usually get it from the sun during the spring when the atmosphere provides the highest amount of blue spectra. Many growers will use Metal Halide lights during vegetative phases because of their spectra giving more blue wavelengths to plants versus HPS.
All Blue LED grow lights offer many ways to provide more growth in veg cycles. Here are a few:
1. Using one of our Extreme Veg grow lights which is 100% blue spectra, growers can see extreme growth in veg cycles with short node distance and a high rate of leaf set and size.
2. Using one of our all blue LEDs along with any HPS, fluorescent or other grow light provides that deep focused blue light that is designed just for plant growth.
3. Using our All Blue LED grow lights (Extreme Veg) along with our Extreme Flower models or our Diamond Series LEDs to add even deeper and faster growth to your space.
See our tests of all blue vs Metal Halide grow lights coming up in the next few weeks.
Eshine Systems LED – BUYER BEWARE!
Eshine LED is a cheap Chinese factory that falsely claims to manufacture the Diamond Series so people will think they are buying a real Diamond Series LED. If you are looking at any Eshine LED lights, BUYER BEWARE! Read our experience with ESHINE and the feedback we get from people who have bought from them.
Click Here for Real Diamond Series LEDs!
Here is the Truth about Eshine Systems:
1. Eshine Systems does not make, manufacture or supply any products to Advanced LED. After purchasing a small number of lights we found Eshine to be far inferior from what they claim and they did not honor their warranty.
2. Eshine Systems shipped us cheap low quality lights that failed at a high rate (tested). Common Problems Included: Power supply failure, lenses falling out, dented/scratched lights, LED failure, switch failure and LEDs remaining lit in the dark period! We get calls on a daily basis about eShine and the problems people have with lights they bought from Eshine.
3. Eshine Systems LED does not honor their warranty! They require that customers ship the lights back to them in China(expensive), pay to have them fixed and then pay for shipping again. NOTE: If they tell you they pay for these things it is only to sell you!
4. Eshine Systems LEDs are NOT the same as the Diamond Series LEDs. Even though they look the similar, the Diamond Series is very different. Here are a few differences:
- The Diamond Series have been Tested (real grow tests), Proven (see YouTube) and Approved (see our reviews) by growers world-wide and are backed by a 90 day guarantee and a warranty that costs you nothing.
- Higher quality parts! We use top quality fans, heat sinks and top BIN LEDs from the best brands for each color we use. Our manufacturing process is much more accurate and able to wire and test lights that have a very low rate of part failure. (less than 1%)
- The Diamond Series Lens! We tested over 40 different TIR lenses and hand selected the DS LED lens as the best choice. We are always testing new lenses and the DS lens remains the winner. Although the Eshine Lens looks the similar, it is not the same lens. In fact many companies simply put a TIR optic or a Collimated (dome shaped) lens over their LEDs and tell you it is a Diamond Series. Each lens operates completely different from others and the Diamond Series Lens is perfect for growing.
We are a USA based company with a 24 hour warranty guarantee and full time AMERICAN staff to help all our customers. Call us! 1-800-401-6307
Already Bought from Eshine LED and need help? Call 1-800-401-6307
If you bought from Eshine (or any other company) thinking you were getting a real Diamond Series LED only to have problems, give us a call and we will try to help you get growing again. NOTE: Diamond Series LEDs are not sold on Amazon either, these are also fake lights from Eshine!
Diamond Series LEDs are only sold by Advanced LED and our top notch retail partners.
If you have any questions OR want to order the real Diamond Series LED, give us a call at 1-800-401-6307.
We will be updating this post with quotes from Eshine stating they do not make the Diamond Series LEDs and other proof of the low quality and warranty problems with Eshine Systems LEDs.
The Growing Popularity of Hydroponic Indoor Gardens
Hydroponic gardens are becoming increasingly popular with the home gardening enthusiast. The art of growing plants in a controlled indoor environment is as old as greenhouses, but hydroponics and LED grow lights have added pure science to the mix. The term hydroponics was coined in the 1930s during a period extensive agriculture research. Scientists were testing the viability of using nutrient solutions and soil-less growing methods for large-scale indoor crop production.
Hydroponics has come a long way since then. Advances in chemical science have resulted in the development of nearly fail-safe nutrient solution formulas that practically guarantee crop yields, and the advent of plastics technology vastly reduced costs and increased efficiency. Today commercially grown hydroponic crops can be found in every supermarket, and as knowledge of the technology spreads, more home gardening enthusiasts are trying their hands at creating a home hydroponic garden.
Local garden centers should have everything the private enthusiast would need to create their own home hydroponic garden, from complete systems to components, supplies and advice. The basics are easy to master, and a passive home hydroponic system can be created without the need to buy a lot of expensive equipment.
In a passive hydroponic system the nutrient solution does not have to be constantly circulated as in more sophisticated set ups. All that is needed is a closed container to house the nutrient solution, a means of suspending the plants and root systems within the container and a small aeration pump, such as an aquarium pump, to keep the nutrient solution oxygenated. In most systems the root mass of the plant is supported in an inert and integrated medium. This can be anything from perlite to sterilized gravel or sand to rockwool to various synthetics. Inventive improvisers have even used old nylons to suspend plants in a hydroponic system.
The first key is to suspend the root mass just above the surface of the nutrient solution and to keep the humidity levels within the closed nutrient container at or near 100 percent. The roots will grow out of the integrated suspension material to reach the nutrient solution, but require near absolute humidity levels to do so.
The second key essential is to use a precisely mixed nutrient solution. Experienced hydroponic gardeners often mix their own formulas, but for the beginner it’s often best to use a prepared mix available at most garden supply centers.
The third key essential is air. The nutrient solution must be kept oxygenated and circulated or it can become contaminated by algae and kill the plants it is supposed to nurture.
The fourth essential key is light. Healthy plants need light of sufficient intensity and spectral bandwidth to achieve photosynthesis. The use of bulky and power-hungry gas-discharge lamps have traditionally been used for indoor growing applications, but today technology has come to the rescue again and the home gardener has access to LED grow lights.
Modern LED grow lights are powerful enough to provide light of the proper intensity and spectrum for healthy plant growth, and use a fraction of the energy of traditional grow light systems.
Growing Orchids at Home with LED Grow Lights
Prized for their beauty and variety, orchids are a favourite of many flower gardeners. With almost as many orchid types as there are mammal species, it can be difficult to choose which plants to cultivate. To make this easier, it might help you to know that the approximately 22 thousand species of orchid can be divided into two major categories: terrestrial and epiphytes. Terrestrial orchids are native to the ground, while epiphytes orchids are found in trees. Many home gardeners find that the tree-growing varieties are easier to cultivate.
Wild epiphytes orchids receive nutrients from the rain, rotting tree vegetation and sunlight filtered through the jungle canopy. To keep your domestic orchids happy, you will need to create an environment with 50% humidity or more. One way to accomplish this is to set the orchid pots above a tray of water. You can also lightly mist the plants with water if you also provide enough air circulation so the leaves and petals can dry.
Naturally, it is easier to create a controlled growing environment for orchids and other plants indoors, rather than outside. One of the most important components of any indoor garden is lighting. There are several types of grow lights on the market. Some commercial produce and flower farms are turning to LED grow lights as a more efficient light source for their crops.
Just as older types of light bulbs are being replaced with high efficiency bulbs in most homes, LED grow lights are increasing in popularity over incandescent or florescent grow lights. Incandescent grow lights tend to produce a lot of heat and to consume large amounts of energy. For this reason, the cost of lighting has been one of the biggest drawbacks to indoor gardening. Florescent bulbs burn cooler and are less likely to burn your plants, but they are still expensive to run. Florescent lights also usually require ballasts which must be periodically replaced.
LED grow lights, on the other hand, consume very low amounts of energy and have a very long bulb life. So, not only is your energy bill much lower with LED bulbs, but you have to replace them only rarely. LED grow lights produce intense light, but put off far less heat than incandescent bulbs. An LED grow light system is usually much simpler than a comparable incandescent or florescent gardening setup, as LED grow lights do not require ballasts or heat deflectors.
Since they are flowering plants with leaves, your orchids will need light mostly in the blue and red spectrums. Unlike other types of bulbs, LED grow bulbs emit light only in the spectrums needed for plant development. By eliminating wasted light spectrums, LED lights are both more effective and more energy efficient. When combined with proper hydration and nutrient levels, LED grow lights can help you create the ideal environment for growing beautiful, healthy orchids.
The Spectral Superiority of LED Grow Lights
The techniques for growing plants indoors can vary widely, from sophisticated commercial hydroponic operations that use complex drip irrigation systems to a simple pot of herbs on a kitchen windowsill. What every indoor growing method has in common is the need for an artificial light source that mimics as closely as possible the light of the sun.
It would seem logical that the best light source for growing plants indoors would be as bright and yellow as sunlight appears to the human eye, but this is not the case. The visual perception of the human eye is most acute at the exact center of the visible light spectrum, while those portions of the light spectrum plants need for photosynthesis lie at the upper (blue) and lower (red) ranges of the spectrum. Plants appear green because the pigments in plant tissues absorb light in the blue and red wavelengths and reflect light in the green wavelengths that lie near the center of the spectrum.
In other words, plants do not use most of the light produced by artificial light sources that were designed to allow humans to see in the dark. In a typical incandescent light bulb, only about 30 percent of the light produced can be used by plants for photosynthesis. The same holds true for most fluorescent lights, though some have been tailored to emit light in the Photo synthetically Active Radiation (PAR) spectral range. High-intensity gas discharge grow light systems, such as metal halide or high-pressure sodium lamps, are better at targeting the PAR spectral wavelengths, but still waste about 50 percent of their light output in the central part of the visible spectrum that plants do not use.
All of these issues with the PAR spectrum are why advances in the technology of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) over the past 20 years have led to a revolution in indoor horticulture. LED grow lights are engineered to output the exact wavelengths of light best absorbed by the chlorophylls, carotenoids and xanthophylls that are the chief photosynthetic pigments in green plants, which make them the most efficient indoor garden lighting solution from a spectral standpoint.
LED grow lights have many other advantages over traditional lighting sources as well. LEDs can save up to 80 percent on energy-use costs, do not produce any waste heat and can last up to 100,000 hours — more than ten times the device-life rating of other types of indoor garden lights.
Modern LED grow lights are simply the most efficient method of lighting an indoor growing space from any angle.
Keep Your Cool with Effective LED Grow Light
Energy-efficient LED lights have been on the market for several years. Their introduction into the grow light market has taken some time and many initial models failed to provide enough light in the correct frequencies to properly grow an indoor garden, whether flower, vegetable or fruit.
Why garden indoors
Indoor gardening is particularly useful in cooler climates where long, harsh winters effectively stunt the growing season. Generally more efficient and less expensive than importing flowers, fruits or vegetables from warmer climates, indoor gardening provides locally grown produce in even the bitterest conditions.
Problems with indoor gardening
While indoor gardening may seem like the perfect solution at first, the energy required to properly light an indoor garden may be problematic. Incandescent lighting for indoor gardens not only requires great amounts of electricity to operate but also generates quite a lot of heat. As a result plants must be located a measurable distance from the bulbs to avoid burning or scorching. Also the heat from the incandescent bulbs can cause the gardening area to be uncomfortably warm. Florescent lighting, although cooler than incandescent lighting, also burns excessive amounts of energy. In addition, anyone who has used florescent lighting for illuminating a business or home, as well as an indoor garden, knows that the added expense of replacing ballasts in florescent units makes this solution especially costly.
The LED grow light solution
Advanced LED Lights, home of the original 3W Extreme Flower Grow Lights provides an efficient LED grow light solution that not only provides intense, effective lighting for indoor gardening but also lights the garden cooly and efficiently.
Designed to supply only the light plants can use, the design of these LED grow lights incorporates both red and blue LED light to perform well during both flowering and vegetative cycles of plants. These directional lights do not require reflection devices or ballasts that are costly and need frequently to be replaced.
Unlike other grow lights, LED lights emit a minimal amount of heat. While they are slightly warm to the touch, they will not significantly raise the temperature of the growing area. Additionally, plants can be grown closer to the lighting without concern for scorching or burning.
LED grow lights also decrease energy use for the indoor garden. Depending on a variety of variables, replacing older model grow light systems with LED grow lights will decrease energy by anywhere from 50 to 90 percent.
The Advanced LED Lights difference
While many under-powered LED grow lights still don’t provide the necessary light for effective growth in an indoor garden, grow lights from Advanced LED Lights are available only in 120-watt power and above. This, coupled with the partnership we retain with only the top leaders in the industry, backs our product so we can confidently offer our three-year warranty and 90 day guarantee on each of our LED grow light products.
The Spider Mite Dilemma
A quick search of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_mite) says that “Spider Mites are members of the Acari (mite) family Tetranychidae, which includes 1200 different species.” These very tiny mites can live under the leaves of several hundred different species of plants and will most likely cause damage to plants through puncturing the cells of the plant for food. Once a spider mite has found a host plant, one mature female can hatch over one million eggs in a month! Due to this rapid reproduction rate, spider mite populations can adapt quickly and become resistant to chemical pesticides, especially if the same pesticide is used over a prolonged period.
How do you tell if you have a spider mite issue in your indoor garden? Spider mites actually get their name due to a web that some members of the species will spin around their eggs to protect them. If you notice a web within your indoor garden, this is a likely sign you may have them.
Spider Mite Web and Eggs
In the AdvancedLEDLights.com indoor garden, our first sign was plant stress. Our growing conditions inside the grow tent were as they should be and the plants were not flourishing. We consulted a trusted friend who owns a local hydroponic store regarding our issue and he immediately recommended checking under the leaves for any sign of spider mites. During our initial investigation, it was clear that was our issue.
Here are a few key indicators that you too may have a spider mite dilemma:
- The best indicator would be the presence of webbing on your plants located near the underside of the leaves or along the stems.
- Red spider mites, which are very common, are usually visible to the human eye or by utilizing a small magnification lens. These mites favor little red spiders.
- Other spider mites may be very small, spider-like creatures with or without spots on their back.
- You may be able to spot little white, pearl-like eggs underneath the leaves and along the stems of the plant.
- In some cases, especially with serious infestations, you may notice damage to the outer top leaves and/or red or yellow spotting on lower leaves of your plant.
Try running an internet search on “Spider Mite Treatment” and you’ll see a full range of suggested solutions. There are chemical solutions, organic solutions, predator mites (these are quite pricey!), and many other methods. Our local hydroponic shop first recommended a two step treatment. First, we used two cans of ProControl Prescription Treatment fogger in our 4×8 grow tent. We repeated this process twice: four days after the first treatment and again 7 days after that. During these three treatments, we immediately noticed a reduction in the spider mites; however, the plants were not thriving as they had before. Next, we continued to work on our spider mite issue by saturating the plants with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water every two days. We were told that this would aid us in getting rid of the spider mites and could be used as a preventative measure in the future. (When using this mixture as a preventative measure against spider mites, spraying is recommended 1/week). The total cost for these treatments was in the neighborhood of $350.00. Unfortunately, the plants were not perking back up and were still showing signs that something was not quite right. Upon closer inspection we saw the small microscopic pearl-like eggs along the stems and underneath the leaves of the plant – we still had spider mites. We again consulted our local hydroponics shop friend and the news was grim. He confirmed that despite our best efforts, we still were infested with spider mites. His suggestion? Trash everything in the tent and start again. In fact, he sincerely recommended that we even consider replacing the entire tent. He stated that even if we carefully treated the tent, just one spider mite hiding out in a corner of the tent could cause the issue all over again. Moreover, he had seen this before and had customers spend thousands of dollars attempting to get rid of the spider mites only to later replace everything in their indoor garden. Due to the cost of replacing the entire tent and it’s contents, we did consult one more friend who is a grower and heard the exact same advice. So, we heeded their warnings and took down our 4×8 grow tent and all of the plants it contained.
Don’t let this happen to your indoor garden space. Our very own spider mite dilemma has shown us that early detection and prevention is the key in fighting a spider mite infestation.
We will be setting up our new tent and growing in it shortly! More updates to come.
The Staff of AdvancedLEDLights.com
LED Grow Lights Change the Spectrum of Indoors Gardening
It is inevitable that “green” technology will continue to develop as ecological awareness grows within our global culture. All across the world, forward thinkers in the scientific and engineering communities are developing the technologies of tomorrow, which promise to be cleaner and more efficient, while helping to achieve the sustainability necessary for human survival. One area of technology in which these green advances are already revolutionizing human activity is in artificial lighting and indoor horticulture.
Hydroponics, which is a method in high-tech horticulture where plants grow in soil-free nutrient baths, is a perfect example of how science and technology can work together to develop solutions to human problems. Botanists and researchers have used soil-less growing techniques for centuries, although professional and commercial growers didn’t begin using these methods until the first half of the 20th century. The advent of commercial hydroponics allowed for large-scale indoor horticulture where plants could be grown in a controlled environment without regard to the weather or the season.
Since the 1980s, hydroponic gardening has gained widespread popularity with home gardeners interested in setting up year-round indoor growing spaces. This popularity led to the creation of an entire industry that is responsible for supplying products and services in support of the millions of home hydroponics gardeners around the world. While hydroponic indoor growing is not as difficult as one might think, it does require rather specialized equipment and products to be done correctly, such as pumps, plant racks, a growing medium, ventilation equipment and, most importantly, a proper artificial light source.
Growing indoor plants hydroponically requires light with the proper intensity and spectrum in order for photosynthesis and healthy growth to occur. Because most sources of artificial lighting, such as for the home or office, are insufficient for growing, specialized types of high-intensity lights are traditionally used for inside gardening. These types of high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps create the proper spectrum and intensity of light, but have unfortunate drawbacks for the gardening enthusiast looking to start a home garden. HID lamps are extremely energy-inefficient. Not only do they require bulky reflectors and heavy ballasts, making them hard to mount, but they also produce vast amounts of wasted heat, which in turn requires the use of extensive ventilation systems so as to draw the heat out.
Fortunately for the home gardening enthusiast, there is now an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient alternative to these traditional HID lighting systems that makes setting up a hydroponic system much easier. Over the past decade, advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology have been slowly revolutionizing indoor hydroponic gardening.
Thanks to extensive research by the likes of NASA and the Russian Space Agency, scientists have developed modern LED lighting technology to serve as a viable alternative to traditional HID systems for hydroponic growing. LED grow lights provide both the proper spectrum and intensity for healthy plant growth at a fraction of the energy cost required by HID lamps. Since LEDs do not produce excess heat, there is a reduced need for ventilation systems for the home garden, cutting costs even further. As an added bonus, LED grow lights do not contain the toxic materials associated with traditional lamps. LEDs are not just super efficient, but they are also good for the environment.
LED Grow Lights for Sale
LED grow lights for sale in the US are offered in many different levels of quality and performance. Before you begin looking for LED grow lights for sale try to pick which brand of LED is best for your garden. Cheap LED grow lights are commonly made in China with Chinese parts and sold under names made to seem strong and powerful. Names are a terrible way to determine which LED grow light to buy since many are simply misleading.
LED Grow Lights for Sale – Made in the USA
If you see an LED grow light for sale with the title “made in the USA” make sure you understand that many companies will simply lie (or mislead you) about this especially those who are new without much of a reputation (fly-by-night companies).
If the LED grow light for sale is made with all 3w LEDs make sure to ask for pictures or descriptions of there heat sinks and look for wattages not to exceed 2w each. Heat sinks using these high powered 3w chips should always include tall fins to disperse heat quickly without reducing the life of the LEDs prematurely. High heat is the enemy of LEDs and causes them to die much faster than the company will lead you to believe. If heat is not a priority of the company with the LED grow light for sale then you should look elsewhere. Those who claim extremely high wattage (higher than 2w per 3w LED) being better simply leave out the fact that the high heat produced will cause the lights to fail much quicker than they should.
LED Grow Lights for Sale with High Junction Temperature = Shorter LED Life
LEDs do not fail all at once unless there is some type of driver or connection problem. LEDs that are driven too high will immediately begin to start fading and the point which they cross the 70% of original power will be much faster than sold to you.
Look for a brand such as Advanced LED that drives their LEDs at the highest power possible while still maintaining the life of the LED. Choose an LED grow light for sale that features real 3w LEDs using the most advanced secondary optics available today and at least a 90 day guarantee with no hassles.
If you want to save all that time, you can rest assured the best selling 3w LED grow lights in the USA are made by Advanced LED. Professional and hobby growers choose Advanced LED due to low cost per watt, high performance and extremely high levels of customer service. Advanced LED even offers a 24 hour warranty service guarantee and a 90 day return policy to guarantee your satisfaction for all the LED grow lights sold.
Long-Run Cost Reduction with LED Lighting for an Indoor Garden
One of the biggest cost considerations for indoor gardening is power consumption. The energy requirements of an indoor garden can vary widely depending on a several factors, from the scale of the indoor facility being used to the type of plants being grown to whether the horticulture is hydroponic or soil-based. Hydroponic growing systems need expensive irrigation and pump setups that can drive up costs, but these costs are usually mitigated by increased efficiency and bigger yields, which is why so many indoor gardeners are enthusiastic about hydroponics.
Other factors that influence the energy requirements of indoor gardening are ventilation and lighting. Growing plants indoors requires a suitable light source that replicates as closely as possible the intensity and spectral qualities of sunlight, and proper ventilation is necessary to sustain healthy plant growth. The choice of lighting types used in an indoor garden can affect the type and level of ventilation system required, which in turn can have a direct effect on the energy efficiency of the entire indoor garden.
The traditional lighting method for indoor growing has been the use of High Intensity Discharge (HID) grow lights, such as High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide lamps. HID grow lamps work by energising gas vapour inside a sealed lamp with an electric current. Due to the negative resistance that is a characteristic of the gases used in these types of lamps electrical ballasts are used to regulate and limit the current, which might otherwise rise to destructive levels.
While these types of lighting systems work quite well for indoors growing by providing light of the intensity and spectral quality necessary, they have several of drawbacks that heavily affect the bottom-line cost of operating an indoor garden. HID grow light systems are heavy, hard to mount, use excessive amounts of power, often require specialised wiring and create large amounts of waste heat. This waste heat issue becomes a cost-consideration because a higher-capacity ventilation system has to be used to deal with the excess heat and draw it off to ensure a proper growing environment within the garden.
This is why the development and evolution of Light Emitting Diode (LED) grow light technology over the past decade has indoor gardeners as enthusiastic about LEDs as they are about hydroponics. LED systems not only produce growing light of comparable intensity using a fraction of the energy required by HIDs, they also have superior spectral bandwidth qualities to optimise growth at all stages of the plant life cycle. LED grow light systems do not require the use of heavy and bulky ballasts or reflectors. They are lightweight and need no special wiring, so they are easy to mount and move. Moreover, LED grow lights do not create the excessive waste heat of conventional HID systems, so further cost and energy savings can be realised through a scaled-back ventilation system or none at all.
It makes sense to install an LED grow light system in a new garden or replace an HID system in an existing garden when these energy-usage cost savings are taken into account.