All factors need to be used in combination to select the most appropriate systems based on your cultivation and business goals, and the take home message is that PPF, PPFD, and photon efficiency are the proper metrics used by scientists and industry leading horticulture lighting companies. If a company does not provide you with the correct metrics used for horticulture lighting, they should not be selling horticulture lighting systems, and you will not be able to verify the true efficacy of their system.
Your evaluation and final choice depend on many factors:
◽ your grow environment (for example: temperature, humidity, air circulation, background noise, heat etc.)
◽ the strain you are growing (strains react differently on different types of lighting, techniques etc.)
◽ your (personal) growing technique (are you using the ''SCROG'', ''SOG'' or an other method/technique ?)
◽ your personal health (for example: does your health allow you to work on your knees, to bend, to ''SCROG'' ?)
◽ your goal (are you growing seedlings, cuttings, mother plants; do the crops remain in the vegetative phase, or do they bloom as well ?)
There are multiple considerations that a consumer or business faces when evaluating light sources to use for horticultural lighting:
◽ PAR, PPF, PPFD measurements ?
◽ What is the photon efficiency ( μmol/J) ?
◽ Is the spectrum tuned for the application ? Is the spectrum adjustable or fixed?
◽ How is the uniformity of light distribution ?
◽ What is the fixture lifespan ? How many years of warranty ?
◽ What is the process for spare parts and repairs ?
◽ Does the fixture have adjustable power ?
◽ Which LED brand and diode is used? (Nichia (Japan), Osram (Germany), CREE (USA), Showa Denko (Japan), Philips (Netherlands), Toyoda Gosei (Japan), Citizen Electronics (Japan), Epistar (Taiwan), GeneLite + Genesis Photonics (Japan + Taiwan), Luxeon (Canada), Bridgelux (China), Epileds (China) etc.)
◽ Which LEDs are used, COB or normal ? Any special optics used?
◽ Can multiple fixtures be connected together ?
◽ What are the main benefits for the specific technology ? Any special features used ?
The Fundamentals of Light - Nick Klase
About LED & Light
Our mission is to offer the most innovative and qualitative luminaires and bring the benefits from (horticultural) technological developments to your home. We stand for a specialized and scientific approach and through this, we offer reliable, distinctive and knowledge-based service to our customers.
To ensure the quality we offer, all luminaires are professionally tested before they are added to our collection. We are exclusively working with professional growers who are always testing the most innovative LED fixtures available. From our perspective, this is necessary as the market is flooded with (very) low quality products and the published specifications are often unreliable, incomplete or the measurements can't be compared. Consequently, misinformation is intentionally provided to consumers, which negatively affects the choise, growing experience and the result. Therefore we want to measure and publish the results ourselves; We want to know what we sell to our customers.
So we only select LED fixtures that have proven their quality. The reason why we sell a variety of luminaires (instead of one true LED ''champion'') is because there is more than one solution and more than one grower or method, every situation is different.
As a customer, we can imagine that it is a true challenge to evaluate light sources for horticultural lighting fixtures that meet your specific needs. We offer a knowledge-based service portal that serves as a (growing) guide and customer service for (indoor) horticulture. This is missing at the moment and the majority of the people are blinded by all the marketing and possibilities.
For a well-founded and thoughtful decision, you need to know some basics of LED and light. We will explain some terms (Lighting Metrics) you need to understand to substandiate your final decision.
In order to invest in the proper horticulture lighting system to meet your cultivation and business goals, you need to know the PPF, PPFD, and photon efficiency to make informed purchasing decisions. However, these three metrics should not be used as sole variables to base a purchasing decisions. There are several other variables such as form factor and coefficient of utilization (CU) that need to be considered as well.
