Hydroponics gardening uses grow lights to light the plants properly in order for photosynthesis to occur and for the plants to grow and thrive. Lighting is crucial to every kind of indoor gardening situation, because without adequate light, the plants will be stunted and not grow to their full potential. LED grow lights can be used to good effect in an indoor plant growing situation.



LED refers to light-emitting diode. A diode has two terminals, and it allows current to flow in one direction and not in another. It is a simple semiconductor.

Photons are units of light. Atoms contain photons, and it is the photons that produce light. They produce light when electrons move around and change positions. Electrical current, in an LED lamp, flows across the diode, and when this happens, it causes a change in the movement of the electrons. The positively-charged electrons will move in the opposite direction from the negatively-charged electrons. A semiconductor is made more conductive to electrical flow when free electrons are added to the conductor material, creating negatively charged areas, or when they are taken away, leaving gaps in the chain, and positively charged areas. Electrical current flows over these areas, and it causes the electrons to move. The side effect of all this movement is the production of light.

The color of the light emitted by these types of grow lamps is based on the size of the gap in the electron chain. The gap size affects the frequency of the photon, and this is why it has an impact on the color of the light produced. Low-frequency light produced by an LED light is used to light remote controls for one of many common examples, because it it infrared light.

If you are growing plants indoors, then the color of the light that your grow light emits is quite vital to your plants' health. Young plants at the seedling stage require blue light in order to grow properly. Mature plants, such as a flowering or fruiting plants, require red and orange light in order to get the plants to produce the flowers and fruit that you want. All of this is dependent on the light that you use with your plants. LED lamps come in a wide variety of colors, so it is easy to get the exact grow lamps you need in order to get the results you want from your indoor plants.

The advantage to using LED lights is that they do not get hot as they are in operation, and they also do not have a filament, which you find in incandescent light bulbs, so they often have a longer productive life because of this.