LED Grow lights?

[StarPhox]

So I was sitting around the other day considering the fact that LEDs come in so many different varieties and I began to wonder.....Can you make a lamp out of LEDs that would support plant life? There are UV LEDs and a variety of different colors....

Has anyone ever tried this? It seems like the initial cost of putting something together could be prohibitive but the potential savings for greenhouses/nurseries could be astronomical when you consider the decreased power consumption.

Any ideas anyone? Or any previous threads that have discussed this?

[B@rt]

The efficency of LED lights isn't high enough to make LED-growing lights ,[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif[/img] but the idea is nice... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[**DONOTDELETE**]

efficiency? why not LEDs? maybe if you got enough LS's together..? but the cost of the lights would be high. fluorescents are more efficient, and cheaper..and may last longer.. now how about using cold cathode fluorescents?...

[Brock]

I think I read LS's were about 20 l/w ccft were 30 l/w ac regular 4 foot tubes were about 40 l/w.

[James S]

What about something smaller than a big tube? I plan on growing a few individual flowers, probably some interesting orchids or something, in my next office, but they will be far from the only window in the place and I really don't need a bank of nasty grow tubes in there. I was thinking about some of the incandescent grow lights, LED's might be much more efficient than those at smaller wattages.

I am excited by doing some spot lighting on them and trying a couple of UV LS's and perhaps a 5 watt or 2 for regular lighting. It will probably be 6 months before I'm moved in enough to even start thinking about that, so the LED technology will be different then [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

It's hard to find anything as efficient as long tube fluorescents. But if you want different form factors then LED's have a fair shot.

Is UV really necessary or is it just non-green wavelengths that the plant absorbes and uses?

[StarPhox]

This is partially what I'm getting at. Traditional fluorescent grow lights are bulky and unattractive and incandescents generate a lot of heat. It seems like LEDs (aside from initial cost) would be optimal because they generate much less heat than incandescents and are less bulky and awkward than tradition fluorescent gro-lights. I'd be very much interested to hear how your orchid indoor plant plan turns out.

[Wylie]

This is something I have looked into for a few different purposes. Grow lights, jewelry cases, special effects lighting and aquariums are just a few. I have contacted a couple different manufactures and beside lumen power one of the biggest problems I have found that needs to be overcome is the expense of full spectrum LEDs. I was quotes a few hundred dollars per LED and to have the output for the intended purposes would be very expensive. I guess it is possible but very expensive and the heat characteristics would be a great advantage but wouldn’t make up for the differences in cost as far as I can tell. Such is life and I am on to other ideas. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif[/img]