We typically grow with HPS, HID and LED lights, and HPS lights have long been associated with high yields. But there’s a reason some of the biggest commercial growth businesses are turning to LEDs.

In fact, in optimal growing environments, 600w HPS lights can produce as much as 150 to 300 grams, or 0.5 grams per watt or less. However, LEDs can produce as much as 1 to 1.5 grams per watt.

So LED lights are more effective for cannabis cultivation than HPS and HID, the key is to choose good LED lights for your plants. LED grow lights are now powerful enough and full enough spectrum to be considered ideal for cannabis grow lights, your plants will grow 30% faster when you use full spectrum LED grow lights.

How long does it take for cannabis to grow from seed to harvest using LED lights?

Cannabis growth is divided into three stages. The length of each stage determines the overall growth period of the cannabis plant. Let’s take a look at these stages;

Stage 1 – Germination of seeds and seedlings

It all starts with the germination of your cannabis seeds. Cannabis seeds will only grow in environments with water, air, humidity and warm temperatures. These conditions are necessary to break seed dormancy. When dormancy is broken, the seeds open and the first white taproots emerge. Open seeds can be transferred to a growing medium, preferably soil or coconut in small pots. The seed continues to grow until it produces two oval leaves or cotyledons. Jagged leaves and more leaflets followed. With roots and true leaves growing, plants will need 18-24 hours of light to survive as seedlings, moist soil, and mild humidity. It appears that the traditional cannabis leaf begins to develop, usually with 3-13 fingers. This stage requires low doses of nutrients early on. You can increase the dose as the plant grows.

The seed germination period lasts seven to ten days, and the seedling stage takes two to three weeks.

Stage 2 – Vegetation

Seedlings (from stage 1) start to actually grow during the vegetation stage. The vegetation stage begins immediately after the seedling stage, ie once the seedling already has sets of finger-tip leaves. It is characterized by increased height (up to 2-3 feet), the appearance of more leaves, and increased volume. If you have an alfalfa plant, it will be long and narrow in shape. In the case of indica, they are shorter, denser, and denser during the vegetation period. This is also the stage where you can assess vegetative traits.

This is the most critical stage of the marijuana growth process and usually lasts four to eight weeks. However, growers often give their plants more vegetative plants to produce larger plants, which in turn increase yields. Controlling light, humidity and temperature can prolong the growing season of plants. Cannabis plants in the vegetative stage grow best with at least 16 hours of light per day. You can do this by introducing LED grow lights capable of producing around 400-600 PPFD.

Stage 3 – Flowering

Once the vegetative period is over, the flowering period begins. This is the stage of flower development during cannabis growth. Flower “buds” gradually grow and accumulate trichomes and resin during flowering. These are responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis. During this stage, the biomass of the plants also increases significantly. If you are growing auto-flowering cannabis seeds, they will automatically transition from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage. Instead, you may need to vary the duration of light (less than 12 hours) to get the photoperiod-feminized cannabis seeds from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage. Cannabis plants at flowering stage require slightly more water and nutrients.

The flowering period lasts eight to ten weeks, depending on the cannabis variety and light intensity. Autoflowering cannabis strains reportedly go through a flowering period, ensuring that growers can harvest fully mature cannabis plants in less than 60 days. Growers can also induce faster blooms by introducing strong light levels of 600-900 PPFD.

Speed ​​up the cannabis growing process with GK’s LED grow lights

During the growth of cannabis plants, adequate light intensity and duration of light can significantly affect the time it takes to reach the cannabis harvest stage. As previously mentioned, growers can explore aspects of lighting to improve yield and efficacy and shorten the growing process of cannabis to ensure a faster cannabis harvest.

Although relatively new to the cannabis growing scene, LED grow lights can speed up growth and increase yields while remaining cool and energy efficient. As a result, these devices have quickly become cutting edge for indoor cannabis growing. Using LED grow lights can also take the stress out of dealing with exhaust systems or pipes.

GK is one of the reputable manufacturers of cultivation lighting solutions in the industry. The company continues to offer innovative LED grow light systems to meet the needs of private cannabis growers and even industrial growers. If you’re looking to speed up your cannabis growing process, consider GK’s LED grow lights.

What are the benefits of using LED grow lights?

For quite some time, people have relied on artificial or simulated light sources to grow plants indoors, for example, high-pressure sodium lamps, HIDs, and fluorescent lamps to simulate sunlight beams under indoor conditions. Whether used in aquaponics or hydroponics, all of these light sources have different effects. Now, the newest grow lights are LED lights (Light Emitting Diodes), a decades-old innovation mostly used as dashboard indicators, but more recently LEDs are being used where highly dense light is needed, For example, the purpose of growing indoor plants. People who grow cannabis at home don’t have direct sunlight for their plants, so they use LED cannabis grow lights.

Compared with commonly used light sources, the biggest advantage of using LED grow lights is lower heat and power consumption. Since they don’t generate as much heat as traditionally used HIDs, they are considered more energy efficient and require less money for ventilation and cooling.