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specgradesoc · 3 years

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New products, and coming soon: SpecGrade LED is bringing advances to the LED grow light industry this year and beyond

It’s almost the new year, but SpecGrade LED is bringing some new technology and products to the market now – with more exciting commercial horticultural lighting products planned for launch in 2022.

Most growers are interested in specs, and SpecGrade LED aims to please with our new products, some that are currently in beta testing and exciting redesigns and updates of current best-sellers.

If you are considering an investment in LED grow lights this year – or if you are looking to enhance your current growing operation with some technology upgrades – now is the time to sit down and do some homework on what your organization needs.

The Illumina

Our Illumina brings a propagation lighting solution to growers. With the addition of the Illumina, growers can cover an entire growing cycle from propagation to vegging to flowering with SpecGrade LED lighting. A rotatable propagation grow light with a 150-degree beam, the Illumina puts the light exactly where you need it. With 24 Watts, the Illumina has an efficacy of 2.1μmol/s.

It’s lightweight and offers several different mounting options from the included clip rings to surface mounts and suspended installation.

The Illumina comes standard with SpecGrade LED’s P2 propagation spectrum, a full spectrum high in the blues between 420-460nm. Compatible with 0-10 Volt dimmers of up to 277V, the Illumina provides a flexible propagation lighting solution for cultivators. The Illumina has an industry-standard 5-year LED and driver warranty.

The 640W Verta-6F With Remote Driver for Mounting Flexibility

The newest member of the Verta Series family is now on the market. The 640W Verta-6F with remote driver for mounting flexibility is an economical grow light that offers a high-performance, professional option for craft and commercial cultivators.

The Verta-6F features the first remote driver in SpecGrade LED’s horticultural lighting offerings, providing cultivators with more flexibility in mounting, particularly in vertical growing applications.

Cultivators can now choose where the drivers are mounted within their growing environment.

Featuring an efficacy of 2.5μmol/J with a PPF of 1600 μmol/s, the 640 Watt Verta-6F is an economical solution to LED grow light challenges.

The Verta-6F comes standard with SpecGrade LED’s A1 Entire Life Cycle spectrum, making it a full spectrum LED grow light that can conduct plants through both the vegging and flowering stages. Cultivators will experience remarkable light levels and uniformity with over 2000 LED chips spread across six light bars. The Verta-6F’s light uniformity ensures an even canopy for a consistent yield.

Consistent with the Verta Series, the Verta-6F possesses a robust passive thermal management system that radiates less heat onto the plants than competing products on the market. As with all SpecGrade LED horticulture products the Verta-6F is UL8800 certified and IP66 rated. The Verta-6F is fully modular with quick-connect wiring for a faster installation and driver mounting. Cultivators will appreciate the durability of the design in addition to the 7-year LED and driver warranty.

Verta-6F is now available for commercial orders on our website.

Redesigned products – upgrades and new features

Some of SpecGrade LED’s most popular offerings have been updated and improved this year, including our flagship Verta-8F. The Verta Series offers versatile horticulture lighting solutions for both flowering and vegging stages and our new Verta-8F will replace the Verta-8.

Growers who invest in the new Verta-8F will see many improvements, including the addition of a remote driver. This upgrade makes the Verta-8F completely modular for quick and easy field maintenance as well as it being mounting adaptable to any cultivation style. This modular design means growers can swap components if the need arises and it also means that there is less waste generated, as growers don’t have to scrap the whole fixture in the rare event of a failure.

This is a part of SpecGrade LED’s industry-leading commitment to the environment, and keeping waste out of the landfill. All of our products are recyclable and replaceable.

The Verta-8F will be released in 2022.

Our inter-lighting offerings have also been updated, with our Extra-48 replacing our Extra-60. Featuring a new polycarbonate design that’s half the weight of its predecessor, the Extra-48 has a wider optic producing 150-degree photon distribution. The 48 Watt Extra-48 has a PPF of 100 μmol/s and an efficacy of 2.2 μmol/J. The combination of performance and lighter weight yields additional versatility to cultivators.

Cannabis growers have started to embrace inter-canopy lighting, which has been in use in the tomato growing industry for many years. Cucumber and other vegetable growers are also embracing this technology.

Our Extra-48 lights can be positioned in a variety of ways, offering flexibility and greater control to growers. These lights are also IP66 and UL8800 rated for horticulture environments and passively cooled. The Extra-48 is compatible with 0-10 Volt dimmers and daisy-chainable. And, the Extra-48 comes with an industry standard 5-year LED and Driver warranty.

Our updated Linea Series of horticultural lights was recently unveiled at the MJBizCon, introducing a brand-new design with a remote driver and increased passive thermal management – giving cultivators even more flexibility and allowing twice the power in the same space.

Now available in 300 Watts, 600 Watts, and 900 Watts, the Linea is customizable to meet the environmental needs of cultivators while virtually eliminating any shadowing.

Each wattage is available with an efficacy of up to an industry high of 3.9 μmol/J (using SpecGrade LED’s RB1 spectrum). The new Linea is available in multiple spectrums including SpecGrade LED’s A1 Entire Life Cycle and M1 spectrums. The Linea series is IP66 and UL8800 rated for horticulture environments.

The Linea comes with a 10-year LED warranty and 7-year driver warranty — the longest in the industry.

Our 900W Linea was designed to give growers what they have been asking for: More power, higher wattages and a fantastic replacement for high-power HPS lamps.

Finally, our new Flora-10F grow light is also now equipped with a new remote driver – setting the standard for the next generation of horticulture lighting for the vegetative stage of growth. The Flora Series was the first dedicated grow lighting solution for the vegging phase of the plant growth cycle. The Flora-10F is fully modular with a remote driver for mounting flexibility.

The new Flora-10F is replacing the Flora-10 in the series and is available in multiple spectrums – assuring a smooth integration into veg rooms. The 330 Watt Flora-10F’s performance matches its predecessor’s efficacy of 2.23 μmol/J. The Flora-10F is IP66 and UL8800 rated for horticulture environments.

The Flora-10F also has a fully modular design, allowing cultivators to install it in a number of ways – for growing vertically, or on tables or benches. It also makes field maintenance easier, with quick-connect couplings linking the individual bars to the driver, which makes it easy to go from a frame-mounted driver to a remote driver.

The new Flora-10F has a 10-year LED warranty and a 7-year driver warranty for industry-leading peace of mind.

The new Flora-10F will be released in 2022 by SpecGrade LED.

Beta testing: UV and Far Red grow light tubes

At SpecGrade LED, we like to stay on the cutting edge of grow light technology, so we are entering the beta testing phase of two new products for our UV and Far Red horticulture light tubes. Select cannabis cultivators are currently testing the new technology in their environments. The official launch date for the UV and Far Red grow lights is not yet determined, but we are actively accepting applications to join the open beta to test this new grow light technology.

The UV and Far Red supplemental light tubes are lightweight with a 150-degree beam that is rotatable for directed lighting. The UV spectrum peaks at 400nm while the Far Red peaks at 730nm. With several options for mounting, the UV and Far Red light tubes are flexible, meeting the demands of any growing environment. Like all of SpecGrade LED’s horticulture lighting solutions, the UV and Far Red light tubes are IP66 rated.

Cannabis growers have been early adopters of utilizing these spectrums. The UV and Far Red spectrums only need to be on a few minutes a day, so SpecGrade LED is producing separate light bars so growers can have flexibility, control, function and economy in this soon-to-market option.

Current research indicates that using UV light in cannabis cultivation can improve the production of terpenes and essential oils — compounds prized by cannabis cultivators — during the vegging stage. It has also been shown to reduce pests, inhibit bacteria and fungus growth, and increase yields. UV exposure during propagation has been shown to improve the hardiness of plants and reduce overall production time. Research indicates that Far Red increases photosynthesis efficiency and influences the ultimate size of plants from the leaves to stem length. It has also been shown to promote flowering in some plants, such as cannabis, which can further shorten production time for cultivators.

Both the Far Red and UV light tubes are dimmable and daisy-chainable, allowing cultivators to decide how to apply these spectrums.

Providing flexibility is one of the hallmarks of SpecGrade LED’s design approach to horticulture lighting. Initial feedback from cultivators participating in the beta test has been positive.

Beta testing is open to qualified growers. For more information contact us at [email protected].

The post New products, and coming soon: SpecGrade LED is bringing advances to the LED grow light industry this year and beyond appeared first on SpecGrade LED.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Growth, change and technology: The MJBizCon was fun and educational for SpecGrade LED

This year’s MJBizCon was a good time, with great people and lots of interest in SpecGrade LED’s new products this year – helping to build greater brand awareness.

SpecGrade LED went to the largest and most anticipated event for the cannabis industry in October in Las Vegas, and sparked a lot of interest from cultivators about our new products.

This award-winning trade show has more than 250,000 square feet of exhibits. A 3-day conference, MJBizCon includes pre-show forums with more than 100 speakers and then opportunities to mix and mingle – networking and building partnerships with all levels of individuals, businesses and investors in the cannabis industry.

More than 20,000 people attended this year’s MJBizCon.

The event was busy, and high standards were set – especially in the grow light industry. The mood at the event was positive, with lots of good conversations and healthy competition.

SpecGrade LED, as always, focused on helping our customers find the best lighting choices, and our team met with many cultivators in our booth. There was a lot of interest in our new Verta-6 grow lights and some of the products currently in beta testing – that will be industry-leading and game-changing.

The cannabis growing industry leads the way in adopting new grow light technology and the shift to LED lights is definitely on the rise.

SpecGrade is at the top of its field with our thermal management technology, and that was highlighted at MJBizCon, as we networked with the competition.

Even with the COVID-19 pandemic still on, this show – where nearly everyone was masked and distanced – went on, with an upbeat crowd and lots of enthusiasm. The last conference was in 2019.

The cannabis industry is ever-changing, with hopes of it being decriminalized federally soon – and many executives are looking forward to a bright future. All facets of the industry are planning for cannabis to keep growing and MJBizCon attendees definitely had a vision of long-term strategic planning and forward thinking.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Planning your optimal growing facility: How grow lighting can optimize performance

When you are planning your optimal growing facility, there are many factors to consider. One crucial piece of the puzzle is grow lighting – and it should be something that is factored in at the beginning of the project.

While considering your optimal growing facility, many project managers or planners will use computer simulations to plan out and design the room prior to investing in grow lighting. And this is crucial to getting optimal lighting for the crop you plan to cultivate.

When you bring a lighting manufacturer into the process, they will likely have computer models they’ll show you so you can see how your grow lights will be placed in your new facility and how you can arrange plants to make the most of your space.

And there are tools out there those reputable manufacturers have that can simulate a grow facility during the planning process, to help iron out any issues before you invest money – and start to grow.

So, how does this all work? When you are considering how to place grow lights in your facility, you give the layout or plans to your lighting manufacturer. Then, they will take that drawing and translate it to work in an online simulator, generating a room that shows how many photons will hit the canopy.

The No. 1 goal when building your optimal growing facility should be trying to optimize getting as much light on as much of the plant as possible.

Growers need to make sure every single watt that is being consumed in that room is efficiently used. The goal should be: No wasted watts.

And that can best be done on the computer, using modeling and simulation.

So, how do you make sure the numbers you are looking at are accurate?

There are a few questions you can – and should ask – your lighting manufacturer. The truth is, there are some not-so-honest manufacturers who will use deceptive techniques to embellish the results of computer simulations to make a sale. For growers, it might look great on paper, but if you don’t ask the right questions, you might not be getting the full picture.

Here’s what to ask, when considering lighting for your optimal growing facility:

What light loss factor (LLF) are you using?

When you are given an estimate for how much light will be hitting your plants, there is a formula that’s used to determine that number. For LED lights, 0.9-0.95 of the light hitting the plant is realistic to expect when the lights are new (all lights lose potency the longer they are on) and before dust, dirt and other debris float around and obscure the amount of light hitting the plant.

The very first time you turn a light on it is 100 percent strength – full potency. But it degrades over time. In the horticultural world, when a bulb goes down below 90 percent efficiency, that means it is nonfunctional and needs replacement, because there is a direct correlation between the degradation of the light source and the yield.

When light manufacturers run their computer simulations to determine your grow light needs, they have to enter a number in the simulation to determine placement, type of light and other factors. The difference is, reputable manufacturers won’t put that value at 100 percent – because you will only get 100 percent early on in the process. Non-reputable light manufacturers can fudge results by using 100 percent in their calculations instead of 95 percent which is more realistic because it accounts for degradation.

This can cause issues down the line with performance and growth patterns, so it’s important to understand how your light manufacturer is calculating LLF before you invest in their product.

What min/max factor came out of the computer simulation of my grow facility?

This second question is also important to ask – and understand – before you purchase grow lights. In horticulture, the min/max tells growers the ratio of high amounts of light to low amounts of light spread across the facility.

This is important because if you hover lights over a space, the plants directly under the light bar will get more light and thus, perform better than plants not directly under a light.

An ideal min-max number for a standard growing facility is 2 or less, because you really want the light to hit every plant as uniformly as possible. Some facilities with older light technology can have larger swings in the min/max – leading to less uniformity in plant .

And finally, there is a reflectivity factor that can skew the final results. For example, if the person doing the calculations indicates all the surfaces are white rather than the gray color that might be used on the floor and ceiling, the PPFD metric is likely to be overstated.

The use of LED lights properly planned and placed can reduce these min/max swings because they are more uniform to begin with and there is not just one bulb over the center of the plant. In a properly designed and lit facility, there will be thousands of LEDs hovering over the whole facility which will eliminate hot spots. As a grower, your goal should be to grow each plant in the facility to achieve a consistent canopy – generally the same height.

The Key Takeaway

As with any large purchase – and any business – the key to getting the best product for the best price is to educate yourself and always ask questions. And in this instance, you need to know the questions to ask – and the answers to expect.

Choosing lighting for your optimal growing facility is an expensive and time-consuming task, but getting it right means you’ll waste less energy, grow more product and in the end, pay dividends for years into the future. .

So, when choosing LED grow lights, be sure to understand that your uniformity level should be around a 2 (anything over or under should raise concerns) and your LLF should be around a 0.95 – anything higher or lower is unrealistic.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Getting into growing: The best way to research LED grow lights

When you are considering getting into growing, whether you are cultivating cannabis, tomatoes, or something else, one of the biggest decisions – and investments – you’ll make is what LED grow lights to buy. So, what’s the best way to research LED grow lights?

Knowing where to start the search for the best LED grow lights isn’t simple. And unless you are both a grower and a lighting engineer, it can seem overwhelming. Add in unscrupulous manufacturers who make misleading claims, and it can feel like making the right decision is impossible.

And let’s not forget that LED grow lights are a substantial cost, so you want to make sure to get the best lights that will stand the test of time.

However, there are ways to research LED grow lights and choose the best one for your operation without losing your mind. And if you do your due diligence before investing thousands of dollars in a system, you’ll reap the rewards for years to come.

So, how do you begin the process of researching LED grow lights and create a successful horticultural environment? Things can get complicated – and technical – quickly, so we devised a roadmap to get you started. Here is where to begin.

Where to start

Assuming you know what crops you are planning to grow and where you are planning to grow them, you can start the research process by understanding a few technical terms. Now, here is where it can get really overwhelming really fast and most people get frustrated by how much information is out there. We understand – it is a lot and none of it is familiar!

If you are growing indoors, you’ll need lights that allow you to best simulate the sun. Plants that flower need different light cycles, for example, than plants that don’t bear fruit (or bud).

This is where LED grow lights can really impact your business, because they allow more control over the color, intensity and temperature of the light – and generally, plants respond better.

When you are considering an LED grow light, you have likely already made the decision to grow your plant a certain way. You’ve probably decided against old-fashioned HPS or HID lights, that are limited in the spectrum they put out and also tend to run hot temperature wise, meaning you need to do more to control the environment in your facility.

So, what makes one LED grow light superior to another LED grow light? To research LED grow lights, you’ll need to know a few things:

Thermal management, or heat sink technology: We have a blog that explains this, but the No. 1 thing growers need to consider when buying LED grow lights is thermal management or heat sink technology. Your lights will damage your plants and fail faster if the heat isn’t taken off them – and fast. That’s just science.

Spectrum and intensity: Some LED lights mimic the sun better than others, so knowing that, you can choose the best one based on the spectrum you need and the intensity you want. The challenge for the cultivator is to determine which manufacturer of grow lights will provide the optimal light spectrum and light intensity to maximize profits.

Questions buyers need to ask themselves

Before you start the research process, as a buyer of LED grow lights, you’ll need to ask yourself some questions. These factors will impact the kind of lights you need and it’s best not to ask another grower, as what works for someone else might not work for you.

Here’s what you need to ask yourself:

What am I growing? Different plants need different types of light. So, you’ll need to find the kind that fits what you hope to grow. We already talked a little bit about flowering plants, and how their needs are different from something like lettuce.

What size space are you in? Depending on the size of your space, you will need different types of lights. LED grow lights come in different shapes, sizes, types, spectrums and wattages and knowing the space of your facility – including ceiling height – is critical.

What is your budget? LED grow lights can be a hefty initial investment, there’s just no getting around that. And that’s why it can be tempting to go with a cheaper design. But buying from a reputable, established company is usually best because you truly do get what you pay for!

Reduce the noise

Narrowing your choices down to only a few manufacturers is difficult because it seems every day a new brand pops up in the marketplace. Local utilities rely on the Design Lights consortium (DLC) and you should too. They are an excellent place to review different LED grow lights without a brand’s marketing obscuring reality.

Before a manufacturer or brand can be placed on the DLC Qualified Products List (QPL) they are required to meet a stringent number of performance criteria. This QPL can be found at https://ift.tt/3AuXmHN. Easily sort by brand, manufacturer, features and even by state compliance for Illinois and Massachusetts.

It’s also a good idea to check in with other growers to discover what their experiences with different grow lights and manufacturers have been like. Not plugged in to your local grower’s network? That’s not a problem – growers freely discuss the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to their grows and the tools they use on social media, particularly Instagram. Many have conducted side-by-side tests with two or more manufacturers’ LED grow lights as well. Even bad experiences can be helpful because you can learn how the manufacturer resolved the issue (or didn’t) so be sure to ask.

Questions buyers need ask the reseller/retailer/manufacturer

Once you’ve narrowed it down to a few brands or manufacturers, you will probably have a few specific questions to ask about their LED grow lights. Here are a few things to consider asking – and making note of.

How are your lights certified? There are many ways LED grow lights can be certified, but there are a few you’ll want to see before making a purchase. The Design Lights Consortium is a voluntary certification program that assures buyers that the lights have been tested by an independent and accredited third party in these areas: Micromole levels, efficacy, longevity, spectrum accuracy, voltages and operating temperature. So, why DLC Certification important? Many utility companies nationwide look for this certification to decide whether to grant rebates to companies who use certified products – like LED grow lights.

There are also safety certifications to consider from labs like ETL and UL.

Warranty: This might go without saying, but making sure your LED grow lights have a robust warranty is crucial when making a large financial investment. The cheaper lights don’t always come with that backing, so make sure you understand why.

Test Grows

Testing is the next step for growers and nothing is better than conducting your own test grow. When that’s not possible, be sure to request supporting documentation from the manufacturers if you haven’t already done so. Computer simulations of your grow are an excellent option and most manufacturers offer this as a free service.

The Key Takeaway

Know what and how you ant to grow before determining which manufacturer or brand of LED grow lighting to purchase. Reduce the number options by learning more about other growers’ customer experiences and utilizing the DLC Qualified Products List. Quality research is worth the time for the investment you are making in your grow.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Thermal management and why more is better: SpecGrade LED has industry-leading heat sink technology

One of the most critical topics every grower needs to understand about LED grow lights (and heat sink technology) is thermal management. So, what exactly does this mean, and are you going to need an electrical engineering degree to go any further?

The answer to the second question is no, but the answer to the first question is this: Thermal management is simply how is the heat that is generated by your grow lights is removed from the area – and how fast – so your plants aren’t damaged and your lights themselves aren’t destroyed.

Fundamentally, LEDs are electronic devices and subject to potentially overheating. Like cell phones, heat must be managed to avoid damaging the device. That’s why most cell phone cases are made of aluminum and not plastic. We’ll discuss aluminum later.

LED grow lights operate at much cooler physical temperatures and convert more electrical energy input into useful light, rather than wasteful excess heat, than other lighting technologies. Nonetheless, heat will build up in the semiconductor driver circuitry of an LED light, and that heat can degrade performance and shorten the life of the fixture and system over time, not to mention that excess heat is a major factor in indoor cultivation facilities.

At SpecGrade LED, our heat sink technology is some of the best around. While there is a whole science around thermal management, as a grower, you don’t need to understand the intricacies or high-level theories to get a top-quality grow light with heat sink technology.

But it is helpful to understand, on a basic level, the Arrhenius Equation, which – in a nutshell – means as heat goes up, life goes down. In the case of LED grow lights, this means, if your lights burn too hot and the heat isn’t removed quickly, your lights will end up in the landfill and your plants will suffer.

So, that said, how do you make sure you are getting the best quality LED grow lights with industry-leading heat sink technology? Here are some things to understand, so when you are shopping for grow lights, you’ll know what to ask.

What you need to know about heat sink technology

There are really only two ways to make sure your grow lights aren’t going to get too hot. The first way is active cooling and the second way is passive cooling.

In active cooling, fans are used to pull the heat away from the LED grow light and while this does work, the fans built into the lights introduce another failure point. It’s a common tool, but in our opinion, it’s poor engineering. If your fan breaks, your lights will get too hot and they will break. Meaning, you are back at square one and you need new grow lights.

In passive cooling, which in our opinion is the superior method, a large surface area of aluminum is used, which pulls the heat from the light and sends it up (you might remember learning in school that heat rises) away from the plants. And the more surface area that your light has that is aluminum, the more heat that can come off – and fast. Aluminum employed in this manner is referred to as a heat sink because the heat is absorbed by or sinks into the aluminum to be dissipated at its furthest edges from the heat source.

Although heat sink engineering excellence is fairly straight forward, proper engineering for LED grow lights involves more aluminum (a relatively inexpensive and effective conductive material). Thickness, size and how it connects to the substrate all come into play when it comes to truly effective passive cooling.

At SpecGrade LED, the heat sink technology we pioneered in our industrial and hazardous location fixtures combines multiple double-folded aluminum fins that provide more than 70 square feet of heat transfer surface with thermal bonding that improves the movement of built-up heat from the base of an LED light and into the ambient environment.

SpecGrade LED’s Verta-8 lights have almost 5,000 square inches of heat sink technology – an industry leading number. This allows the Verta-8 to function cooler than almost all other competitive grow lights.

For example, the average competitor’s light, which uses a different design and surface area, has 800-900 square inches of heat sink technology – obviously, significantly lower. That means the radiant heat coming off the LED grow light not only rises, but is also forced downward onto the plants. And if you remember the Arrhenius Equation, you’ll recall that as the fixture’s temperature increases, the lifespan of the grow light decreases – which is never a good thing for a grower.

Our heat sink technology will keep your lights cooler – which means they last longer – and in an expensive investment like grow lights, isn’t that what you want? We thought so.

How to know if the heat sink works

Whether you’re measuring lights you already own, are testing or looking at in a grow shop there is a relatively quick way to see how well the heat sink works. Turn the grow light on and let it warm up. When comparing multiple lights side-by-side, ensure that they are all operating at the same brightness level, particularly if a dimmer is involved. You’ll want to give the light(s) about 15 minutes before measuring their temperature.

Once the grow light(s) have warmed up, employ an infrared thermometer to measure the heat on both sides. You’ll see the differences best when the light(s) are operating at 100%. Be careful not to touch it/them, with many grow lights that’s an easy way to burn your fingers.

When a heat sink isn’t optimal the LED side of the light will be significantly hotter than the top or back side. On some grow lights, the difference can be more than 10 degrees. Remember, what you’re looking for is that the LED side is cooler than the top because the heat is supposed to be drawn away from the LEDs.

SpecGrade LED’s technology

SpecGrade LED’s heat sink technology is more than just a set of old-school fins that are attached to an existing product. Our engineers have specifically designed our grow lights from the ground up with heat sinks built into the housing design and configured to optimize all aspects of indoor grow lighting performance.

Different plant varietals that are commonly cultivated in indoor growing facilities pose different lighting challenges. A cultivator, for example, might need to mount lighting fixtures in close proximity to plants for optimum chlorophyll generation in those plants or because of the space limitation in a racing application. Fixtures that operate at too high of a physical temperature or that are not designed specifically for cultivation facilities will not give the cultivator the flexibility to do this.

SpecGrade LED met this challenge by engineering an integrated fixture housing with electronics, optics, and advanced heat sink technology that work together to provide a precision lighting instrument that gives years of high-quality lighting performance and complete control to the grower.

SpecGrade LED’s engineering has also factored in the high-humidity environments that are common in indoor plant cultivation facilities. A fixture that is not designed for that environment will experience corrosion and degradation as ambient moisture seeps into the fixture over time.

We designed our grow lighting technology to be moisture resistant, with exterior finishes and casings that are more impervious to humidity and corrosion-resistant materials for the greatest advance in LED grow lighting on the modern market.

It’s a tangible feeling of durability that our growers remark on frequently. It provides peace of mind growers rely on from propagation to flowering, season after season.

The Key Takeaway

The key takeaway for growers doing research into investing in LED grow lights is this: Heat sink technology matters a great deal when comparing one manufacturer’s lights to another.

A better-quality grow light means better quality heat sink technology.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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The LED learning curve for cannabis growers: Four things you need to know

Indoor cultivation of cannabis has been around for decades, and it’s mostly been grown the same way –using the same type of lighting. But technology has changed and many cannabis growers are learning that LED grow lights have many benefits.

It might seem intimidating for cannabis growers to change everything they know about grow lighting and embrace new technology, but the future of indoor cultivation of cannabis is rapidly growing and the industry is changing.

Using high-pressure sodium bulbs (HPS) to grow cannabis indoors is outdated, costly and ––it’s on its way out. Cannabis growers who embrace LED grow lights will see many benefits.

So, what’s the LED learning curve for cannabis growers? What do growers need to know about making the switch? Here are four things to consider.

Energy savings

One of the first things cannabis growers will notice when switching from HPS bulbs to LED grow lights is a dramatic energy savings. That’s because LED lights use far less energy than HPS lights. But that’s not the only reason for the savings. HPS bulbs burn hot, meaning growers have to compensate for that heat in an indoor environment by adding ventilation systems and HVAC systems – which are not cheap to run.

Generally speaking, LED lights cost about 50% less to run than the equivalent HPS lamps.

LED grow lights offer other environmental benefits as well, and growers that use them typically do not need to use as many pesticides or chemicals on plants because LEDs allows growth to take place in a highly controlled environment.

Also, LED grow lights don’t contain mercury, a toxic substance. They also have a longer life than HPS lamps, meaning less waste in the landfill (HPS bulbs require frequent changing).

Control – and tuning

Indoor cannabis growers know the industry is changing. Gone are the days when you could place all your plants on a flat surface and take up a ton of space. Cannabis is slowly turning into a commodity crop now, with many states legalizing it, meaning craft growers need to think more like large-scale crop growers. And one way that this is happening is by growing UP not OUT. Racking systems are a way to put more plants in a smaller space than just spreading them out and the cannabis industry is starting to embrace this vertical farming technique that is already widely in use in other crop-growing operations. But to do this, cannabis growers need LED grow lights. Why? Not only do HPS grow lights burn hot and don’t distribute light in the same way, their form factor doesn’t have a low profile. LED grow lights permit the grower to put them within 6” of the plant depending on the manufacturer’s design and engineering.

Profit

Because an LED printed circuit board can be designed or ‘tuned’ for a specific application such as vegging, flowering or both some manufacturers offer cannabis growers more than 1 recipe of spectrums depending on the intent of the cultivator.

Vegging

Flowering

Vegging and Flowering

Metal Halide

High Pressure Sodium

Sun

On the other hand, high pressure sodium and metal halide lamps offer only one spectrum. As you can see by the graphic, the metal halide spectrum is skewed toward the blue end of the spectrum while the high-pressure sodium is skewed towards the red. Neither one offers much white light like the sun.

The Photosynthetic Equation

LED grow lights also impact the nutrient needs of the plants grow underneath them. Many cannabis growers first making the switch discover that their plants require more nutrients to grow optimally. Plants grown under LED grow lights tend to mature a faster rate due to the more complete spectrum which means nearly everything else must be adjusted as well including supplemental CO2, water, and air flow. Dialing in the environment takes time but is well worth it for the best yields.

The Key Takeaway for cannabis growers

The cannabis industry is growing and changing at a rapid pace. And cannabis growers who do not embrace technology – like LED grow lights – could get left in the dust by those who do. Ask any business owner who didn’t make the switch when new technology came out – if they are still operating.

LED grow lights are the future and cannabis growers would be wise to make the switch now, to stay ahead of the pack.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Certifications 101: What you need to know about safety, rebates and more

If you have been shopping for LED grow lights, you have probably run across one (or more) of the many certifications out there. So, what do you really need to know about safety, rebates and what these certifications actually mean?

It’s a lot of information to take in at once, but for growers, there are a few simple things to understand.

No matter what you grow, you need to know if the LED grow lights you are investing in are safe, durable and perform like the manufacturer claims.

Let’s start with DLC Certification:

The Design Lights Consortium (DLC) is a voluntary certification program for LED lights manufacturers. What this means is, if your grow lights have DLC Certification, you can rest assured they have been tested by an independent and accredited third party in these areas: Micromole levels, efficacy, longevity, spectrum accuracy, voltages and operating temperature.

So, why DLC Certification important? Many utility companies nationwide look for this certification to decide whether to grant rebates to companies who use certified products – like LED grow lights.

These certifications also give growers peace of mind that the claims the manufacturer is making about their LED grow lights are true – and have been verified.

If you are buying LED grow lights, seeing these metrics verified and duplicated in a lab is reassuring, because it means you are getting what you paid for – and the light is as advertised.

Utility companies have decided to hand out incentives, because they are invested in trying to encourage lower energy consumption – especially in large, indoor growing facilities. Rather than build new power plants, they are incentivizing growers to invest in more energy efficient grow lights by handing out rebates. Most, if not all, of these incentives require lighting that has been DLC certified which is why we recommend that growers start there when beginning their search for LED grow lights.

ETL and UL certifications:

Safety is important when you are planning – or updating – your grow facility, and there are two organizations that certify the safety of grow lights in the United States: The ETL and the UL.

Electrical Testing Labs (or ETL) and Underwriters Laboratories (or UL) do basically the same type of certification. They are nationally recognized testing laboratories and, in a nutshell, make sure that the grow lights they certify are safe to use in a horticultural environment.

So, for commercial growers, ETL or UL certification is important if you want to stay compliant with OSHA!

That’s because the certifications of these organizations reassure growers that the products they purchase meet a certain standard of safety.

After all, grow lights can take a lot of abuse: They operate in a humid, wet and often harsh environment. They need to be able to handle it.

And anytime electricity is involved – especially if it is mixed with a wet or moist environment – safety really comes into play. Growers need to be confident that the LED grow lights they purchase will operate as they should in the environment for which they are intended.

If you ever look at a lamp, you might see that it is UL 1598 certified. That means it can safely operate indoors in daily use. But horticultural lights are different and they have their own certification, as they are exposed to more things (chemicals, water, high humidity and getting moved or bumped around) than your average table lamp. So, grow lights are certified under UL8800.

If you see that your grow lights are UL 8800 certified, you are good to go.

The Key Takeaway

For growers looking to invest in LED grow lights, knowing about the different certifications is important, so you know you are:

Getting the grow light you paid for and that an independent lab has proven the manufacturer’s claims

You can be eligible for rebates from utility companies for using energy efficient technology

You are using a light that has been rated for safety in a horticultural environment – which is crucial to OHSA compliance

Growers should always check the certifications on their indoor grow lights so they know they are buying technology that’s been tested and approved.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Four things every grower should know about full spectrum LED grow lights

Indoor growers have been using light to grow plants for decades. But like everything, technology is moving rapidly and full spectrum LED grow lights are gaining ground in the industry.

Full spectrum LED grow lights have research on their side: Recent studies show that cannabis plants in particular like green light – which is found more in LED lights than other types of lights. And, green light penetrates the leaves, so the lower leaves and stalk will absorb more light, which in competitive and growing industries like cannabis, where every dollar counts, helps produce larger cholas below the canopy. Some growers are using full spectrum LED grow lights as the sole light source; others are using them to supplement growth – like in greenhouses.

And LED grow lights can be used to manipulate and scale plant production and growth, by revving up or slowing down growth at key times in the plant’s growth cycle.

So, what are some factors every grower should know about full spectrum LED grow lights?

Grow Light Spectrum

First, we need to talk about the grow light spectrum. This is basically the wavelengths produced by a light source, like the sun or LED lights. Being a spectrum, there is a range of wavelengths and growers are most interested in the ranges that affect plant growth – which are the wavelengths including UV radiation, the visible part of the spectrum (including photosynthetic active radiation or PAR) and far red radiation.

Plants use the light in the PAR part of the spectrum for photosynthesis, which for growers, is fairly easy to discern.

In plants, chlorophyll – which converts the energy in the light to chemical energy – absorbs mostly red and blue light during photosynthesis. Red and blue light are also found in the PAR range of the spectrum.

Plants have about 5 billion years of DNA from the sun stored in them – we can’t be so naïve to think we know everything at this point in time. And full spectrum LED lights best mimic the light of the sun.

Daily Light Intervals

Daily light intervals are a fancy way of saying when is the light on and when is the light off – or when are your plants “sleeping” and when are they “awake.”

How much light your plants need changes as they grow and mature. Younger plants need more light for longer periods of time and more mature plants can get by with less light – but they need more intense light.

This is where full spectrum LED lights are going to be of benefit. Full spectrum LED lights more closely mimic the sun, in that they – as their name suggests – include all the colors of the spectrum.

If you are growing cannabis, young cannabis plants require more blue light and flowering cannabis plants need more red light. This is where a full spectrum light can benefit growers, as they use artificial light to help a plant grow more effectively.

Using artificial light

Growers make use of artificial light to help plants grow bigger and better. This is when a full spectrum LED lights are going to come into play, so man can help nature along by emphasizing what a plant needs at a precise time to influence a better outcome. This is why you probably don’t want to have plants at different stages under the same lights, because they don’t need the same intensity at the same time.

LED vs. HID

Growers have been using high intensity discharge (or HID) lights for decades. They are bright and have gotten the job done. HID lights come in two forms: Metal halide or High Pressure Sodium. You’ve seen them in streetlights and on baseball fields.

LED lights are the new kids on the block, so to speak. And the conversation has been going on about which is better: LED or HID? The fact is, plants can grow well under either but, recent studies indicate that LED has evolved to the extent that their performance is now better under LED light. Especially cannabis plants, who tend to benefit more from green light (as we mentioned above). And since LED lights emit much more green light than HID, it becomes a matter of preference and cost.

LED is surpassing HID lights, especially for cannabis.

Green Light and Cannabis

Speaking specifically about LED lights and cannabis, there are studies coming out that show some promise about improving yields and performance with LED vs. HID lights.

There are a few reasons for this, and a study by Michigan State University published a few years ago found that plants use green light for photosynthesis instead of just reflecting it.

And studies have shown that the additional green light found in LED lights allows more of the light to penetrate the cannabis plant’s canopy and thus, more buds are available down the stalk – which increases yield. More bud = more money.

Using LED lights instead of HID lights to grow cannabis just makes sense, as HID lights have much less green light than LED lights.

The Key Takeaway

If you are a grower using old technology, it behooves you to take a look at the new technology available in LED lights. LED has many benefits, including efficiency and there are also advantages for cannabis growers.

This conversation will remain ongoing in the industry. Cannabis has been grown indoors for a long time, especially since the 1960s, and growers have had success with HID lights. But the industry – and technology – has changed. LED are proving to be better and in a growing industry with increasingly tight profit margins – and with competition ramping up as cannabis becomes legal in more and more states – increasing yields is reason enough to investigate changing lights.

HID lights were meant to light our streets and stadiums – they aren’t meant to grow plants.

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specgradesoc · 3 years

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Performance Metrics: How to measure if your LED grow lights are working the way they should

For people who grow plants for a living, looking at the performance metrics of your LED grow lights can be quite a process, often with a steep learning curve.

Growers learn quickly that it’s just not as simple as putting a plant under a light bulb and when you start researching lighting, the questions can start piling up. After all, you are a grower and not a scientist!

But when you grow plants, you do have to have a basic understanding of science, especially when it comes to LED grow lights because understanding these systems is a technical and scientific process.

And one way you can do that is to learn to interpret the metrics used to define and measure the way light is emitted.

While growers have to look at plant growth holistically – keeping in mind that no single factor is to blame for spectacular growth or dismal performance – there are some ways to look at whether your LED grow lights are giving your plants what they need to thrive.

What you shouldn’t do, as a grower, is isolate numbers and attribute one factor as the key thing in your overall success. At the end of the day, growers have to consider so many things: Water, carbon dioxide, nutrients, temperature and lighting – when looking at performance metrics.

But we can talk about LED grow lights and address how lighting can play a crucial role in optimal plant growth – because it does!

One of the first things a grower should do is test different grow lights on their plants to see which ones are the best fit. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation with LED grow lights. After all, growers are creating a mini-ecosystem with lighting as one part of the equation – and plants can only absorb so much light.

Types of light and how it’s measured

When you start learning about light, one of the first lessons is the different types of light. One type, visible light, is what humans can see. The other, photosynthetically active radiation or PAR, is what drives photosynthesis (and makes plants grow). This is a simplistic definition, of course.

Once you figure out the types of light, it helps to next learn how to measure it. In a nutshell, you measure visible light in a few ways and you measure PAR in another. Since we are talking about plants here, we’ll talk about how we measure PAR, because plants use photons, or PAR, for photosynthesis.

And two of the main metrics used to measure if your LED grow lights are working as they should are PPF and PPFD.

PPF and PPFD

PPF stands for photosynthetic photon flux and is the total PAR produced by your lights every second. It’s not measured in terms of energy, like watts, it is measured in terms of photons and the term micromoles.

PPF is measured at the light source and so, as a metric, it isn’t going to accurately tell a grower how much light is actually reaching the plant – or how that light is distributed. PPF doesn’t tell you where the light is hitting the plant and it can’t be measured by growers; it needs to be done at the factory level so growers have to trust their light manufacturers when they tell them what it is.

PPFD, which stands for photosynthetic photon flux density, is the No. 1 metric in the grow light industry, as it can be measured using a meter.

Since PPFD is a metric that considers how much light is actually reaching the plant, its considered superior to PPF. And it can be used to measure and compare lights when growers are trying to figure out the best option.

However, PPFD isn’t always perfect. It doesn’t tell you how much light is reaching your plants and it isn’t a cut-and-dried metric, meaning that it can be manipulated and skewed. Mainly, this is done by measuring at a very close range that is unreasonable for most growers to maintain, or by measuring only the parts of the plant that are receiving the most light).

So, while PPFD is currently the best metric growers have to measure how their lights are performing, it is fallible and needs to be used with some degree of caution and skepticism.

Other factors

LED grow lights are mostly science, but there is an art to them as well. This is where things like uniformity come into play. So, what is uniformity? It is basically the light fixture’s ability to distribute light evenly over the canopy of your plants. Light needs to be uniformly distributed so plants get consistent light and there aren’t hot spots or dark areas. You can measure uniformity using PPFD.

Efficacy is another metric to use to see how effective your grow lights are. To learn the efficacy, you take the PPF and divide by the wattage to learn how much usable light your fixture produces each second.

Why is efficacy important? You want to be at about 277 volts – which is the industry sweet spot. Once you cross over this voltage threshold, additional costs come into the equation. That’s the lowest amount of energy usage (aka dollars spent on energy bills) to get the highest return on investment (ROI).

The Key Takeaway

So, what is the key takeaway here for growers? Successful growers separate themselves from the pack by going with a trusted LED grow lights manufacturer who will give accurate PPF readings and by not falling for marketing hype when it comes to PPFD numbers. By buying a few different lights and seeing which ones produce the best results over time, growers can choose the correct grow lights – and not make a decision based on marketing buzz.

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specgradesoc · 5 years

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Guide to Measuring LED Horticulture Lighting

The terminology and measurements used to describe and characterize LED horticulture lighting can be confusing and overwhelming. If you’ve been researching LED horticulture lighting companies, you’ve likely found that they are prone to use a variety of acronyms and measurement jargon that tend to confuse even savvy cultivation professionals

At SpecGrade, our lighting engineers are at the forefront of LED lighting technology for horticultural applications, therefore it is important to us that we use precise vocabulary and sophisticated measurement techniques to ensure our products are performing at the top of their game, and that this performance is accurately communicated to our growers. That being said, we’d like to clarify some of these terms for you and sort out the signifiers you should be paying attention to as you compare LED grow lights for your horticulture facility.

How to Measure Light for Plant Growth

Much of SpecGrade’s product line and engineering legacy has taken place in the world of commercial and industrial LED lighting, which is largely designed to accommodate the needs of the human eye. We use the saying Lumens are for Humans as a reminder that light intended for human vision is measured in lumens. Often this is quantified by LUX or foot candles over a given space.

However, plants have a much different relationship with light than we humans do. Measuring lumens only captures the central curve of the lighting color spectrum, because that’s what our eyes can perceive. It leaves out a broad range of the spectrum on either end, including red (600-700 nm) and blue (400-500 nm), which are vital to driving photosynthesis. That’s why we don’t use lumens to calculate and measure light for plant growth.

What is PAR?

The central term we use for measuring light in horticulture is PAR, which stands for Photosynthetically Active Radiation. Since plants rely on a much broader spectrum of light for healthy growth (400 – 700 nm), PAR metrics define the quality and amount of available light that pertains specifically to plant growth. Using quantum sensors, grow lighting engineers can accurately quantify the intensity and amount of PAR within a beam of light.

When evaluating the performance and quality of LED grow lights, it’s important for professional cultivators to consider 3 key questions;

How much PAR does the fixture produce (PPF)

How much of the PAR emitted from the fixture actually reaches the plants (PPFD)

How much energy is used by the fixture to make this PAR available

PPF

PPF stands for Photosynthetic Photon Flux, and quantifies the total amount of PAR emitted by a lighting fixture every second, measured in micromoles per second (μmol/s). Since PAR is only a slice of the total light a given fixture will produce, PPF measurements are an important indicator of how effective an LED grow light is at nourishing plants with the necessary wavelengths for driving healthy growth.

PPFD

Where PPF is simply a measurement of the amount of PAR created by the light, PPFD or Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density is a determination of how much of that PAR actually reaches the plants. As we’re fond of pointing out, not all LED grow lights are created equal. Professional growers are interested in the overall ROI of their investment in high quality grow lights, especially in the competitive world of commercial cannabis. Therefore, it’s important to consider the end result of a lighting fixture’s beam spread on the plants, not just what the fixture throws.

Beware of LED Grow Light manufacturers publishing

only a single PPFD number for their fixtures!

To accurately assess a grow light’s efficiency in delivering a uniform level of PAR across an entire section of crop, it is important to take multiple measurements within a given area to calculate an average. Simply listing the PPFD from the center point of a 8×8 section of the crop is not a sufficiently accurate representation of the PAR reaching your plants as a whole.

Uniformity is a core principle of SpecGrade LED grow lighting technology, so we always publish our PPFD measurements in relation to a given mounting height, area of measurement, and min/max range of several measurements to demonstrate the carefully calibrated even spread our fixtures are designed to provide.

Photon Efficacy

Driven by the grand claims made by many horticulture lighting manufacturers, growers often make the mistake of focusing on the total electrical watts of a lighting fixture to determine its intensity. However, watts only tell you something about the energy going into a lighting fixture. The important factor is the light actually coming out of the fixture, and of course how much of that light is usable PAR.

Photon Efficacy is how we measure a fixture’s efficiency at converting available watts into quantifiable photons of PAR, calculated at micromoles per Joule of energy (µmol/J). SpecGrade LED grow lights lead the industry in photon efficacy, with remarkable energy efficiency directed specifically toward maximizing PAR output. Our attention to robust engineering has made our LED grow lights powerful engines of efficacy and the carefully sculpted LED optics ensure maximum PPFD for large crops and bountiful harvests.

Comparing LED Grow Lights for Professional Cultivation

With a sufficient crash course in the important metrics of professional LED grow lights, we invite you to compare SpecGrade LED grow lights with those of our competitors. Armed with an understanding of PAR, PPF, PPFD, and photon efficacy, along with a range of other factors that affect the quality of horticulture lighting fixtures, you’ll find that we’ve produced some of the most advanced lighting instruments on the market.

For more information about SpecGrade LED grow lights, please contact our office at (614) 868-5337 to speak with our expert staff. Our cultivation partnerships have helped us push the boundaries of quality grow lighting technology, and we look forward to working you too.

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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How the Lighting Color Spectrum Affects Plant Growth

Most people think about the color spectrum of lighting only after storms, when rainbows might be present. Rainbows are formed when natural sunlight is refracted through moisture that is suspended in the atmosphere, with that refraction breaking the natural sunlight into its individual visible light components that comprise the color lighting spectrum. However horticulturists have come to understand that these varying intricacies within the spectrum of light have varying effects on the plants soaking up all that UV light for sustenance and growth.

Color Spectrum and Plant Growth

Green plants need natural sunlight to activate the chlorophyll that generates nutrients in the plants’ vegetation through the process of photosynthesis. Over millions of years of growth and development, the biochemistry in leaves has evolved to use different parts of the color spectrum for different purposes. It is not necessary to deconstruct natural sunlight in order to make plants grow, but when plants are cultivated in an indoor growing facility that does not use natural sunlight, a cultivator will generate better quality crops with larger yields by matching the color spectrum of a facility’s artificial LED grow lighting system with the specific color spectrum needs of the plants.

As is observed with a rainbow, the visible color spectrum of light ranges from red and orange tones, to deeper blue and violet tones. This spectrum is measured as electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between approximately 450 and 700 nanometers (nm). Some species of plants have also adapted themselves to use light that is slightly outside of the visible range and in the infrared and ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation bands, but those are not generally cultivated en mass.

Optimizing the Color Spectrum of Light for Horticulture

Botanists have gained a solid understanding of how plants use different color spectrum components during their growth cycles, with the following generalizations holding true in large part across most plants:

Blue light is essential during a plant’s germination phase. Stronger concentrations of blue light will encourage sprouting and development of strong roots.

Violet or purple light has a shorter wavelength and higher energy, and is thought to be effective as a secondary light source to facilitate growth and development of a plant’s leafy vegetation.

Green light is generally reflected away from plants (which is why they appear green), but plants will absorb a small amount of green light throughout the photosynthesis process.

Yellow and white light have the lowest effect on plant growth.

Red light impacts plant growth in several ways, including during the blooming and flowering phase. Certain specific red wavelengths will increase the production of a hormone in a plant’s vegetation that prevents the breakdown of chlorophyll. With more chlorophyll, a plant generates more nutrients and grows taller with more leafy vegetation.

The Optimal Color Spectrum for Cannabis

With the trend in various states toward the approval of medical and recreational marijuana, a significant amount of research has been conducted on how the color spectrum of light affects cannabis plant growth. Like many green plants, cannabis contains concentrations of two forms of chlorophyll, A and B. Each of those forms reacts differently to different wavelengths of light in the color spectrum. As cannabis cultivators improve their understanding of how different parts of the light color spectrum affect their crops and strains, they will need advanced lighting systems for cannabis cultivation facilities that enable them to customize and specify the light spectrum for better plant growth.

SpecGrade LED has taken this control one step further with our OpticPAR grow light technology. That technology allows growers to adjust the relative concentration of different color spectrum components to match a plant’s lighting needs with pinpoint accuracy at every stage of the plant’s growing cycle. How this might work and the color spectrum combinations that a grower might use are readily illustrated with cannabis cultivation.

Much of the research and development of how the lighting color spectrum affects plant growth has focused on cannabis because of the explosive growth of the indoor commercial cannabis cultivation industry. A cannabis cultivator will generally adhere to a certain pattern of spectrum combinations:

Cultivators initially want a cannabis plant to establish a strong root structure during its germination and seedling stage. That root structure can be enhanced with different ratios of red and far-red light with wavelengths at 660nm and 730nm.

With more far-red light, cannabis plants will grow taller and have fewer leaf nodes. The plant actually wants more red than far-red light, and it has evolved through natural processes to grow taller in order to get its share of red light when it is growing in crowded fields of other plants that are also reaching for red light. A cultivator can shift relative percentages of red and far-red light to achieve the optimum height and leaf ratios as the cannabis plants develop their vegetation.

Cannabis plants (like other plants) also need cycles of day and night for proper development. LED grow light systems are ideal for replicating these cycles because they can be switched on and off almost instantaneously, with no warm-up phase. A cultivator can factor these grow light cycles into the color spectrum variations that are used throughout the plant’s lifespan.

As the plant approaches its flowering stage, it will need a more blended concentration of all wavelengths of light in the color spectrum. Budding and flowering is marked by many complex biochemical processes in the plant, and those processes all have different color spectrum needs.

When the cannabis plants are in their late flowering phase and are moving toward harvest, light in the blue spectrum can be reduced.

Color spectrum variations are one of several related variables that a cultivator will want to control for better quality cannabis production. The intensity of the light and the temperature and humidity of the growing environment should also be controlled for optimum results. Advanced LED grow lights including the systems provided by SpecGrade LED, are ideal for these purposes.

SpecGrade LED’s grow light systems and our patented OpticPAR technology are characterized by advanced optics that have been developed on the foundation of our many years of experience in designing and manufacturing commercial and industrial LED lighting projects. We offer fixtures with reflectors and variable mounting options that allow growers to configure indoor lighting systems to expose their plants to the perfect amount of lighting. The low physical temperatures that result from our proprietary thermal management systems also place lower stress on temperature and humidity control systems, making SpecGrade LED Grow Lights a leader in providing high end lighting solutions to cultivation facilities of all sizes.

For answers to questions about how the lighting color spectrum affects plant growth and for more information about SpecGrade LED’s OpticPAR grow light technology, please see our website or call 888-510-4337 to speak with one of our grow light technology specialists.

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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How SpecGrade LED Grow Lights Impressed the Cannabis Cultivators at Wellspring Fields in Ohio

Over the past several months, our new line of advanced LED grow lights for the horticulture and cannabis cultivation industries have been rolling out to grow facilities across North America for testing and feedback. We’ve received some exceptional commentary from savvy cultivators as well as some glowing testimonies that would make any craftsman beam with pride.

Here in our home state of Ohio, where 24 newly licensed cannabis cultivators are growing the first crops of legally sanctioned medical grade marijuana, we have been very fortunate to partner with some exceptional growers to see what they thought of our innovations in the field.

Most notably, Wellspring Fields, located just outside of Cleveland, will be the first of Ohio’s grow facilities to produce a viable crop for the medical patients registering in droves across the state. After a successful harvest under SpecGrade LED Grow Lights with OpticPAR Technology, they found them to vastly out-perform their traditional HID fixtures as well as leading competitor LED lights.

CEO Tom Hobson reached out early in the grow cycle to share his enthusiasm for the results;

“I am writing to let you know how pleased we are with your led lights. We are using SpecGrade’s Verta-4 in our racking and Verta-8s in the remainder of the space. After only 6 weeks of grow we couldn’t be happier with the results we are seeing in the veg and clone process. As the 1st operationally licensed cultivation in the state of Ohio, you have given us an added advantage. Thanks!”

COO of Wellspring Fields, Claire Hobson, confirmed that their energy bill was cut in half when the grow rooms were switched over to SpecGrade LED products, commenting, “Our Lead Grower has a lot of experience with indoor cultivation and insists that he’s never seen lights perform as well as the Verta.”

We knew the cooler operating temperatures of our Verta fixtures would reduce their energy overhead but were glad to get confirmation on the positive results expressed in the plants themselves thanks to a carefully specified color spectrum and advanced directional optics.

We couldn’t be happier with these validating comments and extend our warmest appreciation to the talented team at Wellspring Fields for helping us solidify the specifications that make our LED grow lights with OpticPAR Technology a clear leader in the pack of grow lighting manufacturers.”

Experience Engineering Excellence for Yourself!

If you would like to learn more about how we’re raising the bar for engineering and performance in LED grow lighting, contact our sales team at (614) 868-5337 and explore the wealth of information on our website.

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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How SpecGrade LED Grow Lights Impressed the Cannabis Cultivators at Wellspring Fields in Ohio

CEO Tom Hobson reached out early in the grow cycle to share his enthusiasm for the results;

Experience Engineering Excellence for Yourself!

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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Best Practice of Lighting in Warehouse and Industrial Spaces

While there are many important building elements in a warehouse, one of the most important is lighting. Safety and productivity are a must for a successful, productive business. There are 95 million lost work days per year due to accidents.

The correct lighting in a warehouse can reduce the number of accidents, resulting in a more productive and happier workplace. While happy employees are always a great thing, good lighting has another positive effect – Reduced energy costs.

Understand the Warehouse Landscape

Before purchasing lighting, the warehouse landscape must be understood. There may be some sections of the warehouse where there is more natural light than others. Less artificial lighting will be needed near windows, doors, or loading docks, obviously but specifications must take these areas into account to fill in the shadows appropriately.

The ceiling space is also important when considering lighting. If a warehouse is utilising high racks, there will be more lighting needed since the material will be closer to the roof. Our Saturn LED High Bay fixture incorporates uplighting to illuminate the dark ceilings of large warehouses. Additionally, lighting must effectively reach the floor to prevent accidents. Our proprietary optics focus the directionality of the LED light to better reach target areas.

Take Advantage of Natural Light

As previously stated, less artificial light is needed in places near windows or doors. While natural light can reduce the amount of artificial light needed, there is still work that needs to be done with natural light. Windows must be kept clean to let in light and kept free of obstruction.

On the flip slide, if too much light is coming into the warehouse, a company may decide to invest in a good set of blinds or shades to let the light in and out as needed.

Purchase Quality Light Fittings

No matter what type of lighting is used inside a warehouse, quality light fittings should always be used. Companies should avoid purchasing the cheapest option, as these will often have a negative effect and may cause accidents.

Despite having high-quality bulbs, low-quality light fittings can cause the light to end up where it’s not needed. The wrong fittings can project light into forklift drivers’ eyes and cause temporary blindness. That’s why custom specification can be such a valuable tool when investing in new LED lighting for industrial applications.

Understand the Three Light Sources

There are three types of lights that are currently used in warehouses – Metal halide, fluorescent, and LED. Metal halide has been used since the 1990s and is the most likely to disappear from warehouses first. Fluorescent light is often used because it is inexpensive, but requires more energy than LED. The third type, LED lighting, is becoming rapidly popular within warehouses and industrial environments due to its energy and cost efficiency.

LED lights are an extremely efficient source of light. While the price of an LED light fixture may be higher than older technologies, they use less energy which saves costs in the long run. There may also be energy-saving credits available from the utility company with LED use. LEDs are also popular because they can easily be dimmed and customized.

Color is Key

Some people assume that the color of the light is not a factor in a warehouse. This is not true. In fact, lighting color is very important in a warehouse. Workers need to read labels and easily identify materials. The best light color for this is natural light.

Depending on the season or even the time of day, lighting needs may change. Poor color in lights can create discomfort with employees. Unhappy employees can decrease productivity.

Use Timers or Dimmers

Businesses may want to consider investing in timers or dimmers to control the dimming and colour and provide the best warehouse environment for employees. Control switches are also important because they will be more energy efficient than a simple on/off switch. With timers and dimmers, businesses can run their warehouse lighting more efficiently and cut costs.

Keep Up on Maintenance

Once lights are installed, the job is not over. Lights must be tended to when they are faulty. For example, blinking lights can cause discomfort to employees. Aside from discomfort, the energy cost of a faulty bulb can skyrocket. Light fixtures should be regularly cleaned to produce the best light. Dirty lenses can reduce the light that reaches the warehouse floor. This can lead to accidents and decreased productivity.

Know Your Supplier

Companies can research the best lighting and options for their warehouses, but if they aren’t purchasing the products from a quality supplier, it may be all for naught. Some suppliers can take advantage of businesses by offering them options that are necessary for their warehouse. Businesses should take time to research suppliers to make sure they’ll have their best interests in mind.

SpecGrade LED has been optimizing industrial lighting with next generation LED technology for over 15 years. Our engineers have seen it all, so if you have questions about your next retrofit, give us a call.

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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How Our OpticPAR™ Technology is Optimizing Marijuana Growth

How Our OpticPAR Technology is Optimizing Marijuana Growth

Marijuana cultivation methodology has advanced substantially in the last several years as more states adopt medical and recreational programs within the law. This boom in sanctioned cultivation has brought specialized technologies, like advanced LED grow lights, into the foreground for critique and improvement. At SpecGrade LED, we have been perfecting the engineering and technology of next generation LED lights for over 15 years, and are proud to bring our expertise in this arena to the world of indoor cannabis cultivation. With more than 30 years of experience in producing LED lighting systems for commercial and industrial facilities, SpecGrade has crafted LED grow light systems for cannabis cultivation that reduce energy consumption, decrease the impact on HVAC systems, and lower maintenance costs while optimizing crop yield and quality for every type of growing facility.

Part of our quest to perfect LED grow lights has been to partner with horticulture experts to fine tune the variables for a successful harvest. Cannabis plants will grow best when they are raised in an environment where all variables are controlled and optimized, which includes the intensity, duration, and spectrum of the photosynthetic light source, among other important environmental factors.

The Elements of a Successful Cannabis Harvest

Temperature: Cannabis grows best when the growing environment is maintained around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Traditional high intensity discharge (HID) grow lighting systems operate at very high physical temperatures and require grow facilities to utilize more complex HVAC systems to reduce the resulting heat. In contrast, SpecGrade’s LED grow lights operate at much lower physical temperatures, which gives a facility manager better control over the temperature of the facility’s growing environment and reduces the energy consumption costs associated with a large scale grow operation.

Humidity: Cannabis grows best when relative humidity levels are maintained at higher levels (e.g. 65 to 70%) during the plants’ seedling phase. That level should be reduced to 50% during the bulk of the growing cycle, with greater reductions during the two weeks prior to harvest in order to avoid problems with mold infestation. However, humid environments can affect the quality and lifespan of an electrical lighting system. SpecGrade grow fixtures are built and rated to withstand high humidity levels with minimal performance degradation over time. Growing facilities that use OpticPAR fixtures will experience less down time and fewer interruptions for lighting repair and maintenance.

Light Exposure: The standard strategy for indoor cannabis cultivation has been to erect lighting fixtures approximately 18 inches above the plant canopy. It is also commonly advised to maintain trellises and other physical structures to support the leafy growth at the top of the plant and to expose more of the leaf growth at the bottoms of the plant to the lighting. Our OptiPAR Technology offers a variety of optics that disperse the light more effectively across the entire plant structure. Growers that use OpticPAR’s fixture will see more uniform color and light distribution across all parts of the plants.

Light Spectral Quality. Cannabis plants rely on two types of chlorophyll to convert different wavelengths of visible light into the sugars that allow the plants to grow and thrive, along with secondary wavelengths that feed other chemical structures in the plants. SpecGrade’s OpticPAR LED grow light control systems give growers unprecedented control over the wavelengths of light that the systems can generate at all phases of the plants’ growing cycle. This spectral accuracy generates plants with consistent levels of active compounds with little variation in quality from crop to crop.

Lighting Economics: Our OpticPAR-enhanced LED grow light systems produce a better and more controlled quality of lighting than traditional HID grow lights with less than half of the electrical energy input. Cannabis growing facilities will use substantially less power and will have lower energy costs with OpticPAR lighting systems. Those savings can be used to maximize yields or to improve other aspects of the cultivation facility.

SpecGrade’s advanced LED grow light systems with OpticPAR Technology give cannabis cultivation facilities the highest levels of control over their growing environments and enable them to produce marijuana plants with strong and consistent quality. We proudly design and manufacture our LED grow light products in Columbus, Ohio, and have representatives throughout North America who can answer your questions on optimizing marijuana growth and designing ideal environments for marijuana cultivation.

For more information about how OpticPAR Grow Light Technology can optimize marijuana growth, please see our website or call 888-510-4337 to speak with one of our LED grow light technology specialists.

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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4 Ways OpticPAR LED Grow Lights Improve Crop Production

As a professional in the horticulture industry, you have most likely researched the benefits of LED grow lights for commercial cultivation in greenhouses, warehouses, and vertical racks. LED grow light technology is rapidly evolving as engineers learn how to modulate the optics, spectral quality, thermal output, and control mechanisms. Our engineering team here at SpecGrade LED is proud to introduce the most advanced LED grow lights on the market to the world of indoor horticulture, featuring our very own OpticPAR Technology. Let’s explore at least four major ways our LED fixtures are improving yields and crop production for cultivators around the world.

Spectral Distribution

The optimal spectral distribution and light intensity for plant growth can vary depending on the plant species and its unique needs, but every grower needs a reliably even distribution of PAR, or Photosynthetically Active Radiation, in a light spectrum that’s ideal for each stage of the plant’s grow cycle. We carefully engineer our spectrum to suit both the warmer red wavelengths that replicate summer growing conditions and encourage taller plant growth, as well as the cooler blue wavelengths that encourage terpene and trichome production in the budding or fruiting stage.

Easily Adaptable

During any changes to your indoor growing facility, LED grow lights are easily adaptable and simple to move, repair, or maintain. Thanks to an end-to-end modular design, each of our LED grow lights can be opened up to swap circuit boards and LED panels without removing the fixture from the grow room. Whether you choose to convert your crop production, replace cultures, or add new plants to your production, the OpticPAR line proves suitable for any environment or facility at any stage of a plant’s growth cycle. Having full control over LED fixtures and easy, hassle-free maintenance access introduces a new way to change and grow within your business as time goes on.

Efficient and Waste-Free

Many older generations of LED grow lights rely on complex mechanical fans often built right into the fixture to blow heat away from the LED chips. This is a manifestation of poor housing design. Mechanical fans not only draw additional electricity for power, reducing the overall efficiency of the fixture, they also serve as a potential point of electrical and mechanical failure, which is a headache any grower could do without. OpticPAR fixtures are designed with double-folded aluminum fins built into the housing for increased surface area and a fan-free heat sink that guarantees a lower operating temperature than any of our competitors. Save energy, worry less.

Product Quality

So many of the LED grow lights on the market are poorly suited for commercial and industrial operations, largely due to the low quality of their housing, faulty fans, and excess light spill due to a lack of optics to focus the beam spread. SpecGrade LED is a premier engineering and innovation leader in industrial LED lighting technology and offers the horticulture industry an unprecedented level of quality, craftsmanship, and spectral optimization to bring your grow operation up to today’s technological standards. Experience the superior quality of OpticPAR Technology with the industry’s only 10 year warranty.

SpecGrade LED has been an established industry leader in the design and manufacture of LED lighting systems for more than 15 years.

For more information about SpecGrade LED’s OpticPAR grow light technology and on controlling plant flavor characteristics with LED grow cycles, please call 888-510-4337 to speak with one of our grow light technology specialists.

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specgradesoc · 6 years

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How LED Grow Lights Are the Future for Indoor Farming

Agriculture continues to make its steady progression toward indoor crop production and vertical farming as the technology to do so becomes less cost prohibitive and arable land becomes more scarce. The future is looking more and more like our food will primarily be grown in towering structures with vertical racks full of leafy greens and colorful fruits. As a leader in the world of advanced LED grow lights, we’re excited to note the trend toward full adoption of energy efficient LED by the world’s largest indoor growers.

Given the need for strict control of environmental conditions for indoor horticulture, LED grow lights offer a clear path to the future of indoor farming, as next generation fixtures like the OpticPAR line offer unparalleled PAR and heat control alongside modular design and a balanced lighting spectrum. With the advances we’re making in LED grow lighting, LED will make a significant impact on indoor farming and vertical grow facilities in a few distinct ways.

Yields

Quality engineered grow lights feature a controlled spectrum allowing the plant to receive the appropriate calibration of light for each phase of the grow cycle, from seed to harvest. This ideal full-season spectrum combined with SpecGrade LED’s proprietary optics help to maximize PPFD ensuring all of the light reaches the plant, reducing the overflow of light into unnecessary locations such as the floor and surrounding walls. Growers have the flexibility to choose from desired wavelengths, allowing each plant to receive the unique amount of light needed. Having the option to change the amount of light based on the plant ensures optimized light exposure for a larger yield.

Energy Efficient

The price of a modern LED grow light fixture may seem higher than old technology, but the investment is quick in return. With various municipalities raising the rates on energy costs for growers, or outright capping their pull from the grid, it’s more important than ever to reduce energy consumption with LED lights. The value of LED grow lights will pay for themselves with the amount of energy and utilities saved, not to mention the quick yields along the way thanks to specially calibrated spectrums and computer controlled timing mechanisms.

Improve Food Flavor

Modern LED technology has allowed horticulturists to seize full control over their light’s colors, proximity, focus, and wavelength, offering a whole new level of customization and control. LED grow lights that produce white light with the full spectral quality of daylight or proprietary purple spectrum are built to improve the efficiency of PAR production for food. Exposing plants to a greater or lesser amount of light determines the overall quality and flavor of the food, promising a consistent result for every grow cycle and the ability to modify recipes for new flavors and results.

While the world is changing in a number of ways, the technological advances in today’s industrial grade LED grow lights are opening new door ways for growers to scale their operation, save costs, and increase the yields on a superior product. It’s never too late to get an estimate on a full retrofit of your cultivation facility.

SpecGrade LED has been an established industry leader in the design and manufacture of LED lighting systems for more than 15 years.

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