HPS vs LED Grow Lights: Which is Better?

All the fellow growers around here have asked this question at some point in their career. Don't get me wrong, LED grow lights have made tremendous leaps and bounds since the beginning. But where do they stand watt for watt against HPS grow lights?

Instead of endlessly scouring the depths of the web to find your answer, good ol' Cannadave has done all the research for you. So without further to do, let's dive in.

HPS Grow Lights: Pros and Cons

HPS, or High-Pressure Sodium lights, are viewed as the best on the growing market as amateurs and professionals alike enjoy the strong raw light output. The large amount of light an HPS produces does increase heat, however, so that is a concern for some.

A lot of people who enjoy the HPS lights include a metal halide for vegetative growth since this set up is better suited for vegging.

HPS lights are pretty standard among manufacturers, so comparison shopping is a little bit easier. These lights also have a lower cost for installation, but that gap has gotten smaller as LED installation has gotten cheaper over the years.

If you work with large plants and big yields, an HPS light is great for producing the heavy amount of raw light you'll need.  Just keep in mind that these lights do use more electricity than most. They also require more ventilation due to excess heat. If you don't deal with the heat correctly, growing will be difficult.

LED Grow Lights: Pros and Cons

The LED grow lights on today's market can rival HPS production that uses twice the wattage. Can someone say power bill savings?

All jokes aside, choosing an LED light is a good choice. These lights produce a much cooler light and provide obvious benefits for your average indoor grower. You can also place the fixture closer to the plant as the risk of heat damage is much lower.

One thing to note is that LED grow lights have a higher upfront cost. Also, comparison shopping is a little difficult as they haven't been standardized among manufacturers.

Unlike HPS lights, the heat LED lights produce is lacking in power. For those growing smaller crops indoors, this is great. If you're trying to yield a crop of large plants, you won't have much luck with just one of these lights.

All in all, it really comes down to what you're trying to accomplish as a grower. Both lights are great, so select one that best fits your situation.

HPS vs LEDs Experiment

I will be doing an experiment a split test with grow lights being the only different change between an HPS and LED, everything else will be the same the water, nutes, temp, plant strain and light cycle to see which is truly better at growing cannabis. I will be looking at trichome coverage, terpene smell, weight, growth of cannabis, and what ends up being better overall.

It took a while to find an LED light that I liked with a good spectrum of light that I thought would be comparable to the Hortilux HPS. I have always used 1000w HPS hortix bulb.

The LED technology is different now than when LED lights first came into the scene. The spectrum of light they have now makes it almost comparable to the weight of the bud and look of the bud of HPS. I looked at Black Dog LEDs, Vivedgrow, and other LED lights at my local hydro stores before ultimately going with Iluminar Lighting iL8 LED fixture.

The reason why I chose Iluminar Lighting is because of the full spectrum this light will produce during the growing cycle of the cannabis plant. IL8 will be compared to the  1000W HPS Hortilux on an Adjust a wing reflector.  The LEDs are built with great chips that power the LED and produce a great spectrum of light. The IL8 is comparable to the 1000w HPS but uses less electricity with an output of  670W, which is good because it would cost less to run these in the end.

This will be an experiment that I will be documenting with weekly blog updates with images and videos that will support the experiment. I will be posting on my IG channel, here on the website and also either Youtube or The Weed Tube. I can't wait to share all this with you I'm very excited to get this going! Stay Tuned!

Love life and smoke good, Cannafam.