What is the right height for a plant led grow light ?

What's the Ideal LED Grow Light Distance From Plants?

It is important to understand that LED grow lights need to be hung at an appropriate distance from plants! Keep it too far and it might not provide the needed amount of light and heat and keep it too close and you risk burning the plants as well as reducing the coverage area. Growers need to consider two factors in mind before they start growing weed indoors – the time that you are providing the light to the plants and the amount of light that you are providing the plants with!



The amount of light you provide is also directly proportional to the amount of heat your provide. The more intensely focused the light is, the higher the levels of heat are! You need to keep a number of things in mind, but the most important of these things is the growth cycle of the plants plant. You need to know that in its early stages, when it is still a seedling, the plant requires the most heat and the most light – however, as it grows bigger, the requirement too, reduces. 

During the vegetative phase of the plants plant's growth cycle, it requires between 16 to 18 hours of light. The basic idea here is that summertime is conducive for the growth of these plants and doing this mimics the summertime photoperiod, helping the plants grow in an ideal way. After four to eight weeks of this, most plants plants would enter the pre-flowering or early-flowering stage, which is when you need to increase the height and reduce the light-time to about 10 to 12 hours a day. 



Another thing that you should know is that there is a direct corelation between the wattage of the LED light and the distance that you need to maintain from the plant.

Proper spacing is very important for plant growth

Having the lights too close will cause the plants to burn and wilt, quickly killing them off. Raise your grow lights too high and the plants will stretch, causing the stems to be long and skinny leading to a very weak branch. Once the weight of bud growth reaches a couple of weeks, the branches will snap due to being so long and skinny.



Now before I show you the appropriate heights, I would like to mention two important items. First, these heights are applicable for both indoor and greenhouse grows. It does not change. Second, when hanging your lights you will want to consider the type of light you are using. For example, and LED light can get much closer to plants without burning them when compared to a HID Light. 

A simple test you can always use to tell if you are too close is hold your hand under the lights right where the tops of your plants are. If it is too hot for you to hold your hand there for 5 seconds, it is too close and the light needs to be raised.



Now lets discuss the appropriate height for your LED lights. The first thing to consider is what stage your plants are in. When in the Seedling stage, you want the light to be around 2.5-3 feet above the tops of your plants. Once you are in Vegetation, you can lower the LEDs to be around 2-2.5 feet above the tops of the plants. Finally, in flower you will want the plants to have a distance of 1-2 feet from the lights.  

As your plants develop and age, they will be able to handle more light at a higher intensity. You just need to slowly work them up to it is all. If you are not using LED grow lights, but a HID or some sort of Sodium bulb, I recommend adding foot to the heights I discussed above. Most importantly, always use the health of your plants as an indicator. Use the hand test as well and you will always be able to have your LED grow lights at the perfect height!