LEDs gain dominance in the cannabis trade

January 10, 2023

Over 70% of North American growers are now using the light source, according to the latest survey. Energy is the biggest reason. But there are others.
LED lighting use continues to surge among indoor and greenhouse cannabis farms in North America, as over 70% of respondents to the latest annual State of the Cannabis Lighting Market survey stated they now deploy the technology.

What’s more, the number is at least 70% across all three growth phases: propagation, vegetation, and the once-lagging LED category of flowering according to the 2022 survey, carried out by Stillwater, Minn.

The 70%-plus is up from last year’s 60%-plus. Six years ago, in the inaugural 2016 survey, 21% of grow facilities used Led Grow Lights for propagation, 17% for vegetation, and 15% for flowering.

Most — 83% — of this year’s 137 respondents singled out the energy efficiency of LEDs when asked to cite the technology’s top three benefits. More than half — 55% — also put “low heat” on the list. Growers can mount LED racks closer to crops, allowing them to stack cannabis plants vertically and thus make more use of square footage than they can with hotter high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights, which they place higher in non-stacked settings to avoid heat damage.

In a related but different category, 46% of respondents who are considering LED lighting identified “lower power usage” as the leading purchasing factor, making it the number one consideration, followed by “cost of retrofit” at 46%, “ease of installation” at 25% and “higher intensity” at 22%. They did not specifically identify “low heat,” although possibly it is implied in retrofit costs.

The intensity was especially important to respondents making purchasing decisions in the flowering category, in which 53% identified it as a top factor, followed by price at 52%, light spectrum at 51%, energy efficiency at 48%, and “must be LED” at 43%. Of those five factors, Led Grow Light Kit would seem to have the edge in all but “price.”

The use of LEDs in the flowering stage has come on strong after having trailed propagation and vegetation in the first several years of the survey. The 2022 survey, conducted in July and August, showed that LEDs have nudged past vegetation, with 71% of respondents saying they use LEDs in flowering, 70% in vegetation, and 74% in propagation.

And the Grow Light, which we custom-made for cannabis for a Belgian client, has also been well received. He said that the output has increased by 2 times.

waterproof grow light