Light is the engine of photosynthesis. In an indoor hydroponic system, where natural light is insufficient or completely absent, lighting quality directly determines growth speed, yield and final product quality.
This is why LEDs for growth are one of the most important elements of the whole system.
In this article we look at how they work, why they are different from traditional LEDs, and how Tomato+ has developed lighting specifically designed to maximize performance, sustainability, and automation.
A traditional LED illuminates according to human visual perception.
An LED for growing, on the other hand, is designed to maximize photosynthesis, with completely different characteristics:
Plants use more efficiently mainly:
Blue light (400-500 nm)
Red light (600-700 nm)
This gives rise to "photosynthetically active" spectra designed to stimulate growth, structure and yield.
Photosynthesis requires a minimum level of PPFD.
Household LEDs generate lux, while plants need photons (µmol).
A grow LED distributes uniform and specific light over the entire growing area.
In horticulture lighting, the key parameter is not lumens but micromoles per joule: how many useful photons each watt consumed produces.
Well-designed agricultural lighting allows:
faster growth
more structured and consistent leaves
more intense color
higher aromatic content
reduced stresses
higher and more predictable yield
In many cases, proper lighting increases the speed of development by 30-50% compared to an uncontrolled environment.
In hydroponics, the plant receives nutrients, water and oxygen in perfect form.
When everything is optimized, light becomes the most limiting variable.
Insufficient light causes:
slow growth
pale leaves
spindly plants
lower yield
A proper LED is therefore as crucial as the nutrient solution or water system.
The main criteria for a quality LED are:
Blue, red, far-red, and a white component for balanced morphology.
Lettuce and microgreens require less light than basil, aromatics, and more demanding plants.
An LED working at low temperature lasts longer and keeps the spectrum constant.
The higher the efficiency, the less energy is needed to produce the same amount of useful light.
Tomato+ uses a proprietary lighting system with 6 independent light channels, whereas many conventional agricultural LEDs operate on 3 channels.
This approach allows it to:
more accurately emulate sunlight
tailor the lighting to each individual variety
manage different plant mixes in the same cycle
modulate the spectrum in real time through Growth Plans
avoid energy waste by lighting only with frequencies that are truly useful
In more advanced versions, such as Horto Professional, light is not fixed:
it is automatically adjusted by AI based on:
images collected from integrated cameras
environmental data
actual growth rate
possible plant stresses
The lamp is not just an LED: it is an intelligent Growth Plan actuator, in continuous dialogue with the cloud.
Traditional LEDs generate a lot of heat, and this heat has to be removed by the room air conditioner, increasing overall energy consumption.
On Horto Professional, on the other hand, LED modules use built-in liquid cooling.
This leads to three crucial advantages:
Heat is removed directly from the lamp, without heating the room.
The load on the air conditioner is dramatically lowered.
Total greenhouse consumption is reduced by up to 50 percent compared to air-cooled systems.
The result is a more stable, efficient and predictable ecosystem.
Artificial light is no longer an accessory, but the basis of modern indoor agriculture.
Those who want to grow seriously in hydroponics must consider lighting quality as one of the most critical variables for professional results.
With systems like Tomato+'s, light is not just energy: it is intelligence, efficiency, and sustainability, integrated into a single platform.
Thank you for reading this article. Keep following us to discover new content on hydroponics, vertical farming, and smart agriculture.
Tomato+ Team