I Thought Any 'Grow Light' Would Work. I Was Wrong.
Having reviewed over 500 unique grow light SKUs in the last few years, I'll tell you a hard truth: not every bulb labeled 'for plants' is actually worth the box it came in. When I first started in this space, I figured it was simple—buy a light, plug it in, plants grow. The conventional wisdom is that pretty much any light with some red and blue LEDs will do the trick. My experience with our quality audits suggests otherwise.
I don't have hard data on how many consumers are disappointed by their first grow light purchase, but based on returns and feedback we see, my sense is it's more than 30%. That's a lot of stunted seedlings and wasted money. So let me walk you through what I actually check for now.