As of 2020, the best light for vegetative growth are the Barrina LED lights that are sold as shop lights. Their mass production makes them extremely inexpensive and they are highly modular. The default colour temperature is a cool 5,000-6,500k which is perfect for seedlings, vegging plants and mother plants. The lights can be daisy chained together for clean wiring or ran independently. In terms of PPFD per dollar these lights are on par with boards bought directly from Alibaba.

These lights are essentially full spectrum LED boards with the same diodes as the boards I use for flowering in a strip arrangement. They produce a visually appealing white light that makes it easy to work with the plants and diagnose any possible issues.
Veg Light Installation
The optimal mounting height is 3-8″ above the canopy. In a racking system you can fasten these directly to the top rack.

If you have more vertical height I recommend making a small frame for the lights. This way you can raise or lower them depending on your plants height.



Suspending the lights above the canopy brought the lux to 12,000. This is right around where I want to be for aggressive vegetative growth.

Led Grow Bar Wiring
There is an abundance of wires included with the light kits. It is largely plug and play. You can connect lights together with provided 4′ wires, male-male connectors or wire each light individually.


Install end caps on any unused plugs.

For their modularity and price the Barrina LED lights are the best lights for vegetative growth. There are a number of off brand products (e.g. JESLED) on amazon that work just as well. Just make sure they are 36-40 watt and 5000k or higher temperature. Do not get lights with wrap around diffusers. This lowers lux and is not good for growing.
My plants love these lights and I guarantee you will too.