I can bet that grow room glasses are not at the top of anyone’s shopping list when putting together their grow room, though they probably should be.
We only get one set of eyes, so we have to protect them from damage, which is exactly why you should be wearing grow room glasses. I was a little late to do this myself; I have a bad habit of just powering through things.
After expanding my garden my eyes were really squinting, so I decided to look into some grow room glasses.
Do I Need To Wear Glasses In My Grow Room?
Grow lights produce an intense amount of light in a small spectrum whereas our eyes work better with a broad spectrum of light. Plants respond most to light waves in the red, blue, violet and ultraviolet ranges, This focused light is great for the plants and also great at damaging your eyes.
When you walk into a fully lit grow room your eyes immediately squint. That’s your eyes trying to tell you something. Intense light affects the rods and cones of the eyes. The UV light emitted by grow lights affect the cornea. This damage is not something that repairs over time, it compounds.
Sunglasses Do Not Work Well For Grow Rooms
So one would think that since sunglasses protect your eyes from the sun then they would be good to wear in a grow room. That’s actually not the case for a couple of reasons.
What improvements you gain in sight by less squinting, is taken away by the shade of the sunglasses. Now your eyes are back to straining as your staring at your plants, trying to make sense of the color shading and characteristics.
The shading of glasses makes it impossible to see the exact color and shade of your plant. This could mean missing the early signs of deficiencies and pests creeping into your garden.
What To Look For In Grow Room Glasses
There are a few things you should be looking for when purchasing a pair of grow room glasses.
UV protection– The whole purpose of getting grow room glasses is protecting your eyes from harmful wavelengths. While the more expensive glasses are not always worth the price, the cheapest grow room glasses are probably not your best option. Make sure your glasses protect your eyes from the harmful UV rays emitted from your grow lights.
What light are they made for– It is best to get glasses made for the type of grow lights you have in your garden. Since different types of grow lights produce light in different spectrums, grow room glasses need to compensate differently for each. For example, HPS lights give off a yellow looking light as opposed to my full spectrum LED light is purple.
*LED Grow Room Glasses
*HPS Grow Room Glasses
*Metal Halide Grow Room Glass
Color Distortion & Shading– It’s very important that gardeners are able to see both the colors and the shades of colors of their plants. This allows us to tell the health of the plant and diagnose and deficiencies. Make sure your grow glasses have the color corrections and shading to notice problems before they become bigger issues.
Durability– If you’re like me, you’re going to sit your glasses down in random places, maybe drop them, or sit on them. Make sure to look over the glasses your interested in for durability. Do they look flimsy or cheap?
Comfortability– Depending on your garden size, you could be wearing your grow room glasses for long periods at a time. Check the reviews before purchasing to see what others are saying about how comfortable the glasses are to wear. Nothing’s more annoying than having to adjust your glasses every time you move your head.
Your style– Grow room glasses come in several styles. Who doesn’t want to look cool while futuristic gardening?
Affordability– You’re going to find grow room glasses range from a little over $10 on up to $170. If you’re a hobby grower it’s probably not necessary to go all out. If you are a serious grower though, looking to make an investment in a tool to save your eyes, Method Seven glasses definitely look worth it.
We spend a lot of time, money, and energy to make sure our garden is as healthy as possible. Why wouldn’t put just as much effort into protecting our eyes?
