Why Grow Light?
A majority number of plants need a set of conditions that need to be met for their healthy growth, such as, sunlight, temperature, minerals, the amount of water and so on. Amongst these conditions, the most difficult to control is the light coming from the Sun, which is essential for plants, as the energy from sunlight is needed for the process of photosynthesis. Even though the color spectrum that the sun emits does not change throughout the year, the quantity and quality of the overall light reaching Earth do change with the changing of the season. This means that certain plants can only be grown during certain seasons. However, with the introduction of Grow lights, farmers can now grow a range of out-of-season plants that would have been difficult otherwise. The LED grow lights are easily available at LED Factory Mart and other online stores.
The Concept:
The main concept of Grow lights is to mimic a light spectrum similar to Sun. Through several experiments, it has been seen that plants require red and blue light to grow normally. When grown under red LEDs (60 nm), plants had a poor growth with leaf deformities, however adding a small amount of blue resulted in the normal growth of most plants. Some plants, on the other hand, still had poor growth even under red and blue light, thus a small amount of green light was also added which showed improvement in plant growth. LED grow lights can be customized to produce these lights. These lights can be used on an industrial scale or in households.
How Does It Work?
There are certain aspects that affect the plant growth and plant development; light intensity, total light over time, light at which moment of the day, light/dark period per day, light quality (spectrum), light direction and light distribution over the plants. The diodes used in earlier models of LED grow lights were usually 1/3 to 1 Watt in power, however, higher wattage diodes such as 3 watt and 5-watt diodes are now commonly used in LED grow lights. LED Grow lights should be hung at least 12 inches above the plant. Hanging the light too close would burn the plant.
Which Plants Can Be Grown Under Grow Light?
- Vegetative plants like tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce and much more
- Flowering plants; poinsettia, chrysanthemums, tuberous begonias and so on
- Plants which have been conditioned to survive under the trees of a forest, where light intensities are low. This group includes plants like such as African violets, carnivorous plants, all begonias, browallia, impatiens and many others. If a species will grow and flower in the shade, it can probably be grown entirely by artificial light
What do you think about growing plants indoor by using grow lights? Don’t forget to share your opinion with us in the comments below!