Keys Before and When Use LED Grow Lights

What Makes Grow Lights Stand Out

Planting indoors is like inviting nature into the house, which adds vitality and green and vitality to our normal life and helps us relieve the pressure of life and get relaxation. However, new growing conditions like soil, temperature, light, nutrition should be constructed for the indoor plants.

Natural sunlight provides all kinds of plants with the light they need for photosynthesis and growth. The sunny room, copious skylights, or large Windows would be the most ideal for your indoor growing event. Otherwise light would be a big challenge for your indoor growing, especially in expensive urban living Spaces. Fortunately, we can supplement the lighting with artificial grow

White LED growth lights are full-spectrum lights that mainly mimic natural light, providing plants with a balanced spectrum of red, blue, and green. Suitable for exposure at the seedling stage. However, according to the needs of different growing stages, the light of red and blue should be added to supplement the lighting.

phlizon full spectrum led grow light qb light
Designed by Freepik

Why We Need LED Grow Light

LEDs last five times as long and consume half as much power as other lights. LED bulbs are mercury-free and less fragile than fluorescent glass lamps, causing less pollution and lower safety risks.
The sunlight mixes seven spectrums which are different from the pure fluorescent lamp that we use indoor, so the light from a normal fluorescent lamp is enough to provide the spectrum that the plant photosynthesis needs. For the light required for photosynthesis of plants, the blue light with a wavelength of 400–520nm and the red light with a wavelength of 610 ~ 720nm distribute most. So the grow light includes blue light and red light to satisfied the needs of growing plants indoors.
However, artificial light cannot completely replace sunlight and there are various kinds of plant light on the market, which also provide different spectrum and light intensity for the different growth stages. A perfect growing light should be chosen according to the coverage and exact lighting.

Calculate Before You Buy

Once you’ve decided on the growth lights you need, then you could how big grow light your space need. If space requires 20 to 40 watts per square foot, then a 1,000 watt light bulb to provide 25 to 50 square feet (1,000 divided by 20 watts equals 50 square feet) (1,000 divided by 40 watts equals 25 square feet).
The answer gives you the extremes of your light intensity range. With one 1,000-watt system, you can light between 25 and 50 square feet of the interior landscape. Also, be sure to match the wattage of your bulbs with what your fixture is designed to handle. For example, a 400-watt bulb should not be used in a 250-watt system. Adjust your setup as you observe how well your plants grow. Increase or decrease the intensity of the light by shifting the placement of your plants or light fixture so the plants are closer or farther from the light source.

Three Keys When Using Grow Lights

There are three points when using grow light: light intensity, spectrum, lighting time.

1. Light intensity

The light intensity of the grow light must provide a certain amount of light stimulation to cause effective photosynthesis for plants. Generally, outdoor sunlight provides a light intensity of 2000–10000 lumens (Lux) for plant photosynthesis. However different plant requires different light intensity so you’d better learn about the light intensity the plant needs.

Learn more: the effect of the light intensity on plant growth

2. Light Color and Spectrum

In addition to light intensity, the light wavelength (spectrum) should also be considered. The wavelength of light can affect the quality of plant growth. For example, to make flowering plants bloom, they need to use growth lights with more red wavelengths. Grow lights with more blue wavelengths are needed for plants to grow luxuriantly. For more information, Robert Pavlis has done the deep research here.

3. Light Duration

Generally, in a completely windowless indoor space, full-spectrum plants (positive plants) such as copper grass, cactus, and other succulent plants need about 12 to 16 hours of growing light every day. Semi-insolation plants such as flamingos, orchids, about 10 to 12 hours a day; Although the half shade plant such as velvet of golden kudzu, tendril green, ivy is accustomed to growing at light line cannot be direct or the place of indirect illuminate, still, need illuminative 6 ~ 8 hours indoors.

RELATED ARTICLES

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *