Grow Lighting

0

Posted by admin | Posted in Hydroponics & Seed Starting | Posted on 02-02-2008

Grow Lighting

The Power of LED Grow Lights

With the release of hard-hitting documentaries such as Al Goreâ€™s An Inconvenient Truth and Leonardo DiCaprioâ€™s The 11th Hour energy consumption and its relationship to global climate change has become a prominent issue. What people often fail to understand is that the best solutions are not great actions on the part of a few, but rather small actions taken by the many. For example, if everyone in the U.S. were to replace incandescent lights with fluorescent ones, it could eliminate the need for Middle East oil.

LED Grow lights are another example of a small thing that can make a great difference. If you are growing your own food in a hydroponics garden, youâ€™re already taking a step toward saving the planet. The use of LED Grow Lights allows you to take the next step in reducing your footprint on the planet. Not only to they operate at a fraction of the voltage of conventional bulbs (less than 20 VAC as opposed to 120), but they are free of mercury â€“ a highly toxic metal used in metallic vapor and fluorescent lights.

LED Grow Lights are efficient and economical in other ways as well. Unlike the more general purpose fluorescent bulbs, LED Grow Lights require no electric or digital ballast,that can eventually burn out. They also emit â€œtargeted light;â€ whereas most standard grow lights emit a broad spectrum of light that includes light wavelength that is useless to plant life, LED Grow Lights emit only that part of the spectrum actually used for photosynthesis. This also means far less waste heat, which requires extra ventilation to carry away. It also means less glare; while this useful light is very bright to plants, humans perceive such light as relatively dim. This also eliminates the need for troublesome shades and reflectors.

Although they can represent a greater upfront investment, LED Grow Lights cost substantially less in the long run. In the first place, they are not nearly as fragile as conventional bulbs and fluorescents. Best of all, they are extremely durable â€“ the average lifespan of an LED Grow Light is 100,000 hours â€“ which is as much as fifty times as long as that of conventional bulbs. This adds up to nearly twelve years under normal conditions.

Because LED Grow Lights are environmentally friendly, they will result in healthier, more productive plants. Because they emit very little in the way of heat, LED Grow Lights allow your plants to keep cooler. Plants thrive at room temperature, receiving all the light they require without growth-stunting excess heat. In addition, your plants will suffer less from heat-related root damage that can occur when hot conventional grow lights heat the soil.

With LED Grow Lights, your plants will also require less watering.

Across the board, LED Grow Lights allow you to grow more economically and in a more environmentally-friendly way.

What causes plants to grow better under fluorescent lighting instead of incandescent or UV(blacklight)?

I've been working with three plants under three different light settings. When I finished my experiment, the fluorescent lighting caused the plants to flourish while the other two types of bulbs caused the plants to look unhealthy. Yet, I've been searching to find out what is in the fluorescent lighting that caused it to grow the plant best and can't come up with any solid answers..help?

Plants use red light and blue light. Plants do well when you use cool white and warm white in equal proportions.