Plants need light, water, tracking of indicators to grow. Plants need light to grow. With the advancement of technology, now it’s possible to grow plants in artificial settings. One can have grow room monitors to aid the plant growth, they help understand the needs of plants in grow rooms as to how much moisture the plants require to a healthy growth with the help of a VPD chart.
In countries where there is little sunshine during the long winter months or where there is no open space for a garden, you can reproduce good growing conditions with an artificial light source, such as a growing lamp inside a tent or growing cabin. Grow lights are a good alternative to sunlight if you want to grow plants indoors.
Grow lights for indoor plants allow you to cultivate a wide variety of plants at any climate during any time of year. These growing lights are specially designed to substitute natural sunlight, stimulating photosynthesis and providing the right color spectrum where the plant can grow and flourish.
Here’s a rundown of the most economical types of light sources available and how they are most commonly used. Grow lights Provide proper light for plants at different stages of growth to dramatically increase yields.
The Veg switch is a blue and white LED only used for growing seeds or seedlings; The Veg or bloom switches are used for growing seeds or seedlings as they have red, blue and, white LED strip that give the proper lighting to plants. They can also use for flowering. The sunlight that plants use converts carbon dioxide into sugars, which are essential for normal growth. Garden plants such as vegetables, herbs and flowers need 6 to 8 hours of sunshine each day for them to set fruit or flower. This feat is nearly impossible unless you constantly move your inner garden from window to window. For this reason, we give our plants extra artificial light to help them grow healthy.
Types of Grow lights available
There are many different types of Grow lights available in the industry, each with their own pros and cons. The choice of the best one depends primarily on the budget, the needs of the plant, the area, as well as the overall design and goals of the enterprise. All types of grow lights fulfill their purpose of stimulating plant growth in areas where sunlight is not available or in short supply, however, depending on the setting, one particular type may be a better option over another. There are HPS (high pressure sodium light), HID (high intensity discharge light) and LED (light emitting diode) light in the industry. Below is a table showing the types of grow light with the pros and cons of each.
LED Grow Lights
LED grow lights are most suitable for indoor growing because they are energy efficient, produce less heat than other growing lights, and emit only the wavelengths of light your plant really needs to stimulate photochemical processes. The LEDs can be placed closer to the plant without absorbing moisture, which means you need to spend less time watering.
Fluorescent Grow Lights
Fluorescent plant light comes in a variety of temperatures. Standard fluorescent plant light is economical to operate and has a long service life. In addition to standard fluorescent light, you also have a choice of cool white fluorescent light or high-power light. As the name suggests, high luminous efficacy fluorescent light are stronger than standard and cold light. Another option is high output / high intensity fluorescent light, which combine high intensity with wide coverage, but are actually cheaper to run than the simple high output alternative.A T-5 fluorescent lamp is a powerful light source due to its small size and emits a more concentrated light. This kind of light is suitable for plants that like shade. This type of lighting is preferred by indoor vegetable gardens where lettuce and spinach are grown, and indoor herb gardens.
High pressure Sodium Light
High pressure sodium light (HPS) are part of a family of high intensity light that emit a large amount of light typically required for plant growth. The combination of metals and gases inside the glass tube produces the orange-white light commonly found in street light. HPS light actually emit a deep pink glow on first impact and an intense pinkish-orange glow when heated. High pressure sodium light are quite efficient at around 100 lumens per watt when measured under photopic lighting conditions appear dimmer than they actually are. They also have poor color reproduction, making them ineffective for CCTV cameras.
Metal Halide
Metal halide grow lights are classified as HID (High Intensity Discharge) and emit a shade of blue. It is the most effective color for plants in the early stages of root growth. The metal halide mimics the light that the sun emits into our atmosphere in spring. Metal halide light have an effective life of approximately 12,000 hours.
Mercury Vapor Lights
Mercury vapor lights can be very expensive if you are growing a large number of indoor plants or a large home garden. Mercury vapor light emit more light and less heat than incandescent light. This means they are a great light source for any type of indoor plant. Indoor grow LED or LED light is a new style for growing indoor plants. These light do not emit harmful heat and emit more light per power; thanks to this, these light can be placed closer to the plants and do not cause harm.
The lights you use should be placed as close to the plants as possible without burning any parts of the plant. A 25-watt incandescent light bulb should be at least one foot from your plants; 100-watt bulb two feet away and 150-watt bulb three feet away to prevent fire. Most houseplants will need twelve to sixteen hours of light every day. In order to stimulate foliage growth, MH light must operate for 18 to 24 hours every day. You only need 12 hours a day for HPS grow bulbs for buds and flowering.
Key advantages of Grow Light
By placing the right light for your plant, you can ensure stable and adequate growth. Here are some of the top benefits of plant lighting.
Energy Efficiency – If we are talking about LED grow lights, we can say that they produce much brighter luminosity than the other sources mentioned above. LEDs are much brighter than CFL, HID and MH. Plus, this utility doesn’t heat up the room temperature, which means you don’t need to invest in air cooling systems if you’re farming in your home.
Cost effective – Because they are energy efficient, they automatically become cost effective. With less energy consumption, they emit a more intense beam. According to industry data, you can save up to seventy percent on your total glow light plantation costs by switching to LEDs.
Durability – LEDs last longer than any other artificial light source. If the CFL lamp of the plant works for a year, the LED stays on for 10 years.
Controlled and Specific Lighting – Another interesting advantage of using LEDs is that it is fairly easy to control the spectrum with it. You can create waves of specific wavelengths, ideal for a variety of purposes, such as flower or fruit gardening. The red LED helps you grow vegetables and flowers, while the blue LED keeps track of the overall growth of the plant.
Factors to consider in the length of use of Grow lights
Most vegetables and flowering plants need 12 to 16 hours of light per day, with flowering plants at the top end of that range.
Give most plants at least 8 hours of darkness per day.
Different types of plants may need different amounts of light.
Darkness is actually very important for the plant growth cycle.
During the day, sunlight helps plants produce energy through photosynthesis.
At night, however, plants break this energy down for growth and flowering in a process called “respiration”.
Check your seed packaging or plant tags, or ask at the nursery for specific suggestions.
Make sure you turn your grow lights off every once in a while.
No one likes to work 24 hours a day – even plants!
Did you know?
Grow lights are used for horticulture, indoor gardening, plant propagation and food production, including indoor hydroponics and aquatic plants.
Grow lights will generate more power than regular household light bulbs. The more intense grow lights are, the more energy they will emit—the high intensity of a grow light will increase the rate of photosynthesis.
Grow lights can sometimes be better than sunlight, even if you have outdoor space too! Some plants prefer indirect or shaded light and wither under full direct sunlight. If you don’t have any shaded outdoor space, your plants won’t do well outside. Similarly, some plants prefer full, direct light