March 26, 2022
If you grow plants indoors or in a greenhouse, then you know the importance of light to your plants. But do you know how high light intensity impacts hemp growth?
The relationship between the plant and light has become quite complex. Ensuring that your plant gets constant light is no longer enough. To get a better yield, you now need to focus on other aspects of lighting.
Apart from the spectra of light and its quality, light intensity is becoming a focal point to plants researchers and growers.
The evolution of lighting technology continues to unveil quality grow lights. These products can meet the light demands of plants. However, you first need to understand the effects of high light intensity on your plant.
Once you do, you’ll know exactly how to use indoor LED grow lights for plants. And improve the quality of your yield.
Mars Hydro FC 6500 650W LED Grow Light
Features:
The Mars Hydro LED grow light is manufactured with 2688 Samsung lm301b and Osram 660nm chips. Use twice as many LEDs as similar lights to drive grow lights at low current and avoid overdriving. Quality is guaranteed with efficiencies up to 2.85 μmol/j. Multi-light bar design, the light sheets are densely distributed. Make the PPFD value of the LED grow light range from 1000–1500 μmol/m²/s over the entire effective coverage area. Enhances blue and red light based on specific spectral combinations to accelerate plant growth while improving plant yield and quality. Make sure the plants grow evenly. The dimming function can be used from 10% to 100% brightness, allowing different stages of plant growth and saving electricity. Up to 30 lights can be daisy-chained together and controlled by one master light.
SpecGrade LED Verta-6 Eco 640W LED Grow Light
Features:
SpecGrade’s new professional-grade Verta-6 Eco combines performance, superior engineering, and price. Their fine-tuned mature A1 spectrum will improve tricolor and flavor while reducing operating costs and shortening growth cycles. Verta-6 Eco is sure to be the new choice for professionals to get the highest return on investment. Standard 0–10V dimming works with Grow-Connect ready (daisy-chain) harnesses, making the Verta-6 Eco the perfect choice for flowering and vegetable applications. Its modular design allows you to repair any failed components in the field without experiencing any downtime. A proprietary thermal management system radiates less heat to the plants while providing unprecedented light levels and uniformity.
1. Color Spectrum of the Lights
Knowing the lights’ color spectrum is vital when deciding which grow lights to use. There are three types of lighting: blue, red, and white.
Blue lights are very popular among indoor growers. They stimulate the plants’ flowering stage, helping them grow faster and bigger. Blue light is also useful in speeding up the time between germination and flowering.
On the other hand, red lights are used to keep the plants in their vegetative stage. This means that they will grow taller, but not as much as if they were exposed to blue light. Red light is also used during germination and cloning because it helps speed up these processes.
White light combines blue and red light; it has both red and blue wavelengths in its spectrum. White light stimulates plant growth just like blue light does, but you can also use it to keep your plants in their vegetative state as red lights do. White lights are great for when you want your plants to flower quickly or when you want them to start flowering at all.
2. Intensity
The intensity refers to how much energy is being put out by the light source. There are two main types of light intensity: full-spectrum and fluorescent lights (also referred to as “cold” lights). Full-spectrum lights are the most powerful, and they produce the most light. They also come in a wide variety of different colors. On the other hand, fluorescent lights produce a lot of light with less intensity than full-spectrum lights.
The intensity of your light source is important for growing plants because it determines how strong the plant will grow and how quickly it will grow. The more intense the light, the more energy is put into that particular area of your plants. If you want to get your plants to start flowering quickly, you should use full-spectrum lights or HPS lights (high-pressure sodium) instead of fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lights are great for vegetative growth because they are extremely low in intensity and produce very little heat than full-spectrum lighting.
3. Color Temperature
Colors in nature are produced by how sunlight is reflected on different objects. This is why we see most plants that are green and blue. Blue light, in particular, has a lot of energy that plants can use to grow quickly.
When it comes to growing plants indoors, you will want to choose a lighting system that produces the same color temperature as your room’s natural light. This will allow your plants to use the same amount of energy from your lights as they would when they are outdoors. It also reduces eye strain because it allows you to see more clearly with your eyes while growing plants indoors.
4. The proportion of grow area and plants
When selecting lights for your grow room, consider the plants and the grow area size. If you have a small grow area, you will want to use lights that are lower in intensity and higher in lumens. This will fill the room with light and allow the plants to grow quickly. If your grow area is larger, you can choose lights with more intensity than a smaller space. This will allow your plants to grow faster and produce more buds.
5. Maintenance
You must maintain your grow room and lighting system to ensure that it works efficiently. For example, if you notice that your lights are not producing high-quality light, you need to replace them immediately. Also, make sure that you clean the lenses of your lights regularly; this will help produce quality light output. The other thing you need to do is check the ballasts now and then. If they are getting old, then change them for new ones.
6. Schedule of lights
It is best to set your lights on a schedule. It is essential to note that even these plants need a few hours of darkness every day to get some rest. For example, you can set your lights to turn on at 5 am every day and turn them off at 10 pm. Also, you can use digital timers to set the lighting system up for the night. However, make sure that you do not forget to turn off the lights before sleeping.
7. Heat emission
The heat that your lights emit during lighting will affect the temperature inside your grow room. For example, if you have set it to a high temperature, you mustn’t expose your plants to this heat for a long time. Too much heat can affect the growth of your plants and the yields. So, ensure you are setting the right temperature for your plants. This will help you to have better yields.
In an ideal world, every indoor grower would choose to have the very latest technology and most expensive grow lights, however not everyone can afford to fill a room with high-priced lights. As long as you understand the lighting spectrum that plants require at the different stages of their life cycle, and can provide them with the intense quantity they prefer, then it is easy to grow high-grade flower and large yields as well when it comes to growing plants indoors.
October 20, 2023