A Logical Look at Lighting
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 6:07 pmOkay, we all know there's huge debate about which lighting is better for your plants.
Well, really, NONE. In reality, it's all in how you handle and place/utilize your lights. I've seen impressive grows done using halogen work lighting. Sure the buds were not their best/fattest, but they were dank (once we got cooling issues solved!)
There's a misconception that plants don't really use green light. So why does an HPS lamp, with mostly green output, work so well to produce huge fat buds?
The truth is, plants evolved under our sun. Our sun's output is by photon output greater in the yellow/green range. That is a lot of energy to just ignore.
Some more recent studies have shown that green light may not be so efficient AT FIRST. However, green light is ultimately absorbed with time, and in very strong white light (or essentially under any light source with light levels higher than 400-500 umol) green light begins to have the higher quantum yield as far as photosynthesis goes. Now this has only been experimentally proven in algae, not in land plants, but the theory itself is logically sound enough to give it some weight, especially given how well many different plants grow and produce under a green-heavy HPS light.
So what do we do about this? How do we use this to get the best out of our plants?
In reality, the answer to this question is 'You don't' because even for our favorite plant, lighting requirements can vary wildly. Some hate light levels above 1500 umol (3/4 sunlight) and start wilting or burning easily. Some want as much light as they can possibly get (in some cases withstanding an ungodly excessive 6,000 umol at their tops.)
The only thing you can really hope to do is balance your light needs for your plants. No one light will be universal. As soon as you eliminate one barrier, another pops up. You may have the right amount of blue but now you're lacking red and green, now your lighting is right but your nutrients are off. It's all a game of balance.
LED is certainly the way to go, simply by raw electrical efficiency, but I'll be daring and say that there's room for green light in your grow.
I don't think I could deny these results. 3000W of HPS replaced with 1000w HPS and 560w LED
Getting buds almost as thick as my leg.
Well, really, NONE. In reality, it's all in how you handle and place/utilize your lights. I've seen impressive grows done using halogen work lighting. Sure the buds were not their best/fattest, but they were dank (once we got cooling issues solved!)
There's a misconception that plants don't really use green light. So why does an HPS lamp, with mostly green output, work so well to produce huge fat buds?
The truth is, plants evolved under our sun. Our sun's output is by photon output greater in the yellow/green range. That is a lot of energy to just ignore.
Some more recent studies have shown that green light may not be so efficient AT FIRST. However, green light is ultimately absorbed with time, and in very strong white light (or essentially under any light source with light levels higher than 400-500 umol) green light begins to have the higher quantum yield as far as photosynthesis goes. Now this has only been experimentally proven in algae, not in land plants, but the theory itself is logically sound enough to give it some weight, especially given how well many different plants grow and produce under a green-heavy HPS light.
So what do we do about this? How do we use this to get the best out of our plants?
In reality, the answer to this question is 'You don't' because even for our favorite plant, lighting requirements can vary wildly. Some hate light levels above 1500 umol (3/4 sunlight) and start wilting or burning easily. Some want as much light as they can possibly get (in some cases withstanding an ungodly excessive 6,000 umol at their tops.)
The only thing you can really hope to do is balance your light needs for your plants. No one light will be universal. As soon as you eliminate one barrier, another pops up. You may have the right amount of blue but now you're lacking red and green, now your lighting is right but your nutrients are off. It's all a game of balance.
LED is certainly the way to go, simply by raw electrical efficiency, but I'll be daring and say that there's room for green light in your grow.
I don't think I could deny these results. 3000W of HPS replaced with 1000w HPS and 560w LED
- This used to be 3KW of HPS. Now 1000w HPS and 560w LED.
Getting buds almost as thick as my leg.
- I could knock you unconscious with this.
