If you ever spare a thought of growing plants in artificial lights, then you must have encountered so many of questions blocking down your way. Since we have been taught that plants mandatorily require sunlight to grow, so the concerns coming out are quite obvious.
However, modern gardening is certainly more advanced and robust to the traditional one. Earlier, when there was no concept introduced for the grow lights, we were limited to sun rays for the photosynthesis process that is primarily responsible for the growth of plants.
Now if you may ask, can plants really grow in artificial light. The answer is:
Yes, but it depends on the few things. The critical factor that you ought to know when doing indoor plantation is, how much, and what type of different light plants require in order to grow well. You can get 1000 watt led grow light from Republic lab.
Undoubtedly, you must be now getting tons of skeptical thoughts sprouting on your mind. But worry not, below we have briefed all the essential factors that you should consider while growing plants indoors with artificial or LED lights.
How does artificial light aid in the indoor plantation?
To understand how does artificial lights help the plants, you must first determine what all is necessarily required for the plant’s growth. It is the process called photosynthesis.
The artificial lights which are used for indoor plantation are known as grow light or plant light. It helps the plants in growth stimulation by adequately replicating the sun’s wavelengths. The emission of these lights is appropriate for the photosynthesis.
What all these electric grow lights do to the plants is, it mimics the much-needed light spectrum and heat to the plants. Now there is no need for you to be a slave of sunlight for cultivating plants indoors; with the help of grow lights, now you can encourage the growth of the plants, even in the rooms having no windows.
The photon emitted by the sun may be no different from one artificially ejected from electric light, but they may be dissimilar in color and intensity, thus, grow lights can questionably be used for plants cultivation. The plant light can be used for the places having no natural light occurring or wherever supplemental light is needed for the growth.
The artificial light either attempt to help plants in cultivation by providing the emission of light spectrum similar to that of the sun or by aiding with a spectrum which is more necessary or tailored for the desired plant’s growth.
Do plants grow better in sunlight or artificial light?
According to many reports, it has been noted that there isn’t any significant difference between natural and artificial light to a plant.
Sunlight is undoubtedly a perfect blend of wavelengths required for the growth of the plants, however, with the evolution in the artificial grow lights, now it is possible to provide the ideal wavelengths that are more tailored for the needs of the plants getting cultivated.
Another factor that needs to be considered is, different plants have different requirements in terms of light intensity. For instance, there are few tropical plants that need under the light as dim as 50-foot candles in order to throw flower reaction to the plant.
Also, there are plants that will not start flowering until subjected to the full sun. The growth is highly dependent on the required light intensity of the plant being grown.
Sunlight gives exactly what all are the needs of a plant. But you wouldn’t find much difference between growing plants in sunlight or artificial LED lights unless you are not able to provide the full light spectrum to the plants kept indoors. All you need to understand is plant necessities and light.
Furthermore, indoor farming under artificial lights gives you more control over different factors responsible for quicker and healthier growth. The only notable advantage natural sunlight have to the artificial is intensity.
Can you use regular led lights for grow lights?
If you are just starting with an indoor plantation, then perhaps there is a great chance you are questioning yourself if you really require the grow lights or may regular LED lights can do the wonder for you.
As we know, grow lights are specifically designed to stimulate the plant’s growth and comes with a serious balance of wavelengths and spectra. Whereas the regular household LED lights can’t precisely match those detail, thus aren’t really sufficient for plants growth and yield.
The few important keys features that you should know before going for any sort of artificial lights are as follows:
- Wavelength
- Intensity
- Color Spectrum
If you are using the typical LED lights for your indoor farming, then you cannot be ever sure about the aforementioned factors, that happen to be the must look features. Although, it varies from brand to brand, hence, going for the plant lights is the only best option, if you want to escape from the unnecessary hassle of trial and error.
How far should LED lights be from plants?
Most often, indoor growers mess up with the lights placing distance that makes a difference between a plant that abundantly grows, and one that dies.
To determine the best distance for positioning the grow lights to the plants can be done through the various methods. Using the multiple mathematical relationships, you can accurately get the distance you should consider, but that could be very complex for one having little known of the technical knowledge.
But fortunately, there is also a process called “hand test,” that you can follow if you don’t want to get into the intricacies.
All you need to do is, leave your hand under the grow lights for the 30 seconds, and if the heat you find it unbearable, then the lights are quite close to the plants, and you should get them more distanced.
We hope this helped you answering your queries, and if it did, don’t forget to share your thoughts.
navraj singh
great
Nippon
Fabulous information! Thank You!!