High All !! Jack Here with another brief topic SEEING THE LIGHT Without light you can’t grow crops. Basically, you need to provide 18 -24 hours of light as long as your plants are growing (vegetative growth) and then switch to 12/12 light and darkness to induce flowering. Almost any old light source will do, as long as it is NOT INCANDESCENT (those give off far too much heat and too little light). As a beginner, CFLs or fluorescent grow lights are probably your best bet. Of course, if you grow your marijuana outdoors you won’t need lamps at all. The sun is and will always be the best light, as long as you’re getting any where you live. A relatively new phenomenon is the use of LEDs for growing weed. Traditionally, metal halide lamps are used during vegetative growth and CFLs or high pressure sodium lamps for flowering. There are also (more spendy) switchable ballast MH/HPS lamps available. More Lighting options are becoming available with new advancements in lighting spectrums for all stages of growth. Indoor Plant Grow Light Guide Horticultural lighting systems allow you to extend the growing season by providing your plants with an indoor equivalent to sunlight. This is a great advantage for those of you who appreciate having a year-round supply of fresh flowers, veggies and herbs. Artificial lighting is also a great way to jump-start spring by starting your seedlings months ahead of the last frost. There are three main types of horticultural lighting systems. HID (High Intensity Discharge) Plant Grow Lights HID lighting is the most efficient way to convert electricity into light that is available to the consumer. There are two types of HID grow lights used for horticultural lighting: MH Plant Grow Light - Metal Halide - MH Metal halide bulbs produce an abundance of light in the blue spectrum. This color of light promotes plant growth and is excellent for green leafy growth and keeping plants compact. It is the best type of light to be used as a primary light source (if no or little natural sunlight is available). The average lifespan is about 10,000 cumulative hours. The bulb will light up beyond this time but due to the gradual decline of light, it is not worth your while to wait for the bulb to finally burn out. If you compare their lumen (brightness) per unit of energy consumed, metal halides produce up to 125 lumens per watt compared to 39 lumens per watt with standard fluorescent lights and 18 lumens per watt for standard incandescent bulbs. View MH & HPS grow lights High Pressure Sodium - HPS Plant Grow Light High pressure sodium bulbs emit an orange-red glow. This band of light triggers hormones in plants to increase flowering/budding in plants. They are the best grow lights available for secondary or supplemental lighting (used in conjunction with natural sunlight). This is ideal for greenhouse growing applications. Not only is this a great flowering light, it has two features that make it a more economical choice. Their average lifespan is twice that of metal halides, but after 18,000 hours of use, they will start to draw more electricity than their rated watts while gradually producing less light. HPS bulbs are very efficient. They produce up to 140 lumens per watt. Their disadvantage is they are deficient in the blue spectrum. If a gardener were to start a young plant under a HPS bulb, she/he would see impressive vertical growth. In fact, probably too impressive. Most plants would grow up thin and lanky and in no time you will have to prune your plant back before it grows into the light fixture. The exception to this is using HPS grow lights in a greenhouse or in conjunction another light source that emits light in the blue spectrum. Light sources that have a high output in the blue spectrum like sunlight and MH grow lights offset any stretching caused by HPS bulbs. View MH & HPS grow lights Fluorescent Plant Grow Lights ACF flourescent grow lights Until recently, fluorescent grow lights have had a low output and have been too big and bulky to be of much use as a grow light for anything more than starting seedlings. CFL and T5 full spectrum fluorescent lights have changed that. At 75 to 90 lumens per watt, these lights are energy efficient and extremely effective especially when used in numbers. Fluorescent grow lights also have better color rendering properties (more of the light emitted is used by the plant) and produce much less heat than incandescent and HID grow lights. This allows them to be placed closer to plants (within a few inches) greatly decreasing lumen loss from the bulb to the plant. It is recommended that these lights be placed no more than a couple feet from the plants for best results. 2700k to 3000k bulbs provide higher output in the red spectrum which promotes flowering. 5000k to 6500k bulbs are full spectrum with much of the light in the blue spectrum which promote overall green plant growth. View (CFL) compact fluorescent grow lights, View T5 fluorescent tube grow lights The standard T12 bulbs full spectrum tubes are fine for starts and seedlings and are popular for growing low-light plants like herbs and African violets. These lights are inefficient and are be replaced with high efficiency T5 lights which are a better light source for flowering and budding applications as well. View T5 fluorescent grow lights LED Plant Grow Lights LED grow lights are one of the newest lighting option for plants. They are advertised to be the most efficient and coolest running grow lights available. We have tested several different types of LED grow lights and have found none that outperform much cheaper fluorescent grow lights of similar wattage. LED plant grow lights are also not recommended for use with plants that you want to be viewed, because they give plants an unnatural appearance when the light is on. Thank You For Reading! Jack
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 23:44:02 +0000
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