Lighting Spectrum for Growth and Flowering
The basic colors needed for the complete cycle of plant growth and flowering are red and blue. These two basic colors have the greatest impact on proper plant photosynthesis. If you are looking for the most suitable type of lighting for your growing space, we recommend that you continue reading to learn more about this rather extensive topic, including both advantages and disadvantages of specific lamp types.
Every radiation emanating from any light source contains a certain color spectrum, starting with blue-white and ending with red. The color composition of the entire spectrum is very similar to the rainbow colors we can see in the sky during rainy periods. Colors like red and blue play a very important role in plant life. Of course, other shades are also included in this scale, which the plant absorbs and converts through photosynthesis into oxygen. However, as in nature, these color spectra change depending on the plant growth period.
Lighting Selection for Plant Vegetative Phase
During the growth phase, plants need at least 18 hours of light daily. If you decide to provide plants with a 24-hour light cycle, you definitely won't go wrong. Plants will grow much faster, but your electricity bill will likely increase slightly. At the beginning, we'll mention classic Metal Halide grow lamps, which have been used for a long time in industrial cultivation during the vegetative phase. They emit sufficient blue-white light that helps plant growth and leaf formation.
This type of lighting is very reliable, but its acquisition costs are quite high, especially when adding the cost of a ballast. Of course, there are also other alternatives to metal-halide lamps, such as currently very popular energy-saving lamps. Acquisition costs are reasonable since you don't need a ballast, and the word "energy-saving" undoubtedly means lower energy losses, compactness, and relatively low heat output. There are energy-saving lamps with different power (W), so always base your choice on the size of the growing room or consult experts in sales locations. For example, a 200W energy-saving lamp will cover a 1m2 growing area, so it's sometimes worth investing in multiple lamps at once.
On the lighting market, you can also easily purchase fluorescent tubes, which are mainly suitable for small clones and can shine up to 20,000 hours of blue-white light. These fluorescent lights do not produce much heat, so you can place them much closer to the plants.
Metal Halide Lamps
+ Ensure constant growth and leaf formation
+ Simple installation
+ Do not require a strong lamp for growth period
- Require a ballast for operation
- Long-term luminosity of these lamps is time-limited, so after a while their light flow becomes less effective and must be replaced
Fluorescent Tubes
+ Can be placed closer to plants
+ Ideal for cloning and maintaining plants in vegetative phase
- Have relatively low power, so many are needed
Energy-Saving Lamps
+ No significant energy losses, energy-efficient
+ No ballast required for operation
+ Estimated lamp life of approx. 35,000 hours
- Require a stronger lamp to illuminate a smaller growing space
Light for Rich Flowering
Just like metal-halide lamps suitable for the growth period, there are also high-pressure sodium lamps (HPS) used for the plant flowering period. During the flowering cycle, plants need exactly 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light. High-pressure sodium lamps emit the entire color spectrum but mostly contain orange, yellow, and red radiation. This spectrum will ensure the correct flowering period of plants. HPS lamps are very effective in terms of rich and compact flowering, and we can personally highly recommend them. Sodium lamps emit infrared light (heat) along with the complete spectrum of warm colors, and the resulting product in flowering is currently irreplaceable compared to competing lighting types.
High-Pressure Sodium Lamps
+ Ensure rich flowering
+ Simple installation
- Require a ballast for operation
- Lamp produces heat depending on power, which needs to be effectively removed using a fan
- Long-term luminosity of these lamps is time-limited, so after a while their light flow becomes less effective
Fluorescent Tubes
+ Ideal for supporting lower plant flowering, where the main light source does not reach
- Low power, max. 36W
Energy-Saving Lamps
+ No significant energy losses
+ No ballast required for operation
+ Estimated lamp life of approx. 35,000 hours
- Maximum lamp power limited to 220W
- Need more lamps, higher acquisition costs
NOVELTY: LED Lighting
As the newest type of growing lighting, LED technology is beginning to be considered. One of the main advantages of all LED lights is their small size. Manufacturers of modern growing LED boxes offer universal blue and red light balanced for plant growth and flowering. Unfortunately, they currently do not contain much green-yellow light. Therefore, they have not yet been widely adopted. Their acquisition costs are also very high, and results during flowering have never been as favorable as under classic sodium lamps.
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