Light is life for the garden and its plants. If you understand how plants use light, and the many lighting options available today, you can put together a lighting system that is right for the plants you want to grow indoors. The right light will help to maintain your plants until they are able to venture outside again.
Bright sunshine contains the full spectrum of light wavelengths from red through yellow and green to blue and violet. Plants use all of these wavelengths for photosynthesis, but red and blue are two of the most important. The blue spectrum promotes vegetative growth so young plants build robust, full foliage. The red wavelengths promote flowers and fruits.
requires each plant light to thrive, but some plants need lower intensities than others. Native tropicals, shade-loving forest plants and houseplants like ivy and philodendron not as much light as Mediterranean or succulents need desert cacti. Flowering plants of all kinds, such as orchids and gardenias need, usually to bloom brighter light and can bear fruit.
Immaterial of the amount of light required plants depression need to achieve their other functions of metabolism. Plant preferences for light to dark are divided into short-day, long-day and day-neutral.
short-day plants thrive on less than 12 hours of light in a 24 hour period. Most will also need a distance of even shorter days to signal them to set buds and blossoms. Azaleas, chrysanthemums, poinsettia and Christmas cactus are short-day plants. need long-day 14 to 18 hours of light per day. Vegetables and most garden plants are long day and get pale and stretched when it is not enough light.Day neutral plants like geraniums, coleus and foliage plants are happy to receive eight to 12 hours of light during the year.
Now a days there are dozens of types of artificial light, the plants indoors, from ordinary bulbs and tubes to support super-efficient LED lights. Most are available in multiple color spectrums. Fluorescent tubes put out the light of incandescent bulbs for the same energy three to four times. Their color frequencies run from red to blue, so you can mix and to your liking. Full spectrum or sunlight fluorescents are ideal to start for all plants and for plants from seed. They are often marketed as grow lights. T-8 and T-5 tubes need to consume devices with special ballasts, but less power and last much longer. Cool-white and warm white fluorescent fixture can be mixed in a two-lamp to get a good balance of red and blue light. have metal halide lamps and mercury vapor lamps a strong blue spectrum, high-intensity light good for developing dense, stocky foliage. High-pressure sodium lamps emit yellow-orange light, the better for the flowering and fruiting phase of a plant's life cycle.
LED or Light Emitting Diodes is the latest buzzword in the illumination area. LEDs are extremely energy-efficient; they average 50,000 hours useful operation and generate very little heat, so they can make safe for plants and people. to spend a little more in advance, you will save at least 40 to 75 percent on your energy costs.
Regardless of the type of lighting you intend to adopt for your garden, you need your plants or more times to rotate each week, to the amount of light each plant receives to balance. Replace fluorescent tubes, blacken if the ends begin to keep your plants enough light level. Keep to prevent light from the safe distance yet near burning enough to maximize exposure.
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