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The Science of LED Grow Lights for Your Indoor Garden
Indoor Gardening isn’t exactly a new thing, but LED’s are changing the way we light our indoor gardens. LED lights are more efficient than traditional fluorescent and incandescent lights. That’s because LED lights convert nearly all of their energy (95%) into light, while other lights turn a significant amount of energy into heat. But, there’s another very important reason that LED’s are more efficient when it comes to growing plants. With LED lights, we have the rather unique ability to customize the type of light that is emitted, and that means we’re not wasting energy to create light that doesn’t help our plants grow. At the end of this article, you’ll understand the science behind why spyder grow light series come in many different colors, as well as why some LED grow lights cost so much more than others.
Plants Only Use the Visible Light Spectrum for Photosynthesis
It’s important to know that plants only use visible light (the colors of light that we see every day) for photosynthesis. However, as the chart below demonstrates, the complete spectrum of light is far greater than just the visible light spectrum. On the outer edge of the visible light spectrum is Ultraviolet (UV) light and Infrared Radiation (IR). UV light is the invisible light emitted by the sun and other sources that will cause sunburns when we don’t wear sunblock. IR light can only be seen with special equipment, like night-vision goggles. Even further out from the visible light spectrum are light waves that we don’t traditionally think of as light. These include X rays, Microwaves and even Radio Waves.
One of the most important things to understand is that scientists have demonstrated over and over again that plants only absorb visible light for photosynthesis. Plants do react to other forms of light like UV, but that reaction is typically negative. I’m told that marijuana growers actually use UV light to induce the production of psychoactive chemicals like THC, which seem to be produced in part as a defense mechanism against the damaging effects of UV light to the plant.
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