How do LED Grow Lights Work

What you must know about LED Grow Lights

Energy-efficient LED grow lights are the lighting of the longer term of agriculture. they’re not only economic in their use but they produce better plants furthermore, compared to all or any traditional lighting options. within the texts below you’ll read how the LED grow lights work, how they affect plant growth, and what advantages the LED lights have over the up to now most generally used artificial lighting in agriculture – HPS lamps.

What are LEDs and the way do they work?

LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) are small electronic components manufactured from two different types of semiconductor material, one having an electric charge, called electrons, and therefore the other having a charge called holes. When voltage is correctly applied over an LED, current starts to flow through it making electrons and holes start to collide releasing energy within the type of photons, light quanta, in an exceedingly process called recombination. the primary LEDs had relatively low light output and limited selections of colors while modern LEDs have high brightness and are available in kinds of colors in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet spectral ranges.

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What are LED grow lights?

As suggested by their name, LED grow lights are luminaires utilizing LED chips in a very modern and efficient thanks to producing light for growing plants. LED grow lights are available in many shapes and sizes but because the most essential units of LED grow lights LED chips have most of the effect on the standard of the sunshine, i.e. spectrum (colors) and photon flux (“brightness”) produced. Since LED grow light manufacturers can choose the LEDs they use in their lamps, it’s important to grasp which type of LED grow light most closely fits the precise application. one in all the benefits of LED grow lights compared to traditional lighting solutions is that the ability to match the sunshine to the requirements of plants.

What is the effect of LED grow lights on plants?

Color variations of the LED grow lights are directly connected to the intended purpose – various studies have shown that certain colors influence plant growth, affecting root and flower formation (blue and red light spectra) which practically implies that the bulk of plant sorts will complete a standard growth cycle if exposed to both blue and red grow lights. Adding other colors to the spectrum, like green, far-red and deep-blue aids this process by giving plants more information about their environment and overall leading to higher quality plants (quicker growth, more secondary metabolite accumulation, etc). A spectrum that contains all colors is termed full-spectrum and mostly resembles daylight. If it’s high proportions of green, the sunshine will appear white to human eyes, and while not an important factor for plant growth, it does make the workaround of these lights easier and makes a visual inspection of the plants possible

How do plants react to different light colors?

UV: PROTECTIVE MEASURES to high light conditions and stimulation of insect-repelling chemicals. Enhances pigment accumulation in leaves, affects leaf and plant morphology.

Blue: Signal for lack of neighbors, no have to compete for light. Stimulates stomatal opening, stem elongation inhibition, thicker leaves, orientation to light, and photoperiodic flowering.

Green, Yellow, Orange: Signal of neighbors, competition for light. Responses opposite to blue light; stomatal closure, some shade avoidance symptoms, enhanced photosynthesis in deeper cell layers.

Red: Lack of neighbors’ signal. The main component needed for photosynthesis, stem elongation inhibition, signal fire

Far-red: signal light; Signal of neighbors, competition for light. elongation, flowering.

Through research, we are able to determine what the optimal light for plant growth is. it’s important to contemplate that different plants react differently to varied light treatments (even different strains of the identical plant). Additionally, a plant in its flowering phase may require a unique light treatment as opposition when it’s within the vegetative stage. When it involves the sunshine itself, several parameters is modified:

Light spectrum (the combination of colors wont to produce the light)

Light intensity (typically measured in micromoles, the number of photons projected onto the plants)

Photoperiod (number of hours a plant is exposed to Light Within a 24 hour period)

Light uniformity (the degree to which the sunshine is equally distributed across the canopy)

In other words, LED grow lights users must exercise a tailor-made approach when raising crops because of the actual fact that every plant species has different needs. In practical terms, this implies conducting trials before visiting large-scale production. (Read more: 8 Tips for fixing Successful Plant Trials with LED)

An alternative thereto is purchasing the LED grow lights from companies that are dedicated to research and supply this data to their customers.

Discover Revolutionary Advantages of LED Grow Lights

In its early stages, LED technology was perceived as rather impractical and cost-inefficient. With the latest technology advances LED grow lights production has become cost-effective. Additionally, the range of obtainable LED chip types facilitated the event of a more efficient plant cultivation industry. When set side-by-side with the normal HPS (high-pressure-sodium) systems, LEDs win in terms of energy efficiency, the standard of plants cultivated similarly as environmental friendliness.

LEDs are simple but powerful, energy-efficient plant growth lamps compared to the predominantly used HPS lights that are gradually being perceived as bulky yet less robust. HPS lamps have a shorter life which makes them costlier in the future. the warmth emitted by HPS lamps is typically good and effective in greenhouse settings but makes them practically useless for vertical farms or growth chambers. LEDs are faster switching, more compact (smaller in size), and are perceived as more beneficial for the environment. additionally, LED grow lights release less incandescent heat which affects the moisture and nutrition requirements of plants. the little amount of warmth that’s emitted is emitted upwards and far away from plants unlike with HPS where the warmth goes directly onto them increasing the leaf surface temperature and sometimes burning the plants.

In essence, the revolutionary advantages of LEDs compared to the traditional HPS lights are:

  • Economic electricity consumption – LED grow lights utilize up 50% of the energy that HPS systems use and a few experts anticipate even the next LEDs efficiency within the near future
  • Longer lifespan/lamp durability – LEDs have an extended generation compared to the HPS lights; for the comparison’s sake, the HPS lamps can last for 1 year while the LEDs might last even up to eight years (which translates into 50 000 hours of use)
  • Smaller spaces convenient – because the LED grow lamps will be set closer to the plants, the growing space mustn’t be extremely high or wide
  • Energy efficiency – with LED grow lights it’s possible to optimize the spectrum by concentrating energy on wavelengths (colors) that are most beneficial for every application and plant. additionally, reduced heat production allows putting LED fixtures closer to plants ensuring less light is lost elsewhere.
  • Fire safety – as LEDs don’t become very warm as compared to the traditional HPS lamps they’re safer to use
  • Dimming – while the bulk of HPS lamps use the complete intensity level, LED grow lights can dim even with a far off control or via an app and thus are easier to handle, aside from consuming less power
  • Better crops – various trials have shown that LED grow lights produce better crops in terms of plants getting bigger and growing faster, compared to the HPS lights. Additionally, LEDs are often made with a spectrum aimed toward a particular goal like anthocyanin accumulation, flowering inhibition, enhanced rooting, etc.
  • More environmental safety – because of the very fact that less heat is emitted which UV light is often added in LED lamps, there’s less chance for bacteria and mold formation which subsequently means fewer pesticides and less environment pollution

If you’d like to get a full picture of LED Grow light I recommend you check out The Truth About LED Grow Lights. 

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