Roullette
Well-Known Member
This topic I am doing is on how Light effects your plant and what lighting and spectrum does.
Lets start off with the basics. As many of you know lighting is a pretty important part in your plants building blocks of life.
Every plant has Chlorophyll, And most plants have Chlorophyll a. and Chlorophyll b.Chlorophyll makes it possible for plants to convert dioxide and water, in the presence of sunlight, into oxygen and glucose. This is a Process of Photosyntheses.Chlorophyll is a energy in the form of sugary carbohydrates, which is the builder of your plants growth and also gives it the nice green look we all love.
Since the Chlorophyll is green thats the light spectrum that is reflected the plant leaves are green and the green spectrum isn't the only reflected spectrum of light.Far-red light is also reflected. Far-red is just outside the visible light spectrum. We can not see that spectrum of light but can be sensed by the plants. when there are other plants close by because of the increase of far-red wavelengths the other plants reflect. This tells the plant that there is other plants next to it and the plant will make the plant compete with other plants to grow faster in a race for light But keep in mind the plants do not absorb the far-red spectrum to grow.
Since the plant has 2 types of chlorophyll photoreceptors. The different side groups in the 2 chlorophylls seprate the absorption spectrum to slightly different wavelengths, so that light that is not significantly absorbed by chlorophyll a. But will instead be captured by chlorophyll b, which absorbs strongly at that wavelength.These two kinds of chlorophyll work with each other in absorbing sunlight.
Plants can obtain all their energy requirements from the blue and red parts of the spectrum, In early stages a young plant uses mostly the blue spectrum which is why a lot of people use MH bulbs and 6500 Kelvin CFLs. The Blue spectrum promotes the Growth of the plant itself, this spectrum of light simulated the light put off by the sun in the spring time. And in later stages of the plant uses mostly the red spectrum which is why people use HPS bulbs and 2700 Kelvin HO Fluorescents. The Red spectrum promoted the growth of the flowers of the plant, this spectrum of light simulates the light put off by the sun in the late fall.
Basically the blue spectrum gets your plant get ready to be an adult and the red spectrum gets your plant ready to produces flowers/seeds to make more plants.
From what I have researched 6500K spectrum CFLs are the "ideal" blue spectrum bulbs. You do have to get more CFLs over and around your plant then MH bulbs because of the Lumen out put of CFLs. Same with the amount of HO Fluorescents compared to the HPS due to lower Lumens per bulb.
Now a Lumen is a unit of measurement of light. It measures light much the same way. Now 1 foot-candle is how bright the light is one foot away from the source. A lumen is a way of measuring how much light gets to what you want to light. A Lumen is equal to one foot-candle falling on one square foot of area.
1-400 watt HPS bulb = 10-54 watt HO Fluors which equals 50,000 lumens.
Since a lumen is a measurement of light there for 10. 54 watt HO Fluors will light the same area as a 400 watt HPS.But the HPS has a much higher PAR rating then HO Fluorescent.
PAR rating is Photosynthetically Active Radiation.
PAR designates the spectral range of solar light from 400 to 700 nanometers that is useful to plants in the process of photosynthesis.The spectral corresponds with the range of light visible to the human eye.
Basically PAR is how strong the rays of the sun are and every bulb has a different PAR rating.Winter, suns further way giving a smaller PAR rating. Summer, suns closer higher PAR rating.
HPS have a high PAR rating (about 130-140 PAR watts) and MH has a high PAR rating aswell (around 130-140 PAR watts). Which if to close can burn the plant. Since the HO Fluorescents have a low PAR rating it allows you to get the bulbs real close to the colas of the plants without damaging the plant(about 50-80 PAR watts).no manufacturer will give a PAR rating of there bulbs, why i do not know.
In my personal opinion on researching on all of this I think HPS is a better source of lighting due to the high red spectrum allowing the buds to get the full effect of fall simulated lighting allowing bigger buds.
But I also think that you can get just as good quality buds from HO Fluorescents. You just sacrifice quantity not quality.
I recommend using 6500K CFLs for vegging. you can use mix spectrum HPS bulbs without sacrificing much results with comparison to the CFLS and MHs.
I also posted pictures to help better understand what to look for in lighting.
I hope this will help a lot of growers decide on what type of lighting to go with.
Lets start off with the basics. As many of you know lighting is a pretty important part in your plants building blocks of life.
Every plant has Chlorophyll, And most plants have Chlorophyll a. and Chlorophyll b.Chlorophyll makes it possible for plants to convert dioxide and water, in the presence of sunlight, into oxygen and glucose. This is a Process of Photosyntheses.Chlorophyll is a energy in the form of sugary carbohydrates, which is the builder of your plants growth and also gives it the nice green look we all love.
Since the Chlorophyll is green thats the light spectrum that is reflected the plant leaves are green and the green spectrum isn't the only reflected spectrum of light.Far-red light is also reflected. Far-red is just outside the visible light spectrum. We can not see that spectrum of light but can be sensed by the plants. when there are other plants close by because of the increase of far-red wavelengths the other plants reflect. This tells the plant that there is other plants next to it and the plant will make the plant compete with other plants to grow faster in a race for light But keep in mind the plants do not absorb the far-red spectrum to grow.
Since the plant has 2 types of chlorophyll photoreceptors. The different side groups in the 2 chlorophylls seprate the absorption spectrum to slightly different wavelengths, so that light that is not significantly absorbed by chlorophyll a. But will instead be captured by chlorophyll b, which absorbs strongly at that wavelength.These two kinds of chlorophyll work with each other in absorbing sunlight.
Plants can obtain all their energy requirements from the blue and red parts of the spectrum, In early stages a young plant uses mostly the blue spectrum which is why a lot of people use MH bulbs and 6500 Kelvin CFLs. The Blue spectrum promotes the Growth of the plant itself, this spectrum of light simulated the light put off by the sun in the spring time. And in later stages of the plant uses mostly the red spectrum which is why people use HPS bulbs and 2700 Kelvin HO Fluorescents. The Red spectrum promoted the growth of the flowers of the plant, this spectrum of light simulates the light put off by the sun in the late fall.
Basically the blue spectrum gets your plant get ready to be an adult and the red spectrum gets your plant ready to produces flowers/seeds to make more plants.
From what I have researched 6500K spectrum CFLs are the "ideal" blue spectrum bulbs. You do have to get more CFLs over and around your plant then MH bulbs because of the Lumen out put of CFLs. Same with the amount of HO Fluorescents compared to the HPS due to lower Lumens per bulb.
Now a Lumen is a unit of measurement of light. It measures light much the same way. Now 1 foot-candle is how bright the light is one foot away from the source. A lumen is a way of measuring how much light gets to what you want to light. A Lumen is equal to one foot-candle falling on one square foot of area.
1-400 watt HPS bulb = 10-54 watt HO Fluors which equals 50,000 lumens.
Since a lumen is a measurement of light there for 10. 54 watt HO Fluors will light the same area as a 400 watt HPS.But the HPS has a much higher PAR rating then HO Fluorescent.
PAR rating is Photosynthetically Active Radiation.
PAR designates the spectral range of solar light from 400 to 700 nanometers that is useful to plants in the process of photosynthesis.The spectral corresponds with the range of light visible to the human eye.
Basically PAR is how strong the rays of the sun are and every bulb has a different PAR rating.Winter, suns further way giving a smaller PAR rating. Summer, suns closer higher PAR rating.
HPS have a high PAR rating (about 130-140 PAR watts) and MH has a high PAR rating aswell (around 130-140 PAR watts). Which if to close can burn the plant. Since the HO Fluorescents have a low PAR rating it allows you to get the bulbs real close to the colas of the plants without damaging the plant(about 50-80 PAR watts).no manufacturer will give a PAR rating of there bulbs, why i do not know.
In my personal opinion on researching on all of this I think HPS is a better source of lighting due to the high red spectrum allowing the buds to get the full effect of fall simulated lighting allowing bigger buds.
But I also think that you can get just as good quality buds from HO Fluorescents. You just sacrifice quantity not quality.
I recommend using 6500K CFLs for vegging. you can use mix spectrum HPS bulbs without sacrificing much results with comparison to the CFLS and MHs.
I also posted pictures to help better understand what to look for in lighting.
I hope this will help a lot of growers decide on what type of lighting to go with.
