LED lighting for indoor growing: a powerful tool
Finding LED lighting installed in an indoor grow is beginning to not be surprising. Over the years, this technique has gained a lot due to its enormous advantages for any type of crop and its versatility: you can have the plants you want regardless of whether you are an important scientist or someone who lives in the center of a big city.
1 LED lighting for indoor growing: a powerful tool
The great energy savings generated by LED lighting is one of the main reasons for this boom: depending on the type of plant, there are crops that may need up to 18 uninterrupted hours of light. With the specific use of LED lamps for indoor growing, the cost can be 25 times better than with certain traditional lights.
2 The influence of the light spectrum
The light that plants receive daily is essential to activate photosynthesis, that chemical process so explained in schools and which turns out to be vital for the survival of any plant. Only with light can this process be activated. If a plant does not receive the necessary light, it will not grow or will do so in poor conditions. Furthermore, thanks to the use of the so-called “Grow lamps” you can easily manipulate the light spectrum (especially due to the different colors that can be used) that the plants receive from an indoor crop. By replacing old systems with more current ones, installations can be created in which separate spectra are emitted and necessary for the growth and flowering of plants. Temperature also stands as a differential value: LEDs do not emit as much heat as traditional bulbs, so they can be placed closer to the plants without fear of damaging them.
3 What can each type of LED provide?
Thanks to LED lights for indoor growing, plants can absorb much more light than with halogen lamps. And due to their already mentioned versatility, they can be installed in greenhouses, controlled growth chambers or aquariums. These are some LEDs that can be used depending on each specific need and that, of course, can be installed in combination so that each one performs its function:
- Red LEDS: not only do they provide the infrared rays that any plant needs to flourish, but they are also a perfect natural insect repellent.
- White LEDS: in the absence of natural light, they are the best alternative to achieve something similar to it.
- Blue LEDS: essential to provide the UV rays that plants require to grow correctly.
4 Science already uses LED lamps for indoor growing
There are already voices that assure that being able to effectively illuminate a crop with LED lights to manipulate light spectrums will soon be the key to the start of a new food revolution. A perfect example that this might not be something very far away is found at the University of the Netherlands, where Professor Leo Marcelis has a greenhouse in which he uses different colored lights to “modify the smell, flavor and even the vitamin content of his tomatoes”, as they explain in this report. In the case of Marcelis, only by playing with the light and the balance between all the LED colors that come into play does he have absolute control of what happens to his plants: if he wants more efficient growth he squeezes out the red light, to generate smaller tomato plants he opts for green LEDs, while the blue color is the tool he uses to create tomatoes that contain more antioxidants That is, thanks to the benefits of the LED bulbs specific for crops, humans may be faced with the tool that would provide solutions to current and near-future problems: we could be able to generate all the demand for protein that developing countries need to consume, for example.
5 Orchards and gardens
They are a more urban trend with less impact, but they also need lighting. An indoor garden allows you to eat organic food on a small scale, even if you live in the center of a big city. Knowing that LEDS embody a powerful tool to get the most out of an indoor crop, it is worth knowing some additional tips:
- When plants are starting to grow is when they need the most light. The necessary LED grow lamp must be correctly selected and the separation between the light source and the plants must be adapted, although knowing that they will never burn.
- Some devices, such as the PAR38 LED Grow lamp, help the complete growth cycle of the plant, from germination to maturation, thanks in large part to the diffuser it has that allows the light to be distributed evenly.
- A good timer is a perfect additional help to control the light flows that each plant needs on a daily basis.
