Hydroponics Light plays a major part in your success of your hydroponics project. Most hydroponic gardens are indoors and as such they need to have lighting of some kind. While you may be tempted to try using incandescent bulbs and lamps for light in your hydroponics system, they don’t provide the right kind of light that your plants will need to thrive and grow. Hydroponics systems need full spectrum lighting that mimics the light from the sun. Specific types of hydroponics gardens will also need a specific type of lighting.
Many of you that are looking to put together a hydroponics kit will find that there is a range of hydroponics lighting on the market.
Hydroponic vegetables grow best in blue spectrum light, which is a cooler form of light. Metal Halide lights are the most popular form of blue spectrum lighting. Hydroponics flowering plants grow best in red-orange light. The best type of red-orange light is the high pressure sodium light (HPS).
Blue spectrum light is great for leafy plants, such as Lettuce, Radish, or Collard. It also helps to keep the plant nice and compact. Many can find the plants in their hydroponics garden getting leggy as it strains for the light, blue light helps to combat this. This is the best type of hydroponics system light for a primary light source. The average Metal Halide light gives around ten thousand hours of good light. After that it will start to put out less and less light. The average Metal Halide light sold can put out a range of light from 175 watts to 1000 watts or more. The wattage output you choose depends on how big your hydroponics system is. Are you just putting together a small homemade hydroponics kit or are you setting up a larger hydroponics garden?
High Pressure Sodium lights producing an orange-red spectrum last around eighteen thousand hours of use. It’s best for flowering plants, such as paper whites and iris. The orange-red light stimulates plants hormones, which makes for more flowering in the plant. Be careful about placing a young plant under red-orange light. It may grow very quickly but you will see only vertical growth and it will become lanky and thin. This is because of the lack of blue spectrum light available to the new plant. The average wattage is about the same for red-orange lights, ranging from 175 to 1000 watts. Of course if your looking to cover more area then you can find professional grow lights in any spectrum with a higher wattage.
The best way to light your hydroponics system seems to be with a combination of blue and red-orange light, to keep plants compact and flowering. Or you can simply purchase a full spectrum light. You can buy fluorescent lights for this. They are available in tubes or compact bulbs. Fluorescent lighting is mostly used to grow seedlings, but it will certainly grow a plant to maturity. This type of lighting can be an easy way to light your hydroponics system without the complication of hooking up both blue and red-orange lights or remembering which is which.
By Jack Stone
Hydroponics Lighting: Blue Spectrum V.S. Red-Orange Spectrum
7:47 AM
ThanateTan
