?Which indoor grow lights should you buy? well as makes and models change,and its not as if I buy every one, although I have owned a few, one of my favored reflectors is what?s known as a air cooled.
Plants interact with light whether from the sun or indoor grow lights in complicated ways. Since light is often the most limiting factor in hydroponic crop production, other than its own potential it pays for growers to learn about plant light interactions.
As we all no from are school biology days that plants convert light to energy, ?sugars? which is called photosynthesis, theirs two primary reactions that drives this process, which is
Chlorophyll A has an absorption peak at 440nm and again at 660nm although much smaller than the first, while Chlorophyll B have a peak 460nm and again at 670nm, the two compounds absorb mostly in the blue and red parts of the spectrum, the rest of the light spectrum is also used, but to much lesser degree, so what?s left is mainly reflected away, so it these peak, known as absorption peaks.
A 400 watt HID emits around 130 watts of light that?s in the photosynthetically active range, or PAR for short, meaning a large chunk of the output is not being used, but looks to us really bright.
Theirs three main ways to measure light, the first two, lumens and lux are really just a way to measure how much light falls on a given area, and measured at the peak at which we, yes you too, perceived light The white light we see is actually a mixture of wavelengths of various colours-all the way from violet (380 nm), indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange to red (700 nm). , Whereas PAR is a measurement of how much of the light is being absorbed, making PAR the only useful measurement to use for determining what are plants need to flourish. 
? HOW BRIGHTS THE LIGHT OUTSIDE
Well in the height of summer ?feels so far away? the maximum amount of light that hits the earths surface is around 2,600 micromoles per square meter.
But luckily for use the saturation point for most sun loving plant is much lower, approximately 500 micromoles per square meter, and lower still for shade lovers like my hostas
The amount of light a plant receives, has a direct impact on its growth rate. Most plants tend to grow faster when available light increases, however their maximum growth rate is achieved at a substantially lower amount of sunlight than 2,000 micromoles. The point, at which a plant receives more light than they can utilize, is known as the Light Saturation Point. For most plants, the optimum level of PAR lighting is approximately 500 micromoles per square meter yet if these plants receive much over that, they can reach the point of light saturation. In some instances, plants have been observed growing slower when exposed to excess amounts of light, vs. growing in their optimal range. For example hostas are shade loving, I have mine in pots, as slugs really love them, so as an experiment I left one of the pots in direct sunlight for one season, and the affects were obvious For this reason, it is not advisable to supply your plants with more micromoles per meter, than what is optimal for their species
? Making the most out of your indoor grow lights
Which ever light your using in your grow room, its best to optimize your light output, it?s a fault that most indoor grower over estimate the size ? area? of what the light can cover, I?ve seen many illustrations in grow books that show a room, a large on, with a indoor grow lights in the center, with all the other bits and peaces that make up a growing room, all neatly laid out, there?s only one problem with this picture, and that is the LIGHT is left to defuse over the entire room, with only the reflector to direct light.For you to maximize the light you do have, your grow-room should not exceed the maximum sq foot or meter, for the grow bulb you?ve bought, a little under is better.
Return To Grow Lights For Plants From Indoor Grow Lights and Their Spectrum
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