Red and Blue LED as light for growing plants! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 01:16:57 am
content: Old news...it's been known for a long time.There are plenty of red/blue grow lights available.EDIT: DAMMIT GOOGLE! I knew it would do that. As soon as you type in "grow light" it thinks you mean for marijuana.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 06:35:56 am
content: Quote from: MT on March 14, 2018, 12:02:18 amThink about it for a sec: Why do plants appear green?Because they’re reflecting green light, and absorbing the rest. What’s the rest? There you go.

author: ogden
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 07:15:27 am
content: Quote from: tooki on March 14, 2018, 06:35:56 amRight. Then think whatwhite LEDs actually are. To sum it all up: better use LEDs of proper wavelengths than inefficiently convert light of blue led into broad spectrum using phosphors.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 05:04:23 pm
content: Exactly. Though there is debate in the horticulture and hydroponics worlds as to whether plants benefit from intermediate wavelengths like orange and yellow, as well as non-visible wavelengths like infrared and UV.And some grow lights do include some white LEDs simply to make them more convenient for humans, so we can see discoloration or bugs or what have you.In my DIY grow light (for my calamondin tree and chili shrubs that I have to overwinter indoors at full temperature), I used one 60W grow light strip (4 red to 1 blue), and another 60W shitty warm white LED strip with a dimmer. So if I don’t want the room to be deep magenta, I just add in the white, producing a somewhat ghastly peach light. Normally I leave the white off.

author: TheDane
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 07:19:51 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 14, 2018, 01:16:57 amIf you type in "grow led" on AliExpress you also get hit with a lot of POTential unsafe stuff

author: hermit
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 08:53:34 pm
content: There are plenty of charts on the web showing the wavelengths plants respond too. This is pretty well researched tech.

author: MT
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 10:54:07 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 14, 2018, 01:16:57 amYeeeah right, the video is from 2015...its intentionally old alright.I dont want normal growth rate i wantabnormal growth, i want electric trees, imagine a piezo electric ash/birch/spruce tree, as soon as it blows it generate noise in which you rectify and you get DC.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2018, 11:16:25 pm
content: Quote from: MT on March 14, 2018, 10:54:07 pmAnd I thought I had a strange imagination...

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2018, 02:00:48 am
content: A couple of years ago I gave indoor hydroponics a try. In my walk-in closet I grew some really nice bell peppers and cherry tomatoes using LED grow lights. It wasn't as "maintenance free" as I had expected, so I haven't grown any since, but the lettuce I grew using the Kratky method was fairly easy and worked really well. I used regular white LED shop lights for that though.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2018, 01:01:06 pm
content: The problem I see with these new horticulture products they use some fluid plantfood that only contains what the plants need to grow.It lacks all the rest like some minerals and metals the plants that grow on soil do have.

author: roffvald
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 15, 2018, 04:24:31 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 14, 2018, 01:16:57 amI have a mini greenhouse on my balcony(7th floor) with growlights. Last spring my doorbell rang, and it was the Police, they asked me to see my balcony and I immediately realized what they were after, but I kept my mouth shut. When we got there they opened the doors to the mini greenhouse and saw all my lovely Cherry Tomato plants. I apologized for them not being ripe yet, they laughed, apologized for interrupting my day and moved on.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2018, 09:18:26 pm
content: Quote from: roffvald on March 15, 2018, 04:24:31 pmThat would probably considered unreasonable (unwarranted) search in the US.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2018, 02:21:56 am
content: Yeah, right!!! I'm sure grow lights are MORE than enough "reasonable suspicion". FFS, it's sufficient for cops to use an IR camera to look at rooftops in the winter and see the ones that are "too" warm...