The Bot Bin

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Grow Lights for the Hydroponic Garden

Hydroponics is the art of growing plants without soil, using a solution of essential nutrients or in an inert medium like coconut husk, gravel, or perlite. Whatever the medium, lighting plays an important role in this type of gardening, leading to more flowers and better axillary branching in plants.

Plants require adequate light for photosynthesis to bloom and grow . Lighting systems that provide the necessary light without excessive heat are essential. Hydroponic grow lights also need to be low maintenance, sturdy, safe, and customizable to suit the different stages of growth that plants go through.

Hydroponic grow lights may be High Pressure Sodium lights, High Intensity Discharge lights, or Metal Halide lights. Fluorescent lights are less powerful than High Intensity Discharge lights and their soothing light and low heat is more suitable for young plants, seedlings, and cuttings. Using only these hydroponic grow lights throughout the plants’ lifecycle might however produce lower yields. Mercury Vapor lamps, coated to the blue and red spectrum, are suitable for the growth and blooming stages of plants, though they may be more expensive in the long run than other grow lights.

Switchable systems of hydroponic grow lights allow gardeners to adjust the source and the wattage according to the growth stage of the plants. Conversion bulbs make it possible to change a Metal Halide bulb to a HPS bulb to provide a sodium spectrum in the flowering (red spectrum) and fruiting stage (blue spectrum). Sodium is also used to stimulate late flowering in plants, as the yellow shade mimics the autumn sunlight.

Reflectors and hoods on hydroponic grow lights help cover a large area and are more effective in directing the light where it is needed. Air-cooled reflectors maintain the temperatures in the growing area at an optimum level, to prevent the heat from the lights affect plant growth. As a thumb rule, lower wattage lights are more suitable for seedlings and for larger plants, brighter sodium and metal halide lamps work better.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 8:04 am and is filed under Life Of Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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