Grow LightsMany people choose to create an indoor garden, at least for part of the year, as this enables plant growth to be maximised in a precisely controlled environment which is free from bugs and disease. Some use a cupboard to contain their garden; others dedicate entire rooms to their indoor garden so as to ensure they will be kept with fresh fruit, vegetables and blooms throughout the year.Whatever the area of your indoor garden, it is important to buy quality grow lights, not only to ensure maximum growth from your plants, but also because indoor gardens are often very damp, humid environments, and the use of cheap, poorly wired lights within these could potentially be dangerous. To be effective, grow lights need to mimic sunlight, as plants use sunlight to make their food through photosynthesis, however, very few of the spectrums of sunlight are actually absorbed by plants. Plants absorb blue light which encourages vegetative growth and also red light which stimulates flowering growth, green light is reflected which is why we see plant leaves as green. The majority of plants need at least ten hours of sunlight a day, this rises to sixteen for flowering plants, this means that when choosing a grow light, you not only need to consider the light spectrum they emit, but also their energy efficiency. Fluorescent lighting is the most energy efficient grow light and also the coolest, meaning it is ideal to use in more confined spaces as it can be placed close to the plants without causing them any harm. Until recently fluorescent lights were not ideal as they did not provide much light in the spectrums used by plants. Recent developments have changed that, meaning that the use of fluorescents as grow lights now results in much higher yields. High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting is the grow light favoured by most indoor gardeners as it results in the highest yields. There are two main varieties of HID lamps used in an indoor garden, Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium. Metal Halide lamps give off light in the blue spectrum and so are ideal for use as primary lighting in a grow room, they do however give off a great deal of heat so need to be hung a significant distance away from the plants and also can only be used in rooms where there is a good ventilation system in place. High Pressure Sodium lamps give off light in the red spectrum and so are ideal to encourage flowering and fruit production in plants. Ideally these should be use to supplement the light of Metal Halide lamps although they can be used alone. It is possible to find High Pressure Sodium lamps which have been adjusted so as to emit more light from the blue spectrum, making them ideal to use throughout the whole growth process. Although HID lamps do result in the best yields, they should only be used in a well ventilated area and hung at least 2-3 feet above the plants (this should be increased for higher wattage lamps). Fluorescent lamps on the other hand are becoming more effective all of the time and are overall more efficient and more suited to being used in confined spaces. Which lamp is most suitable for your indoor garden really depends on the amount of space that you have as well as how important your produce is in your day to day diet. |
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