By Debbie | 19 August 2021 | 3 Comments
A Tutorial about LED Grow Light Bulbs Parameters
A Tutorial about LED Grow Light Bulbs Parameters
Among strips, bulbs, and quantum board grow lights, the top pick for new growers is always relatively easy and potentially money-saving grow light bulbs. Knowing what an LED grow light bulb matters most can seem like a hard task for them, and perhaps it is. Therefore, it is necessary to read a tutorial on grow light bulbs parameters.
But here is a guide you can follow to have a deep understanding of ：
1. What is an LED plant to grow light bulbs and light bulb bases?
2. Some important parameters that may help you before making a purchase.
We’ll cover the following topics:
What is LED grow light bulb
A Tutorial about LED Grow Light Bulbs Parameters
（pictures are all from Google Search）
What is LED grow light bulb?
It’s fair to say that sunlight is the most essential element in plant growth. Because plants use sunlight to produce organic matter in photosynthesis reactions to develop themselves. While LED grows light bulbs, built to replace the sunlight, are the special lamp that has a specific wavelength to create the best light environment. Which can make plants grow more vigorous and healthier than those that grow in shady places.
Grow light bulbs are different from the bulbs that we use to illuminate our home in the spectrum, but like those normal bulbs, grow light bulbs also have diverse light sources, shapes, and different types of light bulb bases.
Types of plant grow light bulbs
There are five types of grow light bulbs in the market, which can be classified into fluorescent, high-pressure sodium(HPS), incandescent, halogen, and LED grow light bulbs. Incandescent and halogen are blue spectra, good for germination and vegetative stages, but helpless in flowering and ripening. And this makes them less popular than the rest full spectrum types. But LED grows bulb outperforms others with its energy-saving and long lifespan and thus becoming the most popular choice for growers.
Shapes and light bulb bases
The most commonly seen shapes of growing bulbs in American are A19 bulb, BR30, or PAR30. They look less noticeable, well blend with your interior decoration, and offer enough light for your plants in a more harmonious way. And bulb bases that frequently use in the USA are E12 and E26. E12 LED bulb means an Edison screw-in bulb with the bulb bases measuring 12 millimeters in diameter. Though e12 and e26 are more usual, you need to check the light fixture socket to choose the correct light bulb base size before making a purchase.
A Tutorial about LED Grow Light Bulbs Parameters
For an LED grow light bulb that is designed to provide the best light environment to boost plants growth, what matters most are parameters that have a direct effect on plant growth, including wavelength, PAR, PPF and PPFD, and light intensity.
Wavelength
Plants absorb light to proceed with the photosynthesis reaction, but they do not absorb all the components of light which are also named light quality. Light quality refers to the color or wavelength reaching the plant’s surface. And each wavelength or color has its unique effect on plant growth. The most effective light quality is a blue and red light.
Blue light (450-460nm) helps to build a well-developed root system, good for seed starting and germination. Red light (655-665nm) is highly effective at regulating growth and development, this is the ideal light quality to help plants accumulate carbohydrates for growing leaves and stems. And red light works even better together with a certain amount of blue light, so you will see there are many blue and red grow light bulbs that look pinkish-purple when they are on.
Greenlight is of little help to plants but appears bright to naked eyes. And will reduce the “light pollution” by integrating the pinkish purple color produced by red and blue light, enabling manufactures to create daylight white grow bulbs that are much eye-pleasing.
PAR, PPE, and PPFD
PAR (Photosynthetically active radiation) is the waveband that plants use in photosynthesis, mostly ranges from 400nm to 700nm.
PPE (Photosynthetic Photon Efficacy) is used to measure how many efficient photons are created per second per wattage by an artificial light source within PAR (or in waveband range from 400-700nm).
PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) is used to describe how many photons are created by an artificial light source per square per second. This is a term that we can see the efficiency of a grow light bulb. A higher PPFD rating stands for denser output of light. This will enable plants to grow faster and better. So remember to make a comparison of the PPFD footprint map of the grow bulbs that you are interested in.
Light intensity
A Higher PPFD rating means a higher light intensity. As PPFD increases, the photosynthetic rate will increase and so do the production. But plants’ reaction rate will not keep increasing as the PPFD increases. That’s because plants have different compensation points and saturation points.
The light compensation point means that at a certain light intensity, the photosynthetic rate on a leaf is equal to the respiratory rate, which also means the net photosynthetic rate is zero.
The light saturation point means that at a certain light intensity, the photosynthetic rate eventually reaches its maximum. The photosynthetic rate will not keep increasing as the light intensity increases.
A higher PPFD rating grows light bulb has a higher efficiency but a higher cost at the same time. Choosing a grow bulb with a high PPFD rating for plants that has a low light saturation point may seem like wasting energy and your money. So it’s better to understand what light intensity do your plants need ahead of time. Here is the compensation point and saturation point of some common plants for your reference:
| Light compensation point and saturation point of some plants | ||
| Variety | Light compensation point | Light saturation point |
| Tomato | 53.1 | 1985 |
| Cucumber | 51 | 1421 |
| Pepper | 80 | 1719 |
| Eggplant | 50 | 1400 |
| Lettuce | 59.6 | 1320 |
| Strawberry | 43 | 320 |
| Grape | 50 | 484 |
| Rose | 52 | 550 |
| Orchid | 60 | 620 |
Now that you have understood deeply what is LED grow light bulbs and their key parameters such as wavelength and light intensity, we believe you could easily choose the right bulb for your plants. Happy plant parenting!
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