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Plants only absorb very particular aspects of light. As far as I remember, it's only visible light, yes. More information here: http://www.webexhibits.org/caus
by tathougies 8y ago
Plants only absorb very particular aspects of light. As far as I remember, it's only visible light, yes.
More information here: http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/7A.html http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/7A.html
Hydroponic lighting is optimized for those particular wavelengths in the ~450 nm and ~650 nm peeks. Some plants absorb additional wavelengths, and could likely be targeted with other lights. The key though is that chlorophyll are like mitochondria -- highly preserved between species -- and they evolved to only absorb particular frequencies.
- mulmen 8y agoThat’s really interesting, thanks for the explanation. Makes me think of tuning LED lighting the same way a mechanic might set spark timing. Obviously in reality the right lighting for a plant is known but it’s neat to be able to see the effect.
- tathougies 8y agoIt may be well known but there are many practical considerations. It certainly requires a lot of tuning. For example, if you want to target all four peaks of absorption by cholorphyll a and b, that’s four wavelengths, but many people settle for just two due to cost. It’s all a giant optimization problem!