LED lamp for indoor plants. LED grow lights

Recently appeared LED lamps are gaining more and more popularity. They can be found in lamps and lighting systems for various purposes. They did not bypass the plants. Today, gardeners are increasingly resorting to the use of LED backlights. Their main purpose is to accelerate plant growth and activate all physiological and biological processes.

What should be the lighting

Due to the fact that such lamps can produce light of a certain spectrum, which is needed for plants, they are used more and more often. Their low consumer power contributes to significant savings on electricity, which, without a doubt, makes them the favorites in terms of the quality of functionality. LED lights designed for plant growth emit light in the blue and reddish spectrum, which is what plants consume.

For planting and growing plants with your own hands, you should familiarize yourself with the lighting for them. In this article, we will help you deal with the main questions on the choice and arrangement that you may have.

Which LED lamp is suitable for plants

If you want to use led grow lighting for your home garden, then it is worth noting that not every lamp will promote the active growth and development of your favorite plants. Plants perceive light only from a certain spectrum, which is measured in nanometers. The human eye perceives each color in a different spectrum, and all colors together are perceived as white. So plants distinguish for themselves two main spectra that are suitable for them.

To activate growth processes and accelerate growth, you need to use grow lamps, they emit blue light in the range of 430-455 nm. It is he who is actively absorbed at the stage of plant growth. When the gardener decides to improve flowering, then a led lamp is installed that emits light from the red spectrum, with a wavelength of 600-660 nm.

Light in any other range has little effect on the development of plants; using it for artificial purposes will rather lead to gradual degradation and further death.

Advantages and Features

If we compare the LED backlight with a conventional lamp, then it unconditionally takes the first place. Having a number of advantages that will unquestioningly help the gardener to grow a truly divine garden:

1. The efficiency of illuminators is very high, reaching 90-95%. Such a high percentage of efficiency is justified by the fact that they emit light only from the required spectrum, without spending extra resources.
2. Energy saving. LED grow lights consume several times less electricity than conventional lamps. For example, a lamp equipped with 9w diodes consumes a total of about 200W, emitting the same amount of light as ordinary lamp consuming 500W.
3. The period of continuous operation of led grow lamps reaches 50 thousand hours, which without a doubt exceeds the service life of any of the similar ones.
4. Such lamps do not need additional equipment, they can be easily installed with your own hands.
5. Low operating temperature that does not affect the overall temperature background. During operation, they do not heat up above 50 degrees Celsius. Despite the fact that their counterparts can be heated to a temperature of 450 degrees.
6. Absolutely safe for the human body, do not emit and do not contain any harmful or toxic substances.

Of course, such a pleasure and is relatively expensive. Not everyone can afford to shell out an amount of 300-1000 dollars for the purchase of such lamps. Because of this, many people are hesitant to switch to the use of LED grow lamps.

Uniel lamps have proven themselves very well. Their power consumption is only 9w, they have a 27E base, the duration of operation is about 30,000 hours. Such lamps emit light in the range of about 650 nm, which has a positive effect on plants. We recommend that you use uniel products, as they have proven themselves well in the LED lighting market.

Spectrum of light of different types of lighting

Let's summarize and list all the main advantages of uniel lamps:

• They emit light of an exceptionally necessary range, without unnecessary energy consumption.
• The duration of work is thirty times longer than that of analogues.
• Illumination angle 160 degrees.
• Work at a temperature from-40 to +30.
• Energy saving up to 90%.
• The standard size and shape of the base is E27.
• Due to the low heating of the E27 base, they do not affect the temperature in the room.
• Suitable for any kind and type of plants.

What you end up with is a fairly powerful uniel bulb that can help your plants without the need for any additional equipment. Since the base is E27, it is suitable for any table lamp at home.

What are plant lamps?

Most often you can use incandescent lamps, as they cost a penny. Also, gardeners often use fluorescent and gas discharge lamps. All of them are much cheaper than LED, but they also have much fewer advantages.

For example, for all but incandescent ones, the base often has a non-standard size E27. As we wrote earlier, E27 fits any table lamp; for a gas discharge or fluorescent lamp, you will need a special lamp or cartridge. All of them are significantly sacrificed in terms of life, and the light spectrum in LEDs is much more favorable for plants.

If you want to make a garden with your own hands, then LED lamps are the easiest to install and work with.

How to organize lighting

If you decide to do everything yourself, then you should know some rules that you must follow, otherwise all your efforts will simply be lost.

1. After choosing the type of lamp, place it at least 10 cm from the top of the plant. Otherwise, there is a possibility that the plants will get burned.
2. If you do the installation supporting the lamps with your own hands, it should be possible to lift the lama to a height of up to 40 cm, this will be quite enough. If you do less, then at some point the height may not be enough.
3. Can be installed on the bottom reflector, it will help to actively develop the lower part of the plant.
4. reflector you can do it yourself, it is not necessary to use specialized ones. Ordinary foil will perform the function of reflection well, it is enough to spread it on the windowsill and it will begin its work.

A do-it-yourself design should work for about 12-15 hours a day. Thus, you simulate a normal light day. Then turn it off for about 8-10 hours. So that the plants have time to rest and accumulate strength for further growth.

Many vegetable crops need a twelve-hour day for full development: the sun in the summer rises around 5-6 in the morning, sets somewhere around 20-21. In early spring, when it's time to start growing seedlings, this period is four to five hours shorter than necessary. Artificial lighting is used to simulate natural conditions. Experienced gardeners actively use LED or LED lamps for greenhouses. Their features and methods of use are described in the article.

Farms use modern lighting technologies

Features of artificial lighting

For plant breeding, electric light sources are most often used. Ordinary incandescent lamps illuminating apartments or offices are not suitable for such purposes. They must be special, designed to stimulate growth. During their operation, electromagnetic spectrum waves are emitted that have a positive effect on photosynthesis, a full-fledged imitation of sunlight occurs.

An interesting fact: the Russian botanist A. S. Famitsyn was the first to use artificial lighting in crop production. Back in 1868, these were kerosene stoves.

Sunlight is simulated by color temperature, spectral characteristics, and by varying the intensity of the glow. Characteristics of lamps (spectrum, temperature, luminous efficiency) are different. They are selected for specific crops, depending on the stages of their development (seed germination, seedling growth, flowering period or fruit ripening), different parameters are used. Luminaires are designed for use in large farms, but their successful use at home is possible.

Natural light has a temperature of 5000 K. What is visible to our eye changes during the day, depends on weather conditions, the height of the sun. In summer, light hits the earth's surface at almost a 90° angle. At the initial stage of vegetation, plants need the rays of the blue part of the spectrum, at the reproductive stage - red-orange. Standard lamps work with a color temperature of 2700 K (this is the yellow-orange range), so they are not very suitable for plants. Fluorescent lamps white light give 4200 K, which is already closer to optimal conditions.

LEDs are produced in blocks

There is a law: the intensity of light radiation decreases with increasing distance to the light source. Based on the formula, it turns out that if the distance between the point and the plants is doubled, the intensity of light reaching the surface will become four times less! Therefore, it is not enough just to choose lamps with the necessary parameters, you need to correctly calculate the optimal distance so that the crops develop as expected. For the same reason, farmers try to place seedlings more compactly so that the light does not scatter, is not wasted.

For additional illumination use fluorescent lamps, gas-discharge, LED. Large greenhouses are equipped with HP sodium lamps. They are used mainly during the period of active growth and fruiting - they give a reddish radiation that promotes flowering, fruit set. Ultra-modern greenhouse complexes have special phytoactive light bulbs made on the basis of LEDs.

Interesting fact: NASA recently successfully conducted a test to grow vegetables in space, during which it was used LEDs.

What kind of light to choose for plants

Each vegetable crop has specific lighting requirements. How larger size plants, the more light it needs. With insufficient light, growth slows down, regardless of other conditions: humidity, amount of fertilizers, use of growth stimulants, etc. Vegetables develop in daylight, white LED is optimal for them.

Tomatoes grow well and bear fruit under the influence of red light rays.

It is believed that white is the most suitable, since it is as close as possible to the natural solar spectrum. It is universal, suitable for breeding any crops, and provides high performance. LEDs allow you to get it, but there is one nuance that you need to pay attention to. White is absolutely sufficient for flowering plants, for vegetables it is necessary to add other color spectrums, otherwise the fruits may turn out to be tasteless.

LED spectra for plants

Lux is a unit of measure for illuminance, it characterizes the amount of light falling on a surface. A lux is equal to a lumen per square meter. square meter (luminous flux). Horticultural purposes are more suitable for energy illumination (irradiance), which is measured in watts per square meter. meter, or photosynthetically active radiation. These parameters are given by manufacturers of LED lamps. Photosynthesis is negatively affected by ultraviolet rays (wavelength< 380 нм), инфракрасное излучение (д.в. >780 nm), so lamps with this range are not used.

LEDs are the most modern option for seedlings. The light emitted by them lies in a narrow range, in other words, the crystal forms a specific spectrum, which one depends on the composition of the semiconductors used. By applying red, yellow and blue LEDs at the same time, a visible white spectrum (RGB model) is obtained. In greenhouses, the emphasis is on red-blue radiation, which is combined with white.

They produce panels for side illumination of plants

An interesting fact: yellow and red diodes were invented back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and blue ones appeared only 70 years later, they were quite expensive. For the invention of the affordable blue diode in the 90s, a group of Japanese scientists received the Nobel Prize.

For plant breeding, it is worth giving preference:

• LEDs with a blue spectrum (430-355 nm), which are used during the growing season. Light with such a wavelength favorably affects the formation of crops, increases the stress resistance of seedlings.
• Red spectrum (660 nm) applied during flowering. The red-orange color range contributes well to the development of fruits, the root system, and stimulates the growth of green mass.

Advantages of LEDs

• durability (fifteen-hour daily use is possible for five to twenty years, the service life of the product depends on the manufacturer).
• directivity of radiation (no need for lamps with reflectors, handicraft foil screens, etc.);
• the intensity is adjustable (they have special regulators that set required parameters);
• energy consumption is minimal (of the lamps existing on the modern market, LEDs consume the least electricity.
• installation is simple;
• safety for plants (contact does not cause burns);
• the backlight does not change the temperature regime of the room (the temperature does not rise, since the lamps do not heat up above 40-50 ° C);
• ecological purity.

There is also a disadvantage

The disadvantage of LEDs is only one (hopefully temporary) - the cost. But since utility prices rise regularly and LED lighting allows you to pay ten times less, the high initial outlay quickly pays off.

Lighting for greenhouse conditions

In our regions, greenhouses grow mainly light-loving vegetable crops: tomatoes, cucumbers, various types of greens, salads, peppers, radishes, etc. The minimum required lighting is 10 hours a day, ideally 12.

In small farms and in industrial winter greenhouses, artificial lighting is used in two versions:

• as an additional source of light in the daytime, necessary to increase the length of daylight hours.
• as a constant source that provides round-the-clock lighting (the option is a complete replacement for natural light, often used in greenhouses where flowers are grown, for example, roses or tulips).

For the greatest efficiency, they try to place LED lamps closer to the plants, the distance of 15-30 cm is considered optimal, but more is allowed. Distances are calculated mathematically for each greenhouse, and their required number is also determined.

LED lighting can be effectively placed just above the plants

Lamps for greenhouses

When choosing, pay attention to the power, the amount of radiation, the color spectrum of the device and the base. Special devices consist of a base, a housing, a board, an electronic driver and a plastic hemisphere. You can use conventional fixtures, but they are less energy efficient and do not allow you to control the intensity.

More often they buy ready-made devices. They produce ceiling blocks and panels for side lighting. You can try to make LED lamp for plants with their own hands. The necessary components are sold in stores selling this product.

The physiological processes of plants depend on lighting, and, accordingly, the yield of vegetable crops and flowering in ornamental species. All plants have different light preferences, both in intensity and duration, and in spectral composition. In conditions of lack of light, indoor plants are provided with artificial lighting using gas discharge lamps, fluorescent or incandescent lamps. Consider the advantages and disadvantages LED lamps for artificial lighting of plants.

LED plant lights have several obvious advantages and are suitable for greenhouses, hydroponic systems, houseplants, display cases, etc.:
- thanks to the combination of several colored LEDs in the lamp and the monochrome of each of them, LED lamps for illumination, they have only the spectra of light radiation necessary for plants, which enhance photosynthesis, which leads to their rapid growth. At the same time, only 10% of the energy and about 35% of the light produced by metal halogen lamps is useful for plant growth. For example, the spectral configuration of a 10W Diamond Grow LED grow light is Red 660nm, Red 630nm, Blue 450nm, Green 525nm, White 7000K. This ratio is standard for growth and flowering and is ideal for for any type of plants;
- LED lamp for illumination of plants consume little energy. In practice, energy savings in comparison with gas discharge lamps can reach 80%. This means that with the optimal configuration, you can achieve the same performance from a 480W LED backlight and a 700W HPS lamp. Here, light output does not play a major role, but the spectrum of light that creates high performance is important. To the human eye, of course, a 700W HID lamp will be much brighter than an LED lamp, if you can look at it at all. But 70% of the light it emits is not absorbed by the plant. The efficiency of a 480-watt indoor plant lighting system is similar to a 700-watt HPS lamp;
- the service life of LED lamps for plants is 50,000 hours, i.е. in conditions of everyday use of 16 hours a day, they will last for 11.5 years without loss of performance. Incandescent lamps, by comparison, have a lifespan of only 1,000 hours. LED grow lamps are specifically designed for long-term use. The most common backlight modes are from 12 to 16 hours a day. But lamps are designed for even longer use, subject to operating conditions;
- LED lamps for plants practically do not heat up. This eliminates the need for refrigeration and allows them to be placed closer to the plant for better light. Usually the recommended distance to the LED lamp in the winter garden or in hydroponics is about 25-35 cm;
- LED lamps are universal: they do not require the use of special cartridges, additional reflectors, protective glasses and ballast. They have a directional light and a standard E27 base or others. Such artificial lighting allows you to grow both tomatoes and orchids. LEDs will not scorch young or tender plants.
- LEDs are environmentally friendly, do not contain mercury and other harmful substances.
- among other things, LED lamps are effective details of interior design. The plants illuminated by them look very attractive in multi-colored rays of light.
The disadvantage of such lamps is still their price. You can buy 10W "diamond" LED plant lamps for about 10 euros apiece.
The disadvantages include the lack of special protection against moisture, because they are placed, as a rule, in a humid environment.

Calculation of the required number of LED lamps for plants per square meter

Ornamental flowering plants, cacti and tomatoes have different lighting needs. To calculate the number of LED lamps, we need to know their luminous flux and distance from the plant. The angle of incidence of the light is also important. Suppose we need to highlight a plant that loves diffused light. This is approximately 3000 lux. The diamond LED plant lamp has a luminous flux of 500 lm. The height of its pendant is 30 cm. The illumination under the lamp will be 500/0.3*0.3=5555 lux. Taking into account losses, this figure will be 3890 lux. Those. One 10W lamp is sufficient.