Are you a newbie in the field of indoor gardening? Do you often wonder if you have accurately allocated the lumens for each plant? Are you concerned about which of your plants need more light? Are you just curious how many lumens do LED grow lights produce?
If the answer to any of these is YES, you’re definitely in the right place. Read on to find out how many lumens LED lights produce.
The amount of lumens required for healthy growth varies for each plant. The optimal number is 7000 to 7500 lumens per square foot when flowering. For plants that require minimum lightening, 2000 lumens per square foot is suggested.
What is a lumen?
In purely scientific terms, lumen refers to the amount of light emitted from a light source. It is the SI unit of luminous flux. The more the lumens, the brighter the light. Conversely, fewer lumens means dimmer light.
What is the difference between Lumens and Watts?
Just like me, many of you probably grew up believing that watt indicates how bright a bulb is. However, that’s not actually the case. A watt is the measure of energy consumed by the bulb/light and has nothing to do with the amount of light your plant gets.
As you probably already know, LED lights consume much less energy than fluorescent or halogen bulbs. So a 6W LED light can be as bright as 50W traditional bulb if they have the same number of lumens.
How do lumens relate to plant growth?
Excess of everything is bad. So, when it comes to plants, you’re looking for the optimal amount of lumens that are needed for healthy plant growth.
The total number of lumens varies with the type of grow light being used, the type and number of plants, the total area, the distance between plants their height, and the current stage of plant development.
So if you are growing plants indoors, make sure to look up the number of lumens needed by each plant. This way, you can find the perfect grow lights to spark the process of photosynthesis.
Color Spectrum and Plant Growth
Light is crucial to plant growth and overall health. Full-spectrum of visible light is utilized by the plant, with each wavelength serving different purposes in the growth. However, some wavelengths are more important than others.
Scientists refer to wavelengths rather than colors when it comes to plant growth. Wavelengths between 400 to 700nm are utilized by the plant during the process of photosynthesis which is the ultimate energy-yielding phenomenon in plants.
For this reason, the spectral region between 400 to 700nm is called as “Photosynthetically active radiations“ or PAR.
PAR is measured in micro-moles per second. It indicates how many photons from this spectral region fall on the plant in one second.
PAR meters, also known as quantum sensors, measure the intensity of light by measuring the number of photons from a single source that falls on a plant in one second. They are very responsive to emission from LED lights, thus helping you to adjust the accurate number of lumens.
How many lumens do LED grow lights produce?
The number of lumens produced by grow lights varies with the type of grow light. HPS grow lights produce 100 lumens per watt. LEDs are more efficient, as they can produce up to 300 lumens per watt.
How many lumens do you need per plant?
When the winter season arrives, certain plants will thrive better indoors than outdoor. These plants include potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, beets, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, and spinach. But before you get them inside, make sure to know how many lumens are required by the plants.
The list below gives you an average number of lumens per square foot that are proven effective by the users.
- The optimal number of lumens is 7000 to 7500 lumens per square foot.
- For the plants that require minimum lightening, 2000 lumens per square foot is sufficient.
- The plants that require medium lightening, 5000 lumens per square foot should be allocated.
- If the plant is in the vegetative phase, 2000 to 3000 lumens per square foot is the minimum amount. However, in the flowering phase, 5000 to 10,000 lumens are recommended.
Frequently Asked Questions
1-How long should I expose indoor plants to grow lights?
The duration of exposure varies with the type of plant. Vegetable and flowering plants mostly require 14 to 18 hours of exposure to grow lights. Kalanchoe, begonias, and chrysanthemums need 12 hours of light each day.
2-What is the difference between An LED light and An LED grow light?
Regular LED light only provides illumination whereas an LED grow light has a wide spectrum of visible light with high intensity of red and blue that are crucial to plant growth.
3-Can Aquarium lights be used as grow lights?
Plants need blue light for growth and reproduction, whereas red light is needed for flowering. As aquarium light only emits blue color, it can be used in place of grow lights for non-flowering plants. However, if you want to grow flowers, you need to supplement your aquarium light with a red light.
Some aquarium lights do come with full spectrum color. However, due to their small size, you’re not going to have as much luck as you would with dedicated grow lights. In a pinch (whether time or money), you can be successful with aquarium lights.
Concluding Note
Growing plants indoors can be tricky and risky. However, if it’s you’re only option, grow lights can make the indoor gardening stress-free. But for that too, you must remember how many lumens your plant needs for healthy growth. Find out if you can use the regular LED light as grow light.
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