How Different Color Light Affects Plant Growth
Plants need light to grow, but does the color of light matter as well? According to photographer and inventor John Ott, light color greatly affects plant growth. His experiments indicated that color impacts blossoming, fruit-bearing and even gender. Does this Spark an idea?
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Light Quality
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Light quality refers to the color or wavelength the light emits. Red-orange hues have long wavelengths, yellow-green are medium, and blue-violet are short wavelengths.
Plant Absorption
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The pigments within a plant absorb light and use the energy for photosynthesis. Plants absorb different colors at different levels. Blue-violet light offers the highest absorption level, followed by red-orange. Plants are green in color because they reflect green light rather than absorb it.
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Plant Growth
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Blue-violet light promotes leaf growth, while red-orange combined with blue fosters flowering.
Types of Light
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Natural sunlight emits full-spectrum color, making it ideal for plant growth. Some artificial lights filter out certain colors and are ineffective for plant growth. Incandescent and fluorescent light produce varying color wavelengths and are good for growing indoor plants.
Evaluating Light Quality
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A spectrometer can evaluate the quality of an artificial light source by showing you what wavelengths are in the light. You can purchase one or make one at home using a cardboard tube, black card stock and an old CD.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Jan Tik
