What color light do you use during which stages?

[MrsBearxx]

Hi all! I am brand new both here and as a grower, this is my first time so I literally have no idea what I am doing. My plants are little baby seedlings, I started them on Ostara and they will be grown completely indoors; my grow light is LED and it has three settings, blue red and purple. What color should I be using during the stages?

Pictures of my babies--one picture shows the ones in a tray and the other shows Petey in a pot. Both have blue glow from the light.

 

[Greenjourneyman]

Bruple in the clone cha,her, full spectrum in veg and bloom

 

[Homesteader]

Yeah light is light. Some more useful to plants than others but I wouldn't worry about that, just use what you got. I would try to blanket as much of all colors on your plant at any stage. Don't buy into the whole light spectrum change thing from blue to red/ veg to flower because its marketing BS. If you have a blurple and it doesn't grow plants well, its probably due to its lack of power and not the color. Most of those blurples are pretty weak from what I can see. Inputs equal your outputs. Use weak lights and you will get weak buds.

 

[Greenjourneyman]

No light is not light.
depemdin ton what wavelength in the ems you’re talking about lthe energy has different properties.
The 25-3 um band behaves and has different properties than the 740-380 um band that you and I see. That stands to reason that there are subtle differences in the energy levels and photosynthetic properties of light in various visible wavelengths.
there was a bunch of research in the 80s and 90s around which wavelengths chlorophyll a&bu prefer.
the Bruple light industry of the early 2000s took this to heart with the multicolored rigs.

does anyone know if more recent research has been done on the effectiveness of modern lights?

 

[Homesteader]

White light is blurple with a phosphor coat. Light is light and the plant will respond to it. Your plant will respond more to intensity than it will color. I am not talking about IR or UV, I am talking about PAR, and the visible spectrum and what goes into grow lights. People who hate on blurple read too much garbage from grasscity and that other marxist shithole site without experimenting on their own. It is about intensity more than color. Many of these so called blurple lights are no more than 100ws and that is the issue more than the color.

 

[MIMedGrower]

White light is blurple with a phosphor coat. Light is light and the plant will respond to it. Your plant will respond more to intensity than it will color. I am not talking about IR or UV, I am talking about PAR, and the visible spectrum and what goes into grow lights. People who hate on blurple read too much garbage from grasscity and that other marxist shithole site without experimenting on their own. It is about intensity more than color. Many of these so called blurple lights are no more than 100ws and that is the issue more than the color.

the university of Michigan proved intensity trumps spectrum back in the hps vs mh days. They recommended hps all the way through because it put out the most light per watt at the time.

however. Further research with discreet colored diodes shows blue light keeps plants short and bushy and red stretches branches and grows plants taller. So customizing how our plants grow with spectrum is a real thing.

I like my plants vegged with 6500k t5 fluorescent rather than my hps or even cmh because of the structure it brings.

 

[Homesteader]

Have you experimented with color? You can buy 450nm COBs and try it yourself for fairly cheap. I personally wouldn't grow with one spectrum only but I wonder how many actually have tried it vs just swimming with the school.
If you had around 100w of blue and 100w of red and compared it to 200w of white......I am doubtful you will see much difference if you tried.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Have you experimented with color? You can buy 450nm COBs and try it yourself for fairly cheap. I personally wouldn't grow with one spectrum only but I wonder how many actually have tried it vs just swimming with the school.
If you had around 100w of blue and 100w of red and compared it to 200w of white......I am doubtful you will see much difference if you tried.

No I only tested hortilux blue mh, Phillips 3100k cmh and hortilux super hps. And the t-5’s. I was just adding to your comment that the tests were done and the ratio of blue to red does matter to how the plants grow.

for example my plants flowered much shorter under the cmh than the hps. Way more blue in a cmh.

 

[Homesteader]

Perhaps something more than just color too? I haven't grown with either in years but does one produce more heat if the same wattage?

 

[Homesteader]

Kind of a sidebar but strains with large amounts of anthocyanin will also use red and blue more than a plant without it on its genetics. I am not sure by how much but I would estimate purple varieties use 15-20% more blue and red.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Perhaps something more than just color too? I haven't grown with either in years but does one produce more heat if the same wattage?

that’s a good question. I can say that in my air cooled glass enclosed blockbuster lamp the 600w hortilux blue mh kept the canopy a couple degrees hotter at the same exhaust speed and conditions than the 600w super hps. It also gave almost 30% less yield. All due to less light output per watt I assume.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Kind of a sidebar but strains with large amounts of anthocyanin will also use red and blue more than a plant without it on its genetics. I am not sure by how much but I would estimate purple varieties use 15-20% more blue and red.

The much fuller spectrum cmh turned plants colors much earlier and more than the hps does.

it also finishes some strains almost a week faster.

Intensity beats spectrum if you have to choose but there is a lot going on with specific light frequencies. Dr. Bruce bugby at the university of Utah is and has done tons of light testing. He also sits on the board of apogee. Makers of light testing meters.

 

[growsince79]

the university of Michigan proved intensity trumps spectrum back in the hps vs mh days. They recommended hps all the way through because it put out the most light per watt at the time.

however. Further research with discreet colored diodes shows blue light keeps plants short and bushy and red stretches branches and grows plants taller. So customizing how our plants grow with spectrum is a real thing.

I like my plants vegged with 6500k t5 fluorescent rather than my hps or even cmh because of the structure it brings.

agree- all this has been known for 50 years.

 

[MIMedGrower]

agree- all this has been known for 50 years.

Suspected a long time but the university and nasa did very specific testing to learn how to grow food in space most efficiently. And now there is even more info on frequencies like the far red and uv stuff.