Natural lighting and artificial lighting for seedlings
Backlighting is important when growing seedlings hydroponically, but growing strong plants without natural light will not work. Therefore, seedlings and seedlings are exposed on the sill of the south window.
A sufficient concentration of sunlight will ensure good growth of seedlings, but if you expose young plants in partial shade, they stretch out to the sun, and you will not get high-quality planting material.
The spot of light is the highest concentration of light. If the plant is under a spot of light, its growth rate increases. Typically, a spot of light from the sun spreads 20 cm from the window and then diffuses.
Scattered sunlight is not enough for the normal growth of seedlings, so gardeners use reflected light or artificial lighting.
Reflected light
Use mirrors to increase the concentration of sunlight. Reflected sunlight is more effective than direct sunlight as it concentrates directly on the seedlings. The most effective way to "collect" reflected light is to put a mirror on the windowsill and turn it to the seedlings at an angle of 45ABOUT... Then the light will hit all the plants closest to the mirror.
You can use aluminum foil to reflect light. It collects sunlight worse than a mirror, but is fine for a small number of seedlings.
Artificial lighting
If you are growing a large number of seedlings, use three types of lamps:
- fluorescent lamps;
- red LEDs;
- blue LEDs.
Blue LEDs stimulate the production of fiber required for the growth of seedlings. Red LEDs emit red spectrum light waves that increase chlorophyll production. Fluorescent lamps have the highest light output, which prevents the seedlings from stretching.
Use the backlight only as an additional light source during winter when growing seedlings. In no case should you remove boxes with seedlings from the sun. Artificial diode lighting cannot provide plants with the full spectrum of light waves.
The backlight for vegetable crops is turned off two weeks after the first shoots appear. In the future, it is used only in cloudy weather. Plants such as petunias or pansies need constant lighting prior to planting in the ground.