Types of lamps for artificial illumination of plants

lamps for illumination of seedlings Seedling illumination is an important step in the cultivation of high-quality planting material. Artificial illumination became widespread at the end of the twentieth century, when gas-discharge lamps were invented. The cost of such lamps is still significant, since they emit the entire spectrum of light waves, that is, they work like the sun.

Discharge lamps such as metal halide or sodium chloride cannot simply be screwed into the socket. When connected, a system of condensers and cooling fans is used.

It only makes sense to use discharge lamps if you need to illuminate a large area. These lamps are considered professional and are used in industrial greenhouses. To provide artificial lighting for a small area, it is better to use other types of lamps:

luminescent;
LED;
mercury lamps.

When choosing lamps attention should be paid to heat dissipation, light output and energy consumption.

Do not use incandescent lamps to illuminate seedlings. They have too high heat transfer. Young plants will get burned if lamps are too close to them. Such lamps must be removed from the plants at a distance of at least 70 cm. With such a distance, the seedlings will not have enough light.

Fluorescent lamps

Fluorescent lamps are only used if you have a heater in your greenhouse. These lamps have the highest luminous efficacy, but generate a small amount of heat. Fluorescent lamps must be placed at a distance of 50 cm from the seedlings.

Mercury lamps

Mercury lamps have a high luminous efficiency, therefore they are quite suitable for illuminating seedlings. Such lamps have one significant drawback: if the protective glass is damaged, mercury vapors enter the air. If such a lamp breaks, it will be necessary to carry out a complete disinfection of the room.

LED bulbs

The most suitable option for illuminating seedlings is LED lamps. They have lower power consumption and heat dissipation. The only characteristic by which a diode lamp loses is light output. For normal lighting, you need to use a block of at least six diodes.

The advantage of diode lamps is that you can buy diodes of different color spectrum: from purple to red. For seedlings use blue and red lamps (450-480 nm and 620-780 nm).

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