The content of the article:
The arrival of the long-awaited spring for many summer residents is associated with the beginning of a new season. Its start begins with sowing seeds and growing seedlings most often on the windowsill. On the part of the vegetable grower a lot of time and effort is applied to get good shoots. One of the directions of the successful process of growing is the correct illumination of seedlings at home.
Lighting for seedlings
Seeding for seedlings is usually in January and February. These months are not characterized by good solar activity, and the light day is very small. In addition, if the shoots are to grow on the windowsill of the ground floor, or on the north side, then the primary task of the amateur grower is to arrange lighting the seedlings of the house.
To obtain strong and healthy seedlings, the plant should receive at least 10-14 hours of daylight. Natural conditions during this period, such a light regime can not provide. And the seedlings, standing on the windowsill, are strenuously drawn to the window. In this case, one can observe a sad picture: the plants become thin, elongated and weak.
Some owners try to find a way out by installing a mirror or a foil behind the plants. However, the obtained amount of light still does not correspond to the norm. In addition, the movement of the sun makes you constantly change the position of the reflecting surface, which becomes a headache for the vegetable grower.
Also used are obsolete lamps for seedling seedlings. But this option can very much dry up young shoots and even burn. Therefore, when using an incandescent lamp to illuminate seedlings, you must observe a certain distance during installation. Consumption of a large amount of electricity by such lamps and not the possibility of creating the required spectrum of light does not make them effective for the illumination of seedlings at home.
Basic requirements for seedling lighting
The luminaire for seedlings must meet the following requirements:
- For a good growth of young plants, a certain color spectrum is required. When choosing lamps for seedling seedlings, it is better to give preference to instruments with red or blue rays.
- The main purpose of the lighting source is to light, not overdry and raise the air temperature.
- The beams of the luminaire for seedlings must be soft and not irritating.
- The container with seedlings should be illuminated evenly. Lighting for domestic seedlings should be taken even by extreme plants.
To obtain good seedlings, it is important to choose the correct duration and intensity of seedlings. The intensity of illumination will depend on the selected lamp power and the distance from it to the surface. To create optimal conditions for installing a luminaire for seedlings lightening will help a simple rule. In order not to overdry the plant it is necessary to put a hand on the illuminated surface. If the heat is felt, then the appliance should be removed.
The most acceptable for plants is the level of illumination within 8 thousand. suite. The illumination of seedlings at home by artificial means allows achieving illumination up to 6 thousand. suite. A similar result can be achieved when lighting shoots not only in the morning or evening, but also on cloudy days.
To determine whether a plant needs additional light is very simple. To do this, it is necessary to direct the instrument beam to seedlings and if there is no difference between the illuminated and unlit surface, then natural light to young seedlings is sufficient.
Choose the spectrum of light
For the qualitative photosynthesis of plant cells requires a full spectrum of light, present in the sun's rays. Therefore, lighting the seedlings of the house by artificial means requires maximum identity with sunlight, which contains waves of different lengths and different colors.
Each spectrum has a different effect on plant growth:
- Red-orange light. Under its action, germination of seeds is accelerated, vegetation is improved and flowering is stimulated.
- Violet-blue light. Refreshing seedlings at home with such rays helps to increase cell growth and the appearance of strong and short sprouts.
- Yellow-green. This part of the spectrum is practically not absorbed by the plants, since it is reflected from the surface of the sheet.
How to fix seedlings only vegetable growers. The choice will depend on the characteristics of the room, the stage of development, the type and variety of culture.
Which lamps to choose for lighting seedlings at home?
Experts are sure that the key to excellent plant growth is illumination. To date, the market for lighting devices of this type is represented by a wide variety. However, any vegetable grower will be interested to know which lamps to choose for lighting seedlings at home, so that they are as efficient and less expensive.
Lighting of seedlings with LED lamps. It is this type of lighting that is gaining popularity among summer residents. Since the ratio between efficiency and power consumption is several times higher than the efficiency and economy of incandescent lamps.
When using seedlings with LED lamps, the vegetable grower gets the following benefits:
- Low power consumption.
- The light source can be placed at a minimum distance from the plant, since the lamp has a low temperature.
- The lighting spectrum, consisting of red and blue LED bulbs, shows the best results when growing.
- Safety during operation. If there is splashing water on the lamp, there will be no temperature difference and breakage.
- High environmental performance of the device.
- There is no infrared radiation.
The illumination of seedlings with LED lamps avoids excessive drying of the plant and excessive thermal humidity, which becomes a good medium for the development of fungal diseases.
Lighting seedlings with energy-saving lamps
Another optimal option for summer residents is the use of similar devices. The "housekeeper" is a tube with electrodes. Its interior is filled with an inert gas, and the walls are covered with a phosphor. As a result of this design, after contact of the moving electrons of the inert gas and their passage through the phosphor, ultraviolet is formed.
Ultraviolet rays are useful for plants. They promote more intensive growth of seedlings, which under their influence become strong and differ in rich color. An important factor in the illumination of seedlings with energy-saving lamps is the reduction of various pathogenic microbes.
Also, the advantages of such devices include the absence of high temperature in the lamp. This allows you to maintain the necessary microclimate around the plants and does not allow you to increase the air humidity. Placement of energy-saving lamps near the seedling is considered completely safe.
And in conclusion, in addition to the wishes of a successful season, I would like to vegetable growers to remind fans that no artificial light source can replace sun rays. Therefore, if possible, always take out the plants under the warm spring sun, which will allow them to become even stronger and more enduring.
Video: the advantages of LED lamps for highlighting seedlings
Valery Medvedev on LED seedling lighting
