In This Issue Making the Most of Your Garden Plants, Light, and LEDs Part 5 Featured Distributor led grow lights available through: Pacific Northwest Garden Supply Cranbrook, BC VIC 5E3 250-489-4761 cranbrook@pacificnorthwest gardensupply.com Featured Product: The SolarOasis Aqua-Bar ABP3 Professional model with 3 LED clusters which will provide expert results in fresh water aquariums up to 20" deep. Receive 10% off of your purchase of the ABP model in the month of August by simply mentioning that you are a reader of the LED Gardener. Order now. 1-866-414-7244 Care to Comment? The LED Gardener appreciates all the input we receive from our readers. If you would like to submit an article or pictures; or if you would like to comment on a current article please send submissions and comments or questions to angela@led-grow-master.com You are receiving this email because you subscribed at led-grow-master.com If you do not wish to receive this newsletter :Request your name removed angela@led-grow-master.com Contact LED Grow Master Global: Admin@led-grow-master.com LED LIGHTING LINKS |
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The number one limiting factor in efficient photosynthesis is carbon sioxide. What this means, is although plants need light, nutrients, and water, it is the make-up of our air that is holding the majority of plants from reaching their full potential. For centuries we have grown our plants in fields where we had little choice but to accept the level of carbon dioxide in the air. By placing compost around the plants we were able to reap some of the benefits of enhancing CO2 concentrations but there was no way to trap the CO2. As more and more growers choose to grow in greenhouses and indoors where it is easier to manipulate and control their environment, it has become more practical to utilize carbon dioxide to help plants reach their full potential. Plants need CO2 much in the same way that we need oxygen. They cannot live without it. We can keep ambient levels through proper ventilation but plants are able to utilize much more than nature provides. The average air we breathe is 300-400 ppm. Plants will stop growing at 150ppm. In a closed growing environment this level is quickly reached as the concentration is constantly being depleted by the process of photosynthesis. Researchers studying the effects of CO2 on plants have found that under otherwise optimal conditions- we can gain a 40% increase in yield by simply raising the CO2 level to 700-1600 ppm. So how do you do it? There are CO2 sensor kits that range from $20 and up to gauge the concentration of CO2 in a room. It is important to know the CO2 levels before you start adjusting them. Levels of 20,000 ppm will make humans pass out and 2500 ppm can give you a headache. Ventilation should protect against these high concentrations, but better safe than sorry. The most common method of boosting CO2 you use already, if you spend time with your plants. Our breath contains 35,000 to 50,000 ppm of CO2. Two affordable methods that would be appropriate for small areas include keeping composting material in a bucket with a gas release valve or creating CO2 by mixing sugar, water, and yeast. To get the most of these methods you will want to be sure that you have a low level oscillating fan to circulate the CO2 which has a tendency to sink to the ground. The ideal methods will require an investment. A CO2 injector utilizes a basic CO2 tank that you fit with a regulator to adjust flow. The basic system will cost around $150.00 and you will need to replace the tank periodically. A CO2 generator generally runs off of propane and can run anywhere from $450.00 to $1,600.00. The upscale versions will monitor the carbon dioxide concentrations and turn themselves on or off when levels are in the range you have selected. We learn about the Carbon Cycle in Elementary school so when I talk to clients I’ve found that the topic of CO2 often gets washed into the “yeah, yeah, I know” category. But what many people don’t know is that extra lighting and nutrients provided to your indoor garden may be going to waste without it. Plants use the light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water which it turns to sugars that form carbohydrates that mix with the nutrients in order to increase biomass. This means that you can pump your garden full of LED grow lights, water, and nutrients but if the CO2 isn’t available to put this process into motion- the plant cannot use it. The moral- make sure you are making the most of the equipment and supplies you purchase by supplementing carbon dioxide. Your plants won’t grow without it.--AL ****************************************************************
How bright does a light need to be to make plants grow? There are two basic problems in determining how bright a light needs to be for growing plants. First, what does "bright" mean? Something that appears to be bright when you look at it? That's obviously not a very scientific way to measure a light source, even thought it seems like a light that looks bright should work better than one that doesn't. But because of the way human vision works, it's not necessarily true that the lamp that appears brighter will grow a better plant. To the human eye, colors that plants don't use very well , such as green and yellow look much brighter than colors like red and blue that plants use efficiently. Thus it's entirely possible to have a very bright looking lamp that produces very little light that plants prefer, while a second lamp with an excellent mix of plant-growing light colors might seem relatively dim. The human eye can't be relied on to determine which man- made light generator is the best choice for growing plants. Second, until very recently it wasn't possible to create a man-made light generator tailored specifically to the needs of plants. There was sunlight, which contains all colors of light in roughly equal proportion, and there were plant growing lamps made by slightly modifying existing lamps that were initially intended to light rooms. Because these early , man-made grow lamps were based on ordinary room lamps, they produced many colors of light that work well for lighting rooms for people but those same light colors aren't particularly useful for growing plants. All meters designed to measure light today are designed to measure only light, and not as it relates to plant growth. There have been many studies to determine the amount of sunlight that's needed to grow plants. Sunlight contains all colors of light in nearly equal proportion though, and plants don't use all colors of light equally well, these studies don't tell you how well any of the man-made light generators will grow plants. All man-made light generators produce only a few colors compared to sunlight, and the colors aren't produced in equal proportions. The fact is it simply isn't possible to compare an amount of sunlight that's known to grow plants well to the measurements taken of man-made light generators. It also isn't possible to compare the light output of one man-made light generator to another, because no two types of lamps create the same light colors in the same proportion. --CEO SolarOasis ***************************************************************** Copyright 2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LED Grow Master Global, LLC |
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| August 1, 2008 Volume 3, Issue 8 |
| Let there be Light! |
| led grow lights at Alfred State |