Hydroponic Lighting
Growing plants hydroponically indoors or in any enclosed area is not much good if you don’t use any lighting. Without the light and nutrients from the sun, your garden cannot grow without some other source of light and that’s where artificial lighting comes into play.
There are several types of lights and bulbs you can use for your hydroponic setup, read on to discover them and their differences from each other.
Fluorescent Lighting
Better known as “fluros”, fluorescent lights are ideal for plants that require low levels of light such as seedlings or orchids. However to grow a full-scale garden or large plants, they do not provide enough efficient light to grow plants effectively.
Incandescent Lighting
Incandescent lighting is the least effective of all light types. These are your standard light bulbs, found in houses. Although they’re fine for small houseplants, they definitely shouldn’t be used for any serious type of growing. The way in which the heat is generated is not good for plant growth and the overall spectrum of light produced is ineffective.
HID Lighting
HID or high intensity discharge lighting is definitely the best form of artificial lighting to grow hydroponic plants indoors. There are 2 types of HID lights: Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) and they’re generally used in lamps for hydroponic growing.
MH lighting is very potent and imitates the full sun in summer time. MH lights are recommended during the initial growth of hydroponic plants and can be used right through to the blooming stage.
If you’re growing vegetables it’s definitely best to stick with MH over HPS, as HPS lighting will be much too strong. The recommended way in which to use HID lighting is to first use MH during seeding right through to until the flowering process is about to occur. The MH lighting should then be replaced with the HID lighting during the flowering stage, as the lighting is more suitable.
MH lights need to be replaced every 12 to 18 months depend on usage and the type of MH bulb used.
The other type of HID lighting is the HPS light which is slightly weaker and imitates the sun’s strength during fall. As previously mentioned, it’s best to use this type of bulb during the flowering process of plants.
It should be noted that HPS is more expensive than MH but they generally do last longer and need to be replaced every 24 months. It’s a good idea to monitor the brightness of the bulb, as it will deteriorate over time. Please note that you should replace your HPS bulb before its lifecycle runs out, because the strength near the end of the cycle won’t be the same as in the beginning when you first used the light.
Remember planning and research is very important when it comes to hydroponic lighting. When purchasing lighting, discuss your situation with a shop assistant and he or she can tell you exactly which type of light is best for your setup, and how long you can expect the light to last.