Grow Lights For Indoor Gardening
Article by Wayne Hemrick
Plants need light in order to grow. They use light for the process of photosynthesis, which allows plants to convert sunlight to energy. Most plants get their light from the sun, but this is usually impossible if you are attempting to grow plants indoors. In this situation, you will need to offer your plants the light they need with indoor growing lights. A grow light, also known as a grow lamp, produces bright light that gives your plants what they require to thrive in a greenhouse, or in a room in your home.
There are many different types of growing lights available for the indoor gardener to use. One popular type of grow lamp family that you will come across as you shop for grow lights are HID lights, or high-intensity discharge lights. This type of grow lamp produces a strong light, which is what is needed for good plant growth. When plants have to struggle to reach for a weak light source, they develop spindly stems, which is the opposite of what you want to produce, namely, a stocky and sturdy plant stem. There are many different types of HID growing lights available, including the High Pressure Sodium light. As the name implies, the High Pressure Sodium light uses sodium as the medium through which the electrical charge is run, producing the light that is contained inside the grow light. You will find a High Pressure Sodium light is available in several different wattages. You might use a lower wattage to light a smaller amount of square feet, or you could use several smaller lights grouped together to light a larger space. A HID grow lamp will also require a ballast. The best ballasts are the newer digital ones, because they offer greater control over the amount of electrical current that is allowed to flow through the tube of the lamp.
The idea behind these lights is that you want to, as best as possible, use them to mimic natural sunlight. Sunlight is the brightest form of natural light, so a bright light bulb is what you want. But the light also needs to imitate the color spectrum that sunlight produces as well. It is important to note that the light color spectrum that your plants require may change over time. For example, young seedlings need light in the blue color spectrum, which promotes plant growth, while mature plants that you want to set fruit and flowers require red and orange light spectrum. Your grow light might only produce one type of color spectrum, or it may offer a complete color spectrum, so you will want to check this prior to making a purchase.
About the Author
In this article Wayne Hemrick writes about grow lights