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The lack of sunlight adversely affects the development of seedlings. Without artificial lighting, plants stretch towards the window pane. The stem becomes thin and curved. Strong darkening creates favorable conditions for the development of pathogenic bacteria. Plantings are affected by the “black leg”. Lighting for seedlings from lamps will help create optimal conditions for development.
The need for additional illumination
Even when growing planting material in a bright room, additional lighting for seedlings is still required. Sowing seeds in many regions begins in February. At this time of the year, daylight hours are still short. In plants, due to a lack of natural light, starvation begins. With the onset of twilight, the process of producing photosynthesis decreases. To remedy the situation, vegetable growers organize additional illumination of seedlings at home with their own hands, thereby extending daylight hours.
The benefits of artificial lighting are undeniable:
- increase in daylight hours if necessary, early forcing seedlings;
- uniform illumination of the entire area prevents stretching and curvature of plant stems;
- well-chosen light spectrum contributes to the rapid development of cells;
- seedlings that have received the required amount of light become more resilient to bad weather conditions and virus damage.
Knowing the benefits of supplementary lighting, vegetable growers prepare lamps for growing seedlings at home in advance, but they face a new problem. Not all artificial light is good for plants. Ordinary incandescent lamps will not bring any benefit. The emitted light spectrum is not absorbed by plants. Artificial lighting will benefit if it contains red and blue rays.
The red glow is useful for seeds at the initial stage of hatching. The spectrum accelerates the growth of the root system. In the future, this will affect the good ovary and the rapid ripening of the fruit.
Blue glow promotes cell division and development. Rapid growth slows down. The stem does not stretch, but grows in thickness.
Green, orange and yellow rays reflect off the foliage. These spectra do not play a special role in the development of plants, but they must be present in artificial illumination.
Lighting lamp options
When choosing a lamp for lighting seedlings at home, they pay attention to two important parameters: low power consumption and emission of spectra useful for the plant. From the light sources on the market, you can choose from the following options:
- Ordinary incandescent lamps will not bring benefits to seedlings due to the lack of blue and red spectrum radiation. They consume a lot of electricity. However, the lamp emits a large amount of heat. It can be paired with another light source if the room is cool and you need to heat the air around the seedlings.
- The best option is to illuminate the seedlings with fluorescent lamps, which, in terms of performance, lose only to LEDs. Here, the first place is the cheapness of the product. However, the lamps are low-power, and it is advisable to hang them over the seedlings in two pieces.
- Luminescent housekeepers for chandeliers similarly emit white daylight. However, the lamps cover a small area. It is better to give preference to tubular models.
- Sodium lamps have high luminous efficiency. Bright yellow light is harmful to vision, and does not bring much benefit to seedlings. Lamps are suitable as a temporary source of light and preferably in a non-residential room.
- LEDs emit the entire spectrum useful for seedlings. Lamps, lamps are used for illumination, but LED strips and rulers are considered the most convenient. They are conveniently placed along the entire length of the shelves of the rack with seedlings. LEDs are economical, do not emit heat, and are characterized by a long service life.
- If you are serious about growing seedlings, then it is better to purchase a phytolamp for illumination. The device consists of a set of red and blue LEDs. In small quantities, bulbs of other colors can be added. LED lights are on sale. Lighting will be expensive, but it will pay off over time.
The number and power of lamps are selected, taking into account what area is required to be illuminated.
Arrangement of lighting and places for convenient cultivation of seedlings
The traditional place for growing seedlings is the windowsill. However, there are not enough boxes to fit, and there is still not enough daylight from the window. It will be possible to expand the space and arrange lighting for seedlings at home by resorting to tricks:
- You can expand the space for seedlings by making a rack. The design of three shelves is placed on the windowsill. If this is not enough, they assemble a stationary rack of five shelves and put it on the floor. It is optimal to choose a place opposite the window, so that during the day the plants receive additional natural light. Shelves are assembled from improvised material: wooden slats, a steel corner or a profile, a sewer PVC pipe with a diameter of 50 mm. Shelves are cut from durable sheet material.
- For growing seedlings, you can adapt the gazebo. Open openings are covered with a transparent film. Plants in the gazebo-greenhouse will be light, but in the evening you still need to turn on artificial lighting. A cheap fan heater is suitable for heating the room.
- To make it possible to make a minimum of costs when making lighting for seedlings with your own hands, a home-made holder is made for the lamps. The design consists of two U-shaped supports with height-adjustable legs and a jumper to which the light source is attached. The holder is more suitable for installation on the windowsill.
- If there is any protruding support in the form of a hook, window hinge or handle above the seedlings, a pendant lamp is fixed to it. The option is suitable when seedlings are illuminated at home on racks. If the lamp is not adapted for hanging, two ends of the chain are fixed on its body. The suspension is made adjustable so that you can change the height of the lamp above the seedlings.
- A simple do-it-yourself seedling lamp will turn out from blue and red LEDs. Light bulbs, together with separating resistors, are soldered with wires into one circuit, fixed on a bar and connected to a power supply. An easier option is to buy an LED strip with an aluminum profile and assemble a lamp from them.
- If additional illumination of seedlings of a small amount is required, use a portable whatnot. A factory-made floor lamp is suitable or a 1,5 m high structure is assembled from rails.
A properly organized place and lighting should provide comfort to seedlings without creating inconvenience to a person.
The benefits of combining natural and artificial light
The beauty of natural light is that its rays are scattered over the plants, which contributes to better absorption. Any artificial light source emits long directional beams. If it is not possible to place the seedlings close to the window, you will have to upgrade the backlight. Regardless of the type of lamp used, the luminaire is equipped with a matte light diffuser. Short beams will cause less damage to plants.
In a brightly lit room with large windows, it is advisable to move the seedlings to the windowsill. If it is small, make a rack for three shelves. The combination of natural and artificial lighting will not only save energy, but also favorably affect the development of plants.
The light falling from the window brightly illuminates only close-growing plantings, and distant plants fall into the shade. If you do not turn the boxes, the stems begin to stretch towards the window. There are tricks that allow you to direct natural light in the right direction and even enhance it. The secret is based on the use of mirror reflectors. Foil, old mirrors or foil insulation – foamed polyethylene are suitable for manufacturing.
The bottom line is that the window sill is covered with light-reflecting material, shields are installed on the sides of the window opening and opposite the window behind the boxes with seedlings. It turns out a kind of mirror room, inside which the plants are located. The set falling from the window does not spread around the room, but is reflected from the mirror shields, evenly scattering throughout the seedlings. With the onset of dusk, artificial lighting is turned on.
Assembling the LED lamp
It is reasonable to assemble a homemade LED lamp if unnecessary Christmas tree garlands or pieces of red and blue LED strips are lying around at home. Specially buying all the details is more expensive than buying a ready-made phytolamp. To get the optimal combination of spectra, the ratio of LEDs is adhered to in a home-made lamp: 1-2 red bulbs fall on 5 blue one.
If there are LED garlands lying around at home, then the lamp for additional illumination of seedlings is soldered from separate light bulbs. Any rail or baseboard is taken as the basis of the lamp. LEDs are cut off from a non-working garland along with separating resistors. Using a multimeter, check the performance of parts, and also find out the polarity. Working LEDs are soldered in parallel with a wire in one chain. If the bulbs light up when connected to a DC power supply, the circuit is assembled correctly. It remains to fix the luminous chain on the bar with adhesive tape or hot glue.
The assembly of the lamp from pieces of LED strips occurs in a similar sequence. On a tape basis, there are modules consisting of three separating resistors and diodes. To alternate red and blue light bulbs, you will have to cut the tapes into modules, and then solder them. It is easier to fix two LED strips of different glow on the basis in parallel. It will not be possible to choose the correct ratio of light bulbs, but this will not cause much harm to seedlings.
The video shows a homemade LED lamp:
When arranging lighting for seedlings with your own hands, you need to take into account the brightness of the lamps and the distance from the seedlings. Plants are sensitive to light in different ways. Some are comfortable in bright light, while others are comfortable in moderate light. Adjusting the brightness of the backlight is done with a dimmer. The regulator is placed in the circuit in front of the lamps. Illumination is regulated by the height of the lamp. The gap between the light source and the plants is maintained in the range of 10–50 cm. If the backlight is done correctly, the vegetable grower will receive strong seedlings at the time of planting.