tstick
Well-Known Member
I woke up before the Sun this morning and I took note of the slow changing of the color of the sky as time passed.....I wondered at what point plants switch back on from their sleep mode -like exactly what spectrum wakes them up and starts to tell them to start photosynthesizing again. Would it be in the dark blue range, for example?
Also, the color change of sunlight is constant -all day long. I know this isn't a revelation...but, in regards to comparing to artificial lights -and, in particular, most grow lights, there is only a constant spectral output throughout the entire "ON" cycle which doesn't change.
Plants, of course, made their evolution under the Sun and so it would seem to make sense to think there might have been some specific "call and response" systems in the plants that are more "coded" to the Sun than they are to artificial lights.
If someone were to graph the spectral output of Sunlight at the point where the sky is jussssst starting to lighten, and continue to graph that output all through the day, then my guess is the lines of that graph are going to be fluctuating the entire way. By comparison, when (most) indoor grow lights come on, they come on at full power and put out a spectrum that stays constant the entire "ON" period. There is no slow climb of the output -just BAM!...and no slow fade at dusk -just BAM! OFF! And, thus, when showing a graph for artifical lights, the spectrum never changes....IF a grower does add some lights that produce different colors, it usually happens all at once with a flip of a switch or the addition of a fixture. It is never a slow, constant change.
My question: Even though we can create artificial light that may stimulate more photosynthesis in plants than the Sun, do you think there could be a "missing link" in the much more subtle way the Sun administers its light that, in turn, might create more complex chemicals in plants?
I know that a few people are getting into arduinos, now, and I am curious to know if there have been any experiments done in regards to this subject - namely, how close can artificial lighting come to mimicking the way that sunllight's intensity and spectra are applied to indoor growing.
-any arduino-enhanced grows out there?
Also, the color change of sunlight is constant -all day long. I know this isn't a revelation...but, in regards to comparing to artificial lights -and, in particular, most grow lights, there is only a constant spectral output throughout the entire "ON" cycle which doesn't change.
Plants, of course, made their evolution under the Sun and so it would seem to make sense to think there might have been some specific "call and response" systems in the plants that are more "coded" to the Sun than they are to artificial lights.
If someone were to graph the spectral output of Sunlight at the point where the sky is jussssst starting to lighten, and continue to graph that output all through the day, then my guess is the lines of that graph are going to be fluctuating the entire way. By comparison, when (most) indoor grow lights come on, they come on at full power and put out a spectrum that stays constant the entire "ON" period. There is no slow climb of the output -just BAM!...and no slow fade at dusk -just BAM! OFF! And, thus, when showing a graph for artifical lights, the spectrum never changes....IF a grower does add some lights that produce different colors, it usually happens all at once with a flip of a switch or the addition of a fixture. It is never a slow, constant change.
My question: Even though we can create artificial light that may stimulate more photosynthesis in plants than the Sun, do you think there could be a "missing link" in the much more subtle way the Sun administers its light that, in turn, might create more complex chemicals in plants?
I know that a few people are getting into arduinos, now, and I am curious to know if there have been any experiments done in regards to this subject - namely, how close can artificial lighting come to mimicking the way that sunllight's intensity and spectra are applied to indoor growing.
-any arduino-enhanced grows out there?
. Don't know about any arduino growws but ya gotta appreciate these guys....
Whatever way that sunlight interacts with plants on Earth, i.e., cloudy days, different angles depending on the season...whatever way the spectral output is created, there is definitely a change in both color and intensity throughout a solar photoperiod.
