Best Spectrum? 660/460

I was doing a bit of research, as I am sure many of us in the LED world do, and noticed the chlorophyll peak photosynthesis chart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll

In 90% acetone-water, the peak absorption wavelengths of chlorophyll a are 430 nm and 664 nm; peaks for chlorophyll b are 460 nm and 647 nm; peaks for chlorophyll c1 are 442 nm and 630 nm; peaks for chlorophyll c2 are 444 nm and 630 nm; peaks for chlorophyll d are 401 nm, 455 nm and 696 nm.[SUP][19]

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As you can see, there are 4 peak spectrums, however my theory is you can only focus on the peak for each wave, so absolute peak for A and B, which would be 660 and 460, this would be more efficient than doing 430/460/640/660, and also makes it easier to buy less types of diodes to get bulk discount better.

Of course you could add in the small % of white light or infared, or whatever it is the LED copmanies do nowadays to supplement the core, but does anything think this would be a good idea?


EDIT: Actually, according to this, the absorbtion % is actually higher in the low range for chloro A, so maybe it would even be better to have 430/460 and skip the 600's alltogether??

It's interesting...and I have no idea! haha, I see what you're saying though. might be similar to a metal halide effect? thought the consensus was red spectrum is better for flowering? must be more to it than just chloroA and chloroB...but that's why all blue led panels are great for vegging though. keep thinking out loud please, I like the way you think and you could very well be onto something sir, I don't know very much about the subject just thought I'd put my 2cents in.

It might be worth a try to DIY a panel, but do keep in mind that the first panels that were sold were 2 or 3 spectrum, and they never did that well. Keeping in mind that their leds were generally 1w at this time, but even still they just kinda fell short.

Lately researchers are researching the way previously ignored wavelengths play a part in all sorts of functions.

karr said:

It might be worth a try to DIY a panel, but do keep in mind that the first panels that were sold were 2 or 3 spectrum, and they never did that well. Keeping in mind that their leds were generally 1w at this time, but even still they just kinda fell short.

Lately researchers are researching the way previously ignored wavelengths play a part in all sorts of functions.

Click to expand...

well, ignoring the ancillary lights alltogether, they may make about 5% of total lighting, and would remain constant from LED to LED (white/IR).
I'm focusing mainly on the PAR/Photosynthesis inducing lights here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytochrome

wanted to update this, apparently due to Phytochromes, my theory may not be fully effective, since these Phytochromes sense red light in the plant and help to do flowering activities based on 'red' light (regulations independent of photosynthesis).

I just wanted to add that chlorophyll just makes sugars (carbohydrates) and uses those wavelengths to break water and bond hydrogen to carbon.

That is not what we smoke from the plant. The regulatory lights have already been mentioned, some are out of the PAR envelope.
Examples:
850 nm very far red light (or near infrared?) stimulates increased cell division in both root tips and the budding tips of the flowers. NOT PAR.
<310 nm UVB directly initiates production of THC modifying terpenes, some of the terpenes are not produced without it. NOT PAR.
Quite a number of reactions depend on frequencies not used in photosynthesis. Not all are germane to what we grow, a couple make a difference, hence the varying results with two and three band early LED's.