Growing some plants or seedlings at home will require artificial lighting. And this, of course, is an additional waste for gardener. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the light spectrum necessary for the normal passage of photosynthesis. That's why a conventional incandescent lamp here does not help. And what if you use LED stripes to illuminate seedlings?
Is it possible to light the plants with an LED strip?
In general, professionals recommend special phytolamps of red (660 nm) and blue spectrum (440 nm), the length of which is perfectly assimilated by plants. However, such lamps are expensive in price, and therefore not everyone can afford. Numerous experiments of gardeners prove that the use of LED lamps has a positive effect on the growth and development of seedlings. To tangible pluses of tapes it is possible to carry low consumption of the electric power and small in comparison with fitolampami cost.
Recommendations for the use of LED lamps for lighting
If we talk about which LED strip to choose for the illumination of seedlings, then the red (625-630 nm) and blue (465-470 nm) LEDs are the most suitable. As you can see, there is a difference from the required values of the wavelength, but a positive effect on the plants is present. Also shown is the use of white LEDs in the form of strips.
When calculating the LED strip for seedling lighting, it is worth considering the power of the illuminating device, which is necessary to compensate for the light output that your pets will miss.
By the way, it is necessary to calculate the power of the LED tape for seedling lighting depending on the area of the room. So, for example, for an area of up to 0.5 m, sup2 - up to 15 W, up to 0.6 m & sup2 - up to 27 W, up to 0.7 - about 45 W, up to 0.8 m & sup2 - up to 54 W.
For uniform illumination it is recommended to place the LEDs in two rulers. And so that they do not overlap the lighting angles of each other.
To connect the LED strip to the network, you need a special unit that converts the voltage to 12-24 V, and the current from AC to DC. If you use red lamps with blue on one tape, it makes sense to purchase a driver that stabilizes voltage and current.
As for the location of the LED ribbons for seedling highlighting, in order for photosynthesis in plants to proceed normally, it is recommended to alternate two red lamps with one blue.
A ready-made LED strip is fixed on the bar above the plants with a double-sided adhesive tape.