So you think you know lighting? Here is a challenge for you: Garden Culture Magazine features a “Fake or not” quiz every issue, starting this month! Test your knowledge and join the discussion.
It was inspired by my last year April fools post about Laser Lighting (Redirecting... - enjoy!) to which I still get responses and inquiries…
This first challenge: Green light. March 1 the answer will be published.
I find it funny that people believe that you could use lasers for photosynthesis. Watching videos of them lighting things on fire is always amusing.
Hmm…I don’t think its as simple as being fake or not. Does anyone agree?
I’ve found that green light can be used for short periods during the dark phase.
However, there is some evidence that phytochromes and cryptochromes absorb green light. If used for long stretches of time, green light will be absorbed by the pigments, potentially causing problems. I’ve heard of growers using green light for extended period of time which they believe caused their plants to hermaphrodite.
It’s an interesting ecological and evolutionary question in my opinion. Why wouldn’t plants evolve a response to green light, and why aren’t more plants’ leaves black?
Green light is part of the action spectrum and is definitely used for certain functions. Plants can only make a very deep purple pigment that seems black, especially when combined with other pigments. If one could breed or engineer a plant, such as a rose, to create a genuine black pigment they would be an overnight millionaire. I’ll have to dig into the library and journal databases from school to get more info on green light.
I agree. The whole “fake or not” concept is a classic either/or fallacy. I once knew some growers who decided to install green lighting in their flower rooms. Since they preferred to work during this time they never turned the green lights off, and they ended up with what they called “12 Week Broccoli”. The plants never fully matured, and I suspected the green light may have been to blame. I didn’t have access to a spectrometer at the time, however, so I can’t be sure that there weren’t some other color bands present that may have initiated a protein response.
Went to the necro files…
I have run this test already. I was running a full tray of flowering girls with a green led running 24/7. The plants not only had very strange growth. aswell as mutations. it also pollenated. I advise agaimst the use of green lights in the flower room. Remember the general rule for flower rooms. No brighter then the full moon at night. I would venture to say if you had to have a light in your flower room. Add a 10w UV bulb. Its white. Dull. And pretty benefical in the night cycle. Meaning its ok to pop in and turn that light on thirty minutes before lights on. I have noticed good responses from thirty minutes prior, and thirty minutes after. More trichs, plants seems more awake and receptive during the 12/12.
