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LED grow lights for orchids are a perfect solution for greenhouse or indoor gardens.
The low energy consumption and long lifespan offer great savings by reducing electricity bills and replacement needs. Further, they have the ability to produce a light that ensures better growth and healthy plant right from seedlings to maturity. In particular, farmers can control the Led grow lights for orchids to facilitate faster seed to flowering growth.
Although most orchid growers have traditionally relied on natural light for their greenhouses, they can realize better results with LED grow lights for orchids. Since they can be configured to provide light for longer periods and ensure constant light regardless of the season. For the natural daylight, the amount of light differs with seasons and there are times when days are shorter, especially during winter.
Today, growers are using a wide variety of indoor facilities to grow orchids and other crops. Some of these have enough sunlight, while others require artificial light throughout or as a supplement for daylight.
Insufficient light has several drawbacks and the orchids will not grow properly. For example, lack of the right amount of light causes too dark leaves while these should ideally have light to medium green. On the other hand, too much light is also harmful and will lead to yellow or burnt leaves.
Light requirements for orchids
There are several types of orchards, some requiring different lighting schemes. While some will do fine with little light, others require stronger light.
Generally, light is an essential ingredient for orchids whether outdoors or indoors. However, it still requires a good balance of the amount of light that gets to the plants.
Even though the orchids love lots of light, they do not do well in strong and direct daylight. The orchids grow better when the light is intense. If you are growing them inside, here is how to know is the light you are providing is sufficient or excess.
- Leaves with a light to medium green color are healthy and an indication that the light is correct.
- When the leaves are dark green, it is because of insufficient light.
- Leaves that are yellow in color is an indication of too much light.
The lighting time is also another factor that affects the growth. Ideally, most plants require about 15 or 16 hours lighting. However, some may do better with shorter light days and some orchids fall in this category. The best thing about LED lamps is that they are easy to dim and control to suit any lighting scheme.
Low light conditions will cause problems such as lack of flowering. Specifically, the LED can overcome this and more so by providing the red end lighting that promotes flowering of the orchids as well as blue end light for vegetative growth. Any light that produces these wavelengths in the right quantities provides the best environment for most plants.
Cultivating with LED grow lights for orchids has several advantages compared to other sources of artificial lights. LED grow lights provide the most effective solution because they are easier to control in addition to producing the perfect light spectrum for the plants.
Lighting tips for growing orchids indoors.
There are many reasons for using LED grow lights for orchids. Due to their sensitivity, the plants require the right amount of light, not too much or insufficient. The orchids perform best when a grower controls the right to obtain a perfect balance. This may not be possible with sunlight since it is impossible to control the amount of sun. As such, LED grow lights for orchids provide the best alternative for the following reasons.
Strong, direct sunlight on the orchids may cause more harm than proper growth. This may lead to sunburning and discoloring of the leaves after exposure for only a few hours.
As the level of light increases, some types of orchids will give a red flush and it is important to reduce the illumination. When growing them indoors, it may be wise to move the plants to a location where there is less direct sunlight. Another alternative is to put a shade or curtain on the windows, or place a different type of crops between the window and the orchids so that they can block the direct sunlight from hitting the orchid leaves.
It is important to know the light requirements of the orchid type that you are growing since these vary across the different types. For example, there are warm growing, low light orchids that can survive in low light conditions. On the other hand, there is warm growing but moderate to high light orchids which require higher levels of lighting.
When growing the orchids indoors, it is important to continuously monitor them and ensure that they are getting the right amount of light. It is also better if the LED lights are dimmable since this enables adjusting them to produce just what is necessary for the orchids.
Benefits of LED grow lights for orchids
LED grow light for orchids have many benefits that range from high energy efficiency and savings in electricity bills to low heat dissipation and less requirement for heavy cooling and ventilation equipment. Other benefits include:
Producing custom light for the orchids
LED grow lights for orchids have superior energy efficiency as well as the ability to produce custom spectrum ideal for the growth of most plants. The led grow lights produce a light that has all the required wavelengths. The ability to customize and adjust light levels and duration to produce the best growth levels for the orchids.
Compact and less space requirements
The lamps are small in size, hence does not require lots of space inside the grow area. Additionally, since there are not large cooling equipment, the space requirements when using LED grow lights is not very much. The installation of the small and lightweight LED lamps does not, therefore, require too much space or very strong mounting structures. This in a way reduces the installation and setup costs.
Environmental friendly
LED grow lights do not contain mercury or other toxic materials. As such they are better for the environment. In addition, their low energy requirements mean that they do reduce the demand for electricity generating plants. This can lead to decreased use of fossil fuel and core-based power plants hence lesser pollution and damage to the environment.
Safer to operate
The LED grow lights for Orchids are safer to operate since they are much cooler. As such, it is safe to touch the lights and they cannot damage the plants.
Why are LEDs are better than other forms of lamps?
Led provides a more cost-effective alternative compared to the HID, SFL and other traditional lights. The conventional light sources are not only inefficient but also emit lots of heat that can damage the plants. Fortunately, LED grow lights are the only ones that can efficiently emit this custom spectrum at low heat dissipations. This has the benefit of low electricity bills to produce the light as well as eliminating the energy a cooling system that would consume more to maintain the temperature art required levels.
For some orchids that require strong light or for longer durations, LED grow lights are the best because the grower can adjust them to suit specific needs.
In addition to producing the ideal light spectrum, the LED lamps are energy-saving and do not produce excess heat that can cause problems in the indoor garden or greenhouse. Another advantage with the low heat dissipation is that there is less or no evaporation; hence the environments using LED lights for orchids do not require frequent watering.
Other than this, the LED grow lights for orchids are long-lasting and hence requires less frequent replacements compared to the other artificial light sources. They can be used to either supplement the daylight during seasons when the days are shorter or to provide all the light through all the plan stages.
