The plant sensitivity curve for photosynthesis has its peak at the red side of the spectrum. The chart indicates that providing plants with the wavelengths best suited to photosynthesis is the most efficient use of artificial light. Tests show a mean deviation from the average sensitivity curve of less than 5% for a wide variety of plants. The curve shows that the maximum sensitivity for photosynthesis lies in the far red at approximately 675 nm. The plant sensitivity curve disputes two common misconceptions. The first is that an ideal plant growing lamp duplicates the spectral energy distribution of the sun. Sunlight has a continual spectrum, radiating energy in wavelengths that contribute less to photosynthesis, and are therefore wasted on the plant. For this reason, many lamps are more efficient than sunlight for plants. The amount of energy contained in light is inversely proportional to the wavelength (in other words: the larger the wavelength, the less energy). This means that blue light contains more energy than red light. How ever, for photosynthesis to occur, a fixed amount of energy is needed. Therefore, blue light will cause the same photosynthetic response as red light which the grow lights will produce more than the sunlight.

Categorised as: Business