The basis of highlighting is the change of periods: day and night. Schedule immediately build a clear, without a sharp change in the length of lighting, otherwise it will negatively affect the growth of plants.

Very carefully you need to choose the distance between the light source and the seedlings. The radiation power operates on the basis of the inverse square law. Therefore, to increase the intensity of light by 4 times, you need to move the lamp to a distance less than 2 times. To save energy and increase efficiency, it is better to place seedlings in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe southern windows.

Every plant needs an appropriate regimen. For example, vegetable seedlings need natural light, other plants choose partial shade. If the windows of your apartment face the north side, then your seedlings will need additional lighting.

There is a very simple way to improve lighting. You just need to use reflective screens (foil roll, mirrors, pure white cardboard), covering the boxes with seedlings with them. inside premises.

Remember that the sun's rays will never replace artificial light. Therefore, if possible, it is better to refuse winter cultivation. The ideal time for the growth of young shoots is the period from March to April.

What are the lamps for growing seedlings

So, why can't plants be illuminated with an ordinary lamp? Because it has an incomplete set of spectrum, and seedlings need full coverage.

For example, the blue spectrum is needed to restrain the growth of the stem and stimulate timely cell division (blocks excessive stretching of the plant), and the red spectrum activates the growth and formation of roots. The entire set of spectra has a positive effect on the full development and size of the young.

That is why special lamps were developed for lovers to grow seedlings with their own hands. Such lamps have the following varieties:

• Phytolamps. They have a pink-violet spectrum, which is ideal for plants, but very harmful to human health. Such lamps must be equipped with special reflectors.
• Sodium metal halide. They have their downside - too few of blue color. In this regard, the full development of plants is inhibited, and they hatch with great difficulty. In addition, these lamps necessarily require an additional device-power regulator.
• Luminescent. Fairly affordable and quite effective. Minus - too much cold light gives a very poor red spectrum.
• Classic (incandescent). More suitable for heating a room than for lighting. The most economical option.
• LED. Great for backlighting. As an additional plus, you can call long term services.

The cost of lamps depends on their type, configuration, manufacturer. average cost lamps ranges from 900 to 2,500 rubles.

sodium

Sodium lamps are best used to illuminate seedlings in the last stages of cultivation. The light of these lamps has a positive effect on the process of flowering and the formation of ovaries. But at the time of plant growth, it can accelerate the stretching of the stems.

Attention! Such lamps should never be directly connected to the socket. They require special equipment.

Advantages:

• Increased intensification of radiation, which has a beneficial effect on photosynthesis;
• luminous flux stability;
• duration of service life;
• yellow-orange glow that does not cause irritation of the eye membrane. This factor allows the use of these lamps even in residential areas.

Flaws:

• high price;
• the need for an additional regulatory mechanism.

Phytolamp

The spectrum of colors of these lamps allows housewives to grow beautiful and strong seedlings. Phytolamps are often used in greenhouses and greenhouses.

Advantages:

• profitability;
• efficiency;
• compactness;
• durability;
• environmental friendliness;
• safety.

Flaws:

The pink-lilac glow that these types of lamps emit is unnatural for human eyes, and therefore sometimes causes headaches. Use in residential areas is only permitted with the installation of a mirrored external reflector.

Metal halide sodium lamps

These artificial light sources need additional devices to fully work. This fact significantly increases their cost.

The advantage is increased efficiency, and the disadvantage is a slight deficit in the blue spectrum.

Fluorescent lamps

Fluorescent lamps have a full spectrum, which is of particular value for improved growth and full development of plants. When buying, ask the seller for the conditions for connecting the lamp. Some of them can be turned on directly, and some require a ballast (additional device). Of the advantages, only cold light can be called.

The disadvantages are as follows:

• low power (you need to install several at once);
• low red light component when emitted;
• fragility.

classic lamps

Some owners are trying to save money, so they illuminate the seedlings with ordinary incandescent lamps (with a tungsten filament). Such a process is not only inefficient, but also basically useless.

There are reasons for this, contained in the features of these lamps, namely:

1. Only five percent of energy from all radiation, turns into a luminous flux. The rest, ninety-five percent, is converted into a thermal component. That is, such light sources heat the room better than illuminate.
2. The radiation spectrum does not meet the needs of seedlings, so it has a detrimental effect. Under such conditions, the stem is excessively stretched in the sprouts, the biomass dries up, and the leaves get burnt.

LED

To date, LED lamps for growing seedlings are considered the most optimal and balanced choice.

Ideal illumination is carried out due to the following factors:

• Low power consumption. The lamp itself does not overheat, so you can safely place it as close to the seedlings as you like. This will not be detrimental to your plants.
• Thrift.
• Durability.
• LEDs do not overheat the soil. This means that the frequency of watering can be significantly reduced, because the earth will not dry out for quite a long time.
• The ability to get a purple color, which, although not useful to human eyes, is excellent for sprouts. LED lights you need to select, taking into account at what stage of development your plant is. For earlier stages, a large amount of blue is needed, and less reddish. If you mix these shades, you get the desired purple.

How to make a lamp with your own hands - step by step instructions

Modern stores and garden centers will offer you an incredible number of different lamps for growing seedlings, guaranteeing the right spectrum, the required duration and intensity of lighting. But with a little imagination and a little physical effort, you can easily make such a lamp yourself.

To create the simplest design, you will need a couple of wooden blocks and a few fluorescent lamps. So, step by step instructions:

• Take four wooden blocks, four of them should be one hundred centimeters long and one - 80 cm.
• Prepare screws: short and long.
• Fasten fluorescent lamps(the right amount) on a piece of wood, eighty centimeters long.
• Then, connect two wooden blocks, in the form of the letter "L". With the other two, do the same. For fasteners, you can use screws or ordinary PVA glue.
• Install on top, between the two "L", a beam with a lamp, and carefully fix it.
• As a result, you should get a hut. It is under it that your seedlings are established.

Of course, as lighting, you can choose absolutely any design. Remember that by growing the plants yourself, you will be completely sure that they are free of various chemicals and pests.

An additional plus is that the built lighting mechanism can be used repeatedly. That is, collect seeds from the harvest in a timely manner in the fall, and grow healthy and strong seedlings in the spring.

Outcome

Vegetable and flower sprouts are heat-loving plants, so their formation directly depends on the length of daylight hours. Under low light conditions, the process of photosynthesis begins to slow down, the growth of biomass is inhibited, and the seedlings begin to get sick.

Therefore, if you want to get healthy and strong seedlings, provide the young growth with proper and high-quality lighting. Remember that you have to make an effort if you want to enjoy the aromas of flowers and the taste of vegetables collected from your garden in the summer.

Most gardeners in Russia prefer planting seedlings rather than seeds in open ground, due to late warming in our latitudes. But the protracted winter is accompanied not only by cold weather, but also by short daylight hours, which means that additional illumination for seedlings is simply necessary. It not only allows you to increase the length of daylight hours, allowing plants to fully develop, but it can also help prevent stretching, strengthen sprouts, and even increase flowering and fruit formation. It remains to figure out how to properly organize it with your own hands, so as not to harm the plant and grow the strongest seedlings the first time.

Should I buy a lamp?

If you are going to grow crops with a relatively short growing season with planting seedlings in April, or if sunny weather sets in in March in your latitude, it is not necessary to buy a seedling lamp. But this does not mean that you can forget about additional lighting. What ways will save money and light up seedlings at home? The answer is reflective screens installed opposite the windowsill next to the seedlings.

For this purpose, small mirrors, ordinary foil or reflective plastic, as on protective screens for cars, are suitable. A self-made screen should be placed behind the seedling box with the reflective side facing the window. Just keep in mind a few important points.

• Such additional illumination will help in cloudy weather, but it is not able to increase daylight hours.
• On a sunny day, it is better to remove such a screen: the foil located close to the sprouts will heat up and create more discomfort than benefit.
• The reflection of the sun's rays in the mirror does not diffuse well, so it is better to place the mirror a little further from the box than a foil or plastic screen.

by the most in a simple way adding lighting at home at no cost is the placement of seedlings on the south windows. Of course, not everyone has such an opportunity, but if you are the lucky owner of a south-facing window, do not miss the opportunity to give the seedlings a little more real sunlight.

Which lamp is better to choose?

Your goal is still to extend the daylight hours? Then you will definitely need lamps to illuminate seedlings. Here are just what? The variety of lamps is so great that it is not immediately clear which ones are best used at home.

• Ordinary incandescent lamp. Such lamps, although they are used less and less in homes, do not give the plant any benefit. Their light does not have the full spectrum that plants need, so they can not be counted on.
• Fluorescent lamps. It was them that our mothers and grandmothers managed, because it was the easiest way to make do-it-yourself lighting with their help. Such lamps are inexpensive, and they do not heat up much, but they cannot be compared in efficiency with other lamps for seedlings and quickly lose power. There may also be problems with installation at a certain height from seedlings, because they need special fasteners. And yet, these lamps remain the most popular for growing crops in greenhouses and conservatories. Such lamps are placed at a height of 15 to 50 cm from the seedlings, and if you manage to find lamps labeled LDC or LD, the plants will also receive a blue spectrum of light, which directly affects their growth.
• Energy-saving lamps. They, like fluorescent lamps, will not be able to strongly affect growth, but they will give some support to plants, especially if there are blue or red spectra in the light of the lamps. Such lamps also consume little energy, which will have a good effect on the cost of grown vegetables.
• Discharge lamps. Plants love arc lamps very much, they give off a lot of light and are not too expensive. But this is definitely not the best option for balcony seedlings: the lamps get very hot and are rather difficult to install with your own hands. But you can choose mercury with a blue spectrum or sodium lamps high pressure with red, only make it better for lighting greenhouses.
• LED or LED lamps. LED lamp for seedlings - the best option if you want to get strong seedlings. They save energy, do not heat up, do not dry out the earth and serve for years. But white light will be less useful than specialized light.

For growing seedlings at home, you should not choose the most powerful lamps: for small areas like your balcony, the middle option is better.

So what is phytolight?

We described several lighting options, but never mentioned phytolight. But it was he who made a lot of noise in the field of gardening in recent years. Why did we bypass it? It's simple: phytolight is not a specific type of seedling lamp, but rather a special color spectrum that can be applied to any type of lighting types listed. Remember we talked about red and blue light bulbs? So, plants are especially sensitive to these two spectra in lighting.

• Blue promotes cell division, accelerates growth, but at the same time prevents stretching.
• Red is useful for the development of the root system, as well as at the stage of flowering and fruiting.

Both spectra are needed to grow seedlings, therefore, walking down the street in March, you can notice a bright violet-lilac glow in some windows. This is the same phytolight, and which lamp provides it is another matter. True, for seedlings, the proportion of blue should be greater than red, and in purchased phytolamps, their shares are approximately the same.

Just do not rush to run for phytolight in specialized stores. It may not be needed if you manage to make it yourself.

Do not forget about the day-night regimen, which is also important for plants: lighting around the clock can lead to the opposite effect of what you want.

How to make phytolight yourself?

Additional illumination of seedlings is useful even without phytolight, but you can do it yourself if necessary. Discharge lamps contain these spectra by themselves, fluorescent lamps are easier to buy ready-made, so we will work with LED lamps.

The easiest way would be to buy LED strips with red and blue diodes in a ratio of 1: 2 and fix them over the seedlings, which will provide the desired spectrum at home with minimal cost and effort. The diodes do not heat up, so you can bring them as close as possible to the sprouts. Purchased lamps for lighting seedlings often use ordinary diodes that you can buy in a store and install with your own hands, so the savings will be significant.

If LED strips are an expensive option, you can attach individual LEDs, the quality and wavelength of which you can personally check in the store, to any base, such as a plastic rail, using hot glue. Then connect the LEDs by soldering and connect them to the power supply. The lamp will be powered from the outlet, so do not forget about the wire with a plug. For a person who is not versed in electrics, it sounds difficult to implement with your own hands, so you can use the help of a fellow craftsman.

And do you really need backlighting?

For many crops in our latitudes, the support of phytolight is indispensable, but you can reduce the importance of its role if you start planting seedlings a little later. Of course, it’s not worth delaying until May, but often seedlings planted at the end of February have time to outgrow the optimal age for planting in the ground and stretch out. You can also do without additional lighting when daylight hours reach 12 hours, and for most areas this happens already in April.

Additional illumination with phytolight is useful for some indoor plants, such as citrus fruits: so the leaves will not turn yellow and fall off.

So, you can deal with insufficient illumination of seedlings with the help of different light sources, and some one the best option no. The most popular for home seedlings are LED and fluorescent lamps with phytolight, which provide the plant not only with additional lighting, but also with the spectra necessary for proper growth and development. We also advise you to use them: jacks of all trades can try to make such a lamp on their own, but in case of failure, it will not be difficult to buy this important device!

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