A plant growth experiments bound only to the LED light have yielded unexpected and puzzling.
It all began on January 9, 2012, when Meriam Karlsson, professor of horticulture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, planted sunflowers of a species of small size as part of a lighting experiment in the greenhouse of the School of Natural Resources and Science farm located on the campus of the University.
Half of the plants were placed under lamps light emitting diodes (LEDs) red or blue at 14 days and the other half joined the first group at 24 days.
In late March, the researcher noted with astonishment that all the sunflowers had flourished at the same time, something completely unexpected.
Another surprise was that, contrary to what had been assumed Karlsson, blue LED lights did not cause delay in flowering.
In short, everywhere in the greenhouse at 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit), sunflowers looked the same, regardless of the lighting treatment they had received.
This line of research maintained by Karlsson opened following have proven that plants such as lettuce reacted differently depending on whether they were put under lights LED red or under blue LED lights.
Lately, the LED lighting designed to greenhouses is attracting great interest, and therefore should know well the effects of different kinds of LEDs can have on the various types of plants.
Of course, the better is the natural light, which has all lengths and colors of light waves; unlike the LED light is monochromatic (single color such as red or blue). But in very high-latitude sites, such as Fairbanks, in winter there is not enough natural light available, so artificial lighting is needed when you want to grow and grow vegetables as if they had reached the proper season of the year.
Although sodium lamp high pressure has been the standard for a long time, recent research is demonstrating the advantages of LEDs. An important aspect is that no sodium lamps emit light in the blue range, which is important for certain processes in plants. Without the blue rays, plants tend to grow differently.
LED lights consume very little electricity, which is a major asset for use. Another advantage is that LEDs do not emit much heat, so they can be placed closer to the plant.
The main value of this line of research on the effects of LED lighting in plant development is that it could lead to ways to increase productivity of food crops in parts of the world, a very promising possibility to the world’s population growth and the need for a greater amount of food you feed this ever-growing humanity.