Grow Light Informations

Photosynthesis does not use all the Sun's light, but only the extremes of the visible spectrum, blue and red. The center of the spectrum, green, is reflected by the plants, which gives them their color. The blue wavelength promoted leaf growth, while the red, stem growth. For starts, leaf growth is what matters, since the seedlings are exhausting the seed food reserve to grow leaves and produce photosynthesis.
The light spectrum of the grow light is therefore important. I made some research on the lights I bough.


There isn't enough energy in the short wavelengths. The grow light setup currently has 2 tubes, and will soon have 6 tubes in a 3x2 setup, with ~ 2-3 inches separation between each fixture. That gap is enough to fit a line of blue LEDs in between and gives a useful boost.

Here are the full specifications on the Ecolux lights used in my setup:

• Part#=49893
• Initial lumens=1900
• Color temperature=3100K
• Color rendering index=90

Next step will be the design of the LED lights.