Red vs blue spectrum for flower

az kid

Active Member
I'm trying to flowery with a t5 using blue lights. I have noticed the plants starting to flower, but not as much as predicted. So how important is the red rays?? If need be ill go buy 5 red bulbs for the t5, i just want to see what all white threw a life cycle will do..
 

Silicity

Well-Known Member
the red spectrum around 2700kisn/660nm the chlorophyll b production during flowering period (correct me if im wrong) and for the plant to produce flowers it needs more red spectrum but still some blue and with higher lumen output the better the bud growth, id assume its better since theres more chlorophyll production meaning more growth overall?

correct me if im wrong but either way you need more light and more red spectrum.
 

LUDA

New Member
I'm trying to flowery with a t5 using blue lights. I have noticed the plants starting to flower, but not as much as predicted. So how important is the red rays?? If need be ill go buy 5 red bulbs for the t5, i just want to see what all white threw a life cycle will do..
Red all the way from veg to harvest (dual spec).
 

LUDA

New Member
Seedlings stretch due to the influence various factors. In other words the way the genotype is expressed is determined by the biotic and abiotic factors affecting its growth. The site where the plants are grown may be conducive to stretching due to a nutrient deficiency or other factors like temperature or day length.

The source of the seed is also important. If the environment that the plants were from originally was consistant from year to year (for instance, indoors) and/or encouraged stretchy plants (crowding), natural selection may have passed on the trait for stretchy plants. If the seeds were from hybrid plants that were crossed "Willy-nilly" the variation of the offspring will blur the distiction of phenotypes.

When plants stretch due to competition for light, this is known as the "shade avoidance response phenotype" (SARP). The light reflected off of other plants has less red in it because the leaves of the other plants absorbed it already. This is how the plant knows how close it is to its neighbors. When there is less red, the plant stretches so it can compete better for the light. HPS lights are high in red spectrum, so plants grown under them stretch less.

Plants match their phenotype with the environment, but this can depend on other factors. Temperature and photoperiod can affect the response to red light by limiting which phenotypes are expressed. Higher temperatures, shorter photoperiods and dense planting make the plant more sensitive in its response to the amount of red.

The SARP is really an interaction between abiotic factors and the quality of light. The size of a plant that has stretched may be larger than a plant grown under a full spectrum, but overall yield will be less. A plant grown under a short photoperiod is more sensitive to red, but a plant with a long photoperiod period will stretch regardless of the spectrum because it has time to make a longer stem. In fact under longer photoperiods, the plants become less sensitive to red because seedling elongation affects the health of the adult plant.

The seedling is aware of it surroundings. The SARP isn't affected by photoperiod in a seedling because the seedling has to be aware of the density of the population, but if the day-length is short enough to induce flowering, then they will stretch. An elongated plant costs more to grow because your growing more stem and less bud. So under conditions of dense planting the temp and the photoperiod determne how close to plant to minimize stretching.


(GFAQ).
 

Ganjapussy

New Member
I've flowered with blue cfl but then switched to LED so idk about red. But! The bud I got from the blue was very frosty, but very airy. Like said above, red is for bud growth, I think blue is for potency... Those buds were bomb

Bottom line. You can do it. If you don't have the money, don't worry about it. Wait till next grow.

But yeah, blue for veg. Red for flower. Or yes dual spec (those don't always work) or! Red and blue for both veg and flower. Just remember if your using both, 2:1 ratio. So in veg use 2 blue and 1 red, and for flower 2 red and 1 blue.

Happy growing
 
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