The Best LED for Plant Growth II

Now obviously this little experiment is not a fair comparison, the LED is much further away from the plants (light intensity decreases over space) and the LED uses almost 1/2 the energy vs. the T-5 HO. This being my first use of the LED I wanted to see if it actually grew plants. It did! That is what I want people to take form these few posts, that the Tri-band from HTGSupply.com can and does grow plants from seeds to flowers. I'll be growing other plants with  this light at different heights in the future. I kept the LED over 2 feet above the plants so that it would not be too intense and stress out the plants.  It puts out a very intense light. You should lower it to increase the intensity of light directed at your plants which will increase photosynthesis to its maximum rate. You can give a plant too much light, I don't know if I'd put the light less than a foot above the plants.

Notice the basil under the T-5 is mostly green. This is a F-1 purple basil. The seedlings were purple until I potted them up and lowered the T-5 closer to the plants. I think the light intensity from the T-5 (being so close) causes the plants to revert to their green coloration to maximize light absorption. In nature, green is the color of plants that will compete best due to maximum absorption of light by plant pigments. Non-green plants may look nice but are not as efficient at growth. There are often situations where ornamental non-green plants revert to their green tendencies.

Good Growing,
 Dr. E. R. Myers