Shown here is the Tom Thumb and Bullet lettuce growing under blue LEDs. At 15 days I'd expect these plants to be a lot heartier under conventional lighting solutions.
There's a major problem here- the plants are 'reaching' which is a sure indication that they are not receiving the light that they need. The leaves are pointing upwards instead of outwards, which is bad. During the 'day' cycle, the leaves should be organized outwards and collecting light. In the 'night' cycle it is normal for the leaves to put upwards until the next day cycle begins.
Hopefully the problem is that the pure blue light is not providing everything that the plants need. If the problem is the quantity of light, changing the color will not help.
The good news is, my red & blue mixed LED panels have arrived so now I can start an identical crop under red and blue light for comparison. I wanted to run the tests side-by-side but a shortage of supply meant I had to wait an extra 2 weeks for my red and blue panels to arrive.
Today I'll get the red/blue setup built so that we can see if we can grow healthy lettuce under LEDs.
i can't wait for the red and blue test. can you speed up time a bit?
ReplyDeleteYour wish has been granted!
ReplyDeleteWell, I started the red/blue test system on Saturday afternoon. I'll put photos up as soon as the plants sprout. Right now there's not much to look at :)