Why do plants need light?
Notice the way your plants grow toward the window, towards the radiant sunlight outside? That’s not by coincidence. Chemicals known as auxins are actively working in your shoots to ensure they move towards the sunlight in order to maximise photosynthesis via a process known as phototropism.
Since photosynthesis produces the sugars plants need to grow, and photosynthesis cannot occur without sufficient light, it is easy to understand why plants would want to be in the sun rather than the shade. During photosynthesis, a green pigment known as chlorophyll absorbs the sunlight that hits a plant’s leaves which catalyses a conversion process where water and carbon dioxide is changed into oxygen and sugars. These sugars are then used in the plant for the entire plant to grow in size, whether it be its roots or its stem.
Natural light appears white as it includes all the colors of the visible light spectrum – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. However, plants use mostly the light on either side of the spectrum i.e. red and blue and choose to reflect the middle section, hence their characteristic green color. At aspara, we can artificially control the light your plants receive to ensure maximal growth.
Although plants can use any colors of light with a 400-700nm wavelength, NASA has been able to determine which colors are most ideal for a plant at any given moment in its life. Blue light, also known as cool light, encourages root development in a plant which is why it is often administered to a plant artificially in the early phases of growth when flowering is not wanted. However, excessive blue light causes intense photosynthesis which can affect chlorophyll content in leaves and leaf thickness.
At the other end of the spectrum , red light encourages stem growth and flowering/fruit production, the opposite to what blue light encourages. This growth is visible and above the surface unlike the growth that blue light leads to. Between red and blue, the green light is mostly reflected but still needed as plants flourish best when exposed to all wavelengths of the visible light spectrum.
As plants enter different stages of their lives, different wavelengths of light are required. Light needs also change based on what type of seed you are growing, which is where aspara steps in to help! With our planting program, aspara smart grower can alter the light it emits based on the types and different growth stages of the plants.
