How to make your own LED seedling light. How to make lighting for seedlings with your own hands? When to light seedlings

Illumination of seedlings is an important factor for growing plants. Of course, natural light is available to everyone and is completely free, but it is not always enough. If there is not enough light, additional light should be used at home. Special LED plant lamps are manufactured so that each wave emitted promotes growth and creates positive conditions for photosynthesis.

Selection of lamps

The most important question facing us is what kind of LED lamps for seedlings should we choose? Today there are many types of lamps used to illuminate seedlings, but not all of them can be used for these purposes.

LED lighting for seedlings - phytolamps.

Modern LED light sources have a long service life. LED lamp for seedlings has a number of advantages:

low power;
reduced heat generation rate;
their use makes it possible to reduce the rate of water evaporation, that is, the time between watering increases;
one phyto-lamp can combine a couple of shades, that is, it can simultaneously cover several phytoactive areas.

Today, anyone can make such a universal design as an LED phytolamp for plants with their own hands. It is quite difficult to purchase a device with maximum power, since mass production has not yet been established.

Energy saving lamps for growing seedlings.

Lighting seedlings with such a lamp is very convenient, since its structure is quite simple - it consists of a built-in choke, and all that is needed is just to screw it into the socket. It is customary to distinguish ESL for seedlings on a windowsill by the type of glow:

the cold spectrum is used mainly to accelerate the growth of seedlings;
warm spectrum is a favorable option for flowering;
day spectrum.

The latter variety is used as an independent source of artificial lighting for seedlings. The big advantage of such lamps is reduced electricity consumption and long service life. The advantage is also in material terms - one lighting fixture can last a long time, which greatly reduces the cost of purchasing a new lamp.

Fluorescent lamps for seedlings.

The main advantage of such lamps is that they do not heat up, that is, when using such a device, the air temperature does not increase, which is important if you want to grow high-quality seedlings. Don't know how to choose a lighting device? It is worth choosing those devices whose light spectrum uses blue rays - they are needed for reliable photosynthesis.

Such a lamp for seedlings has a number of advantages - a long service life and cost-effectiveness.

Sodium phytolamps for seedlings.

Such phytolamps for seedlings are mainly used in a later period of growth to illuminate seedlings. NLVD is used during the period of flowering and fruit ripening; in this case, additional lighting is necessary if you want to speed up the growth process. If you turn on such lighting for young seedlings, they will begin to grow very quickly, but their leaves will be more spreading.

Such phytolamps for seedlings have high light output and a long service life. They can mainly be used for fragmented light in greenhouse conditions, when the main part of the lighting is natural light.

Metal halide lamp for illuminating seedlings.

This light source is highly efficient and approximately 80 percent close to natural light. HID lamps are considered versatile because the main properties of the light output can be changed, thus making them more efficient for certain purposes.

Illumination of seedlings with LED strip

Lighting seedlings is extremely important for growing plants at home. A variety of lighting fixtures can be used here. And the quality of the plants grown depends on their choice. But today many people know how to make phytolamps with their own hands. This self-made LED lamp is durable and has excellent performance characteristics.

Do-it-yourself lighting for seedlings has many advantages:

increasing daylight hours, which is important when growing seedlings early;
additional lighting included during the growth period of the plant prevents it from stretching;
plants gradually develop into adult crops.

In practice, it has been proven that such illumination is very effective for the growth of various crops.

With constant illumination of plants, you can notice that they grow more hardy, reliable and resistant to any infectious agent, in addition, plant productivity increases. The main thing is to choose the optimal distance for installing the phytolamp.

The most effective ways to illuminate plants

Let's look at the most effective and at the same time useful ways to illuminate plants:

illumination for seedlings on the windowsill without the use of light bulbs;
additional light for seedlings using a variety of lighting fixtures.

Each method has both its advantages and disadvantages. Thanks to them, the area of use of a certain lighting method is determined.

Illumination without the use of light bulbs is, of course, a universal option. To organize high-quality lighting right in your home on the windowsill, you can use a structure made from a cardboard box. The box needs to have a top and a side, leaving a small side. We cover the entire structure with foil and install it behind the plant. The rays of the sun, once on the plant, fall on the foil and reflect it, thereby ensuring reliable illumination of the seedlings.

LED plant lighting

This method is considered the most affordable and economical option, while being quite effective. But it also has a huge disadvantage - it cannot be used for large plantings - in cloudy weather conditions or in the northern part of the building there is little light and the foil will not be able to compensate for the darkness. In this case, you should use a special phytolamp.

Using lamps to illuminate plants. To make such a lamp yourself, you will need a little more space. We stock up on special fasteners for light bulbs - these can be a variety of hooks and “ears” made by ourselves. We stretch the wire from the electrical network.

The most important process in the design of such a lamp is the selection of a suitable lamp. Among gardeners, the following are in particular demand:

Sodium lighting devices, which are characterized by high pressure. Thanks to such lamps, stable light is provided, which has a positive effect on seedlings, but the lamps require additional equipment and are very expensive.
Phytolamps are an excellent choice for lighting. Those in which the spectrum of light bulbs is violet-pink are considered ideal for seedlings, but such a spectrum is harmful to people, for this reason it is imperative to equip such lighting devices with a special reflector.

Advantages of LED lamps for illuminating seedlings

Illuminating plants using LED lamps has many advantages, among which the following are worth noting:

during the manufacture of the device, the following important spectra are combined simultaneously - blue and red - and you can make an excellent light bulb for plants;
LEDs are very affordable, and their low price will instantly pay for itself;
an LED lamp consumes a minimum of electricity, but produces the necessary amount of light that is necessary for the full growth of plants - approximately 6 thousand lux;
simplicity of installation work and ease of use are the key to the love of these lamps among many gardeners.

LEDs are modern devices that are actively used in everyday life and in industry. It is very useful to use LED lights on a rack for seedlings - they illuminate the area perfectly and do not warm up the air.

Making a phytolamp for seedlings from LED strip

If you don’t know how to make lighting for seedlings with your own hands, then we recommend that you pay attention to the fact that the work involved in making it is simple and can be done quite easily at home. In addition, you may not have special knowledge in this area. Even improvisation is possible here.

To make LED lighting for plants you will need:

LEDs with red and blue color;
thermal paste, instead of which you can use hot glue;
the base for the lamp is a piece of aluminum;
a driver that provides the required voltage;
cord with plug.

Optimal illumination of seedlings with LED lamps, made by yourself, requires alternating LEDs - two red and one blue.

They can be connected to each other by soldering and output to a driver, which connects to a switch and plug. We fasten the tape with a bolt and double tape. Then we assemble it into one chain with the driver, cords, switches and plug. Thus, now you know how to make a phytolamp. But keep in mind an important point - LED strips for illuminating seedlings are required only in red and blue colors.

Illumination of seedlings is one of the most important issues that both novice gardeners and gardeners, as well as experienced business executives, puzzle over every year. Additional light largely determines the success of the development of healthy and strong plants.

The advantages of additional lighting are:

extending daylight hours, which is especially important when growing seedlings early;
additional light provides comprehensive illumination of plants, thereby preventing plants from stretching and becoming deformed;
Providing plants with the necessary spectrum guarantees their gradual development to adult crops.

Practice confirms the need and importance of supplementary lighting of seedlings of all crops. The better way to highlight seedlings is a more complex and multifaceted question.

Plants that are regularly illuminated grow hardier, stronger, stronger and more resistant to pathogens of various infections, and the yield per plant also increases.

The peculiarity of the backlight is the maximum proximity of the lighting to the natural spectrum of sunlight.

The most important spectra in the beam are red light, responsible for plant growth and development, and blue light, which ensures proper cell development. Taking this into account, it is recommended to select light elements in these two spectra.

In this graph we see that in the red spectrum photomorphogenesis (fruit formation) is maximum! It’s also worth taking this into account when designing lamps for seedlings! Pay more attention to the red spectrum!

Basic methods of illuminating seedlings at home

Among the currently presented options for organizing lighting, the following methods are distinguished:

lighting for seedlings on the windowsill without lamps;
additional lighting of seedlings with various types of lamps.

Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, which largely determine the scope of application of a particular lighting option.

Illumination without lamps

To organize lighting on the windowsill, a simple structure made of a cardboard box is often used. The top and side of the box are removed, leaving small sides. This entire structure is covered with foil and installed behind the plants. Sunlight, entering through the window, falls on the foil and is reflected on the plants, providing comprehensive illumination of the crop.

This method is accessible and economical, but at the same time quite effective. However, a significant drawback does not allow using this technique for large plantings - in cloudy weather or on the north side of the house there is not enough light and the foil will not be able to compensate for the darkening. In such cases, it is impossible to do without lamps.

Lamps

Making lighting for seedlings with your own hands is not difficult. For this it is enough:

organize space - free up, arrange tables in the room, build shelving;
provide mounts for lamps - various hooks, homemade “ears”;
pull the wire from a stationary electrical network or generator set.

The most important process in arranging lighting is the selection of suitable lamps. Gardeners use in their experiments:

High pressure sodium lamps. They provide stable warm light, which has a beneficial effect on seedlings, but the lamps require additional equipment (power regulators) and also have an excessively high price, which is incommensurate with the productivity of the average gardener.
Phytolamps. An excellent solution for lighting - the violet-pink spectrum of lamps is ideal for plants, but very harmful for humans, so it is recommended that such lamps be equipped with a special reflector.
Sodium metal halide elements. This is also a fairly affordable and effective way of additional room lighting, but still there is very little blue color in the spectrum, and therefore plants have difficulty developing and hatching.
Fluorescent lamps. These fluorescent lamps are good in many ways, but their light is still too cold and therefore poor in the red spectrum.
Classic incandescent lamps. They are one of the most useless for additional lighting. Light bulbs are more suitable for heating a room rather than illuminating it.
LED lamps. These types of lamps are among the most promising, affordable and have a number of features that are worth discussing separately.

Advantages of LED lighting for seedlings

Illuminating seedlings with LED lamps gives the gardener and plants a number of undeniable advantages that are worth mentioning:

when creating a lamp, you can combine the two most important spectra - blue and red - and create an ideal lamp for seedlings;
LEDs are quite affordable, and their low cost quickly pays off;
LED lamps consume a minimal amount of electricity, but produce a sufficient amount of light - up to the 6000 lux required for normal plant development;
ease of installation and ease of operation have won the love of millions of gardeners.

LEDs are modern materials that are actively used in everyday life and in production. It is quite effective to use LED lamps on racks for seedlings - they illuminate the area well and do not heat up the air.

To make an LED lamp you do not need to have special skills or special knowledge.

To create an LED strip light you will need:

red and blue LEDs;
thermal paste, it can be replaced with hot glue, but it is more expensive;
base - a piece of aluminum, a profile from furniture, any available material up to an old ruler;
driver or power supply - it ensures current stability and the required voltage;
cord and plug.

They are connected to each other by soldering and output to the driver, which is respectively connected to the switch and plug. The tape is attached using bolts, double tape or rivets to the prepared surface. After this, it is assembled into a single circuit with a driver, cord, switch and plug.

Seedling rack with lighting

Building a rack will not take you much time, but it will allow you to significantly save on space for seedlings by placing containers with soil and seedlings in several tiers.

The design is extremely simple - shelves with hollow compartments for drawers. The length and width of the rack directly depends on the size of the seedling boxes. It is recommended to install no more than 3 rows in height. Each row is illuminated by its own lamp, attached to the bottom of the upper seedling box.

Each gardener decides for himself which lamps are best to illuminate seedlings. Some people prefer fluorescent lamps, while others consider LED bulbs to be the best. Conduct experiments and watch your pets, find a comfortable way for yourself to grow seedlings. After all, gardening is, first and foremost, fun!

Video: advantages of LED lamps for seedlings

In this video, experienced gardener Valery Medvedev conducts an experiment with seedlings and proves that LED lamps for seedlings are the best choice!

Video: DIY assembly of a simple LED lamp

Without bright light, not a single living plant can survive. If we talk about seedlings and seeds, then additional lighting at home can work real miracles. A lack of sunlight in winter and spring is detrimental to plants. Young stems will stretch towards the sun with all their might, which can lead to their thinning. Lack of light can also cause “black leg” or even death of seedlings.

It is of great importance which lamps are used to provide additional illumination for plants. Too bright a lamp will burn them, and ordinary incandescent lamps consume a huge amount of electricity.

Some seeds need to be planted in the last weeks of January. This time of year in our latitudes is characterized by a minimum number of sunny days, which pushes gardeners to install additional lighting for vegetation at home. It will take very little effort and time, but the result will be colossal.

Benefits of supplementary lighting:

Increasing the duration of daylight hours, which is necessary for early forcing.
Ensuring uniform illumination of vegetation, which prevents strong stretching of stems and the appearance of various pathologies.
The correct spectrum guarantees the seedlings the full formation of young and fragile stems into mature, strong crops.
Illuminated plants are hardy and are not exposed to infections and dangerous microorganisms.
The harvest obtained from one stem grows.

Having convinced themselves of the need to install lighting, gardeners begin to think about what kind of lamp they should use. An ordinary light bulb is not suitable for these purposes; its light is incomplete and does not give the required effect. The lighting should closely resemble the natural spectrum of sunlight.

The spectral layout of light has the following effects on plants:

Red spectrum. Promotes growth and development of the root system. The fruits begin to actively form and ripen.
Blue-violet spectrum. It inhibits too rapid growth of the stem at the cellular level. Stimulates stem cell division. As a result, the plant does not stretch, deteriorate or become thin.
Green, yellow and orange spectra. Does not have a significant effect on seedlings.

All spectra together produce a strong effect; they affect the growth and development of vegetation. Ordinary light bulbs do not have the required range of colors. But especially for gardeners who grow seeds at home on their own, there are special lamps for seedlings.

How to organize lighting for seedlings at home with your own hands

To organize the lighting yourself, you must first build a space for seedlings. You can select a separate window sill, build a small shelving unit, or free up a table near the window. The next step will be to develop mounting methods for the lamps. These can be hooks or small “ears”. The main thing in this matter is convenience and reliability. The final step will be to draw an electrical cord from the network or generator. Once all the preparations are done, it's time to start working on the lamps.

For illumination, lamps can be used: DNA3, LEDs and metal halide. These bulbs are often used to provide additional lighting for plants in larger greenhouses. For home use, it is better to purchase LED, fluorescent or phytolamps.

More information about the types of lamps that are suitable for home lighting of seedlings:

Phytolamps. An ideal solution for additional lighting of stems. The pink-violet spectrum is dangerous for the human body, so special reflectors must be installed along with these lamps.
High pressure sodium lamps. Give seedlings uniform warm light. Requires installation of special power regulators. The price of products can hit your pocket hard.
LED light bulbs. They are accessible to every gardener, economical and have many advantages over their counterparts.
Fluorescent lamps. They are poor in the red spectrum, so among those listed they occupy the last line in the list. Use them only when absolutely necessary.

For an ordinary gardener, it is best to install lighting in an apartment with LED bulbs. This option is the most economical, safe, effective and easy to implement. What are the other advantages of this type of lamps, and how can you build full-fledged lighting for plants at home?

What are the advantages of LED lamps

LEDs have gained immense popularity due to their good lighting. In addition, they do not increase the temperature of the air around them. Such lighting gives the gardener many positive aspects. For example, when making a lamp at home, you can combine two effective spectrums. The result is an almost ideal light bulb for plants.
LEDs can be found in any construction or hardware supermarket. In addition, their price is quite affordable. If the lamp burns out, replacing it will not become an overwhelming burden for the average gardener in our country. The cost of the LED pays off very quickly.
Working diode lamps will not affect your electricity bill in any way. At the same time, the amount of light they provide to vegetation is in no way inferior to other types of lamps. For harmonious growth of seedlings, about six thousand lux is required. Diodes quietly give out this indicator.
Last on our list, but not least for ordinary gardeners, is ease of installation and ease of operation.

How to make an LED lamp for seedlings with your own hands

Making a simple strip light is quite simple. To do this you will need the following elements:

plug and wire;
power supply or driver that will provide uninterrupted voltage;
base for the lamp (any wooden or plastic base will do: ruler, furniture profile, plinth);
special thermal paste or a more expensive option - hot melt adhesive (found at a hardware store);
blue and red diodes.

In order for the red and blue spectrum to evenly affect the plant, it should be distributed on the base in the following order: two red, one blue, and so on.

The elements are connected by soldering, connected to the power supply, plug and switch. The tape is secured to the prepared surface using bolts and rivets. Double tape holds the structure in place perfectly. The last step is to assemble a single circuit with a block, wire, switch and plug.

Video - Homemade lamp for flowers using phyto LEDs

Phytolamps for supplementary illumination of plants at home

Externally, phytolamps resemble LED ones. Their main difference is the spectrum of the glow produced, which in phytolamps is pink-violet. The light should fall directly on the plants from above. The backlight height must be adjusted manually.

Video - Phytolamps for plant seedlings

In order not to destroy the plants and get strong and strong seedlings, it is important to follow the rules.

It is imperative to observe the frequency of illumination: day and night. A sharp change or shift in the schedule is fraught with poor development and complete destruction of vegetation.
The gap between the light bulb and the plant obeys the inverse quadrant law. This means that if the lamp is removed to a distance four times smaller, the intensity of light received by vegetation will decrease by sixteen times.
If it is possible to place vegetation near windows facing south, this will increase the effectiveness of additional lighting. In addition, this will save on electricity.
Study the additional lighting regime for the seedlings you are growing. Each type of plant needs a certain amount of light. The duration of photoperiods is also different for everyone. Vegetables need light during the day. There are plants that like to be in the shade most of the time.
Pay special attention to lighting the seedlings on days when there is no sun at all. If the windows are on the north side, then home lighting is simply necessary.

It is important to remember that natural sunlight cannot be replaced by any light bulb.

Light is one of the most important components of active growth and healthy development of cultural systems. When providing illumination for seedlings, it is advisable to have an idea of what light spectrum is needed and as close as possible to sunlight.

The simplest backlight

Today, gardeners prefer to make phytolights themselves: firstly, this is a significant saving for the family budget, and secondly, by studying the characteristics of various artificial light sources, you can choose the most useful combination. The simplest way to provide light for seedlings is to place them on the windowsill. To ensure that plants receive maximum light, use the simplest device. In a regular cardboard box, the top and bottom sides are cut off, leaving only the sides. The sides of the box are covered with foil.

Containers with seedlings are placed inside the box, preferably its sides are higher than the containers with vegetation. This entire structure is located on the windowsill.

Sunlight hitting the foil is refracted and reflected on the seedlings. This method is economical and simple, but in cloudy weather it is absolutely useless. Foil itself will not provide illumination for plants.

Growing under artificial light

The main condition for artificial lighting is maximum similarity to the emission spectrum of sunlight.

Red and blue colors are necessary for the growth and development of cells and tissues in the natural spectrum. Before making a phytolamp with your own hands, you should take this fact into account.

What should the rack be like?

The rack on which the seedlings will be located and the structures with lamps must meet the following criteria:

strength and stability;
invulnerability to moisture;
ease of access to all shelves;
correspondence of distances between light and plantings;
durability.

Lamp selection

To make a phytolamp for plants with your own hands, you need to purchase a lamp that has suitable characteristics. To increase sales, unscrupulous manufacturers call ordinary incandescent lamps phytolamps.

When choosing a light source, carefully inspect the packaging; it always indicates the color temperature value:

warm ones with a red spectrum have an indicator of 2000 K;
cold with blue - closer to the value of 8000 K.

For example, a lamp with a value of 2700 K helps strengthen shoots and form peduncles; a value of 6500 has a greater effect on the root system, its development and strengthening.

The most popular backlight lamps:

luminescent;
sodium;
metal halide;
LED

Did you know? The impetus for the appearance of LEDs was the discovery of luminescence by Soviet physicist Oleg Losev in 1923. Scientific journals in Germany, where the scientist’s articles were often published, called this discovery Losev Licht. Later in the early 70s, thanks to Losev's discovery, red, yellow and green LEDs appeared. The blue LED was created by Suji Nakamura in 1990.

The advantages of lighting are undeniable; most plants initially need light at least 12 hours a day, and daylight hours do not always provide this opportunity.
Without light, the seedlings will stretch out, all the plant’s efforts will be spent on growth, and not on the development of future fruits. Therefore, for normal, stage-by-stage development, as in the natural environment, seedlings are illuminated at home.

Making a rack

Building a rack with your own hands is convenient in all respects: the right size, material, appearance. The construction itself does not take much time.
So, we buy bars, thick plywood for shelves, and fasteners at a hardware store. You can fasten the parts together with self-tapping screws. The length and width of the shelves are determined based on the length and number of your seedling boxes. For convenience, make a drawing with the necessary measurements.

To work you will need tools:

hand or circular saw;
screwdriver;
drill;
simple pencil.

Having measured the required dimensions, cut the parts and begin assembly. It is advisable to glue the places where parts are inserted (shelves into the edges of the support) in addition to fastening with self-tapping screws for greater reliability.

Since you will not need the rack all year round, giving it the most aesthetic appearance, at other times it can be used as an interior item, for example, for books or decorative trinkets.
In order to be able to move it from place to place, you can give it mobility using special wheels for furniture.

Today, among gardeners, LED lamps are considered the most popular lighting for seedlings; they are easy to make with your own hands, and you can also combine different spectrums of light.

Advantages of LEDs:

as close to sunlight as possible;
operate without interruptions or defects;
economical - consume little energy;
even at a fairly close distance they do not cause burns to foliage.

To make an LED lamp for seedlings with your own hands you will need:

blue and red diodes;
thermal paste;
aluminum or any other profile for fastening;
power supply, cord and plug;
soldering iron and solder;
bolts.

The desired sequence in the LED strip is: two red, one blue. The diode strips are connected to each other using soldering and secured to the profile with thermal paste. The wires are brought out and connected into one circuit with the power supply, cord and plug. Using bolts, the structure is secured to the shelves of the rack.

Illumination for seedlings, or as they also say, additional illumination, is a question that makes not only beginners, but also experienced summer residents rack their brains every season. Of course, someone may say that you can do without lighting, but you must agree that it is thanks to it that plants at a very early age have a better chance of survival and resistance to growth in open ground.

Why is backlight so necessary?

There are reasons why it is very desirable to use lighting when growing seedlings:

If you are engaged in early cultivation of seedlings, additional lighting will be very useful, since it will lengthen the daylight hours for the plants.
Additional lighting gives plants light from all sides and does not allow them to stretch too far towards the light source.
If you provide plants with the necessary spectrum of light radiation, they will be able to safely go through all stages of growth and development.

So, we are convinced that highlighting plants is useful and necessary. It remains to figure out how and with what help to do this.

Plants provided with additional light in the early stages are much stronger, stronger and more resilient than those that were left without it - in addition, they are better able to resist infections and produce greater yields.

Backlighting is good when it is as close in spectrum to natural sunlight as possible.

The best light spectrums are red and blue, with red helping plants grow and blue helping cells develop.

Ways to illuminate plants

There are two such methods:

A lamp-free method of growing seedlings on a windowsill;

Growing seedlings using different types of lamps.

Both methods are imperfect, so you should definitely consider not only the lamp-based method of growing, which is discussed in our article, but also the lamp-free method. This will make it easier for you to understand why additional lighting is better than the lampless method. Or maybe, on the contrary, you will like growing without the use of lamps more.

Growing without lamps

The main character in this scheme is a cardboard box, from which the side and top are removed. As a result, only small sides remain, which are covered with foil along with the rest of the box. This product is placed behind the plants and in sunny weather refracts the rays, providing comprehensive illumination to the seedlings.

This method is very economical, but at the same time it has a great weakness. In cloudy weather or near a window facing north and with large plantings, the foil will not work, and in this case you will have to use additional lighting.

Seedling lighting

Let's move directly to the main subject of conversation. In fact, organizing lighting for seedlings is not at all difficult. It is enough to carry out the preparatory work correctly and provide the necessary conditions:

First, we free up space for the structure on the windowsill, the more, the better;

We provide lamp mounts;

We supply our lighting system with a wire that will connect it to the electrical network.

All that remains is to choose the appropriate type of lamps that will provide our plants with the necessary light. Among all the types of lamps that are used by our gardeners, the following can be distinguished:

Sodium lamps are high-pressure lamps that provide seedlings with constant warm light. Seedlings like this light, but for such lamps you need to install a power regulator in addition. Of course, not all gardeners can afford this option due to its high price, which does not correspond to the result grown in the garden beds. Therefore, sodium lamps are usually chosen by those who like to experiment and devote their entire lives to plants. Or simply has a high level of income.
Phytolamps – have a violet-pink emission spectrum. Plants are crazy about it, but the human body exhibits a completely opposite reaction. To avoid unpleasant consequences, these lamps are equipped with a reflector.
Sodium metal halide elements - this method is quite affordable for our residents and is quite effective. However, there is still not enough blue light in the lighting, which means that the plants will hatch and develop more slowly.
Fluorescent lamps are a very attractive option, but they are too cold, which indicates a lack of red spectrum.
Ordinary incandescent lamps - if anyone consoles himself with the hope that with their help one can achieve a good result, we hasten to dispel this belief - these lamps are only good for heating the surrounding area. Yes, of course, plants will react to the light and turn towards the light source, but at the same time they will not receive the entire necessary spectrum of radiation.
LED lamps are a separate topic for discussion. They have their own distinctive features that allow them to be used for growing seedlings. And these features are worth considering in detail.

Photo gallery of backlights with different types of lamps

What are the benefits of LEDs?

Here they are, the undeniable advantages of LED lamps:

With their help, you can combine both red and blue emission spectra, thus creating the ideal type of lighting.
The availability of LEDs does not need further words, so this lighting option will pay for itself quite quickly.
LEDs are capable of providing seedlings with up to 6,000 lux of illumination needed for proper growth, while consuming very little electricity.
If this was not enough for you, then we will also add about the easy level of installation and ease of use. It turns out that LEDs are perhaps the best option for illuminating seedlings.

LEDs have a wide range of applications both in everyday life and in production - this is largely due to the fact that with a good lighting area they do not heat the air.

In order to make an LED lamp, you do not need to have any special skills or abilities.

The LED strip light requires the following elements:

Red and blue LEDs;

Thermal paste or hot-melt adhesive (hot-melt adhesive will cost more);

Any material, from a regular ruler to a metal profile as a base;

A driver or power supply is required for a stable voltage supply and a voltage of the required value;

Plug and cord.

To set the optimal lighting on the strip, you will need to arrange the red and blue LEDs in a 2:1 ratio in order (that is, 2 red - 1 blue - 2 red - 1 blue).

The connection is made by soldering, after which all this is output to the driver, and the driver is connected to the switch and plug. The tape can be attached to the surface using double tape, bolts or rivets. After this, it is included in a common circuit with a cord, driver, plug and switch.

Great homemade shelving unit

Building a small shelving will not take much of your time and at the same time will allow you to save on space for seedlings. After all, with its help you can arrange it in several levels.

The rack is made from a metal corner or a wooden beam, and fastening occurs using bolts or self-tapping screws.

The rack itself is a fairly simple design in the form of shelves with hollow compartments where they will be placed. It is recommended to make no more than three tiers in height, and each of them will be illuminated by a lamp installed on the bottom of the shelf located one level higher.

The choice of lamp is already the prerogative of the owner of the apartment, since everyone has their own time-tested preferences. If you are just trying to experiment with lighting, try several options and see which one has a better effect on the plants. Thanks to this selection, you can find the optimal lighting method.