Wavelength's | It seems to me blue is more useful

I keep reviewing these PAR graphs and what wavelength's plants make use of the most and their efficiency with chlorophyll a/b.

I don't understand at all why people are all about the red and far red spectrum. Every chart and botany piece I read shows me otherwise. From what I can tell a lot of important things are manufactured by violet/blue light. Some things aren't manufactured at all by a plant in the red spectrum. That also tells me that's why red light causes a plant to stretch. It's stretching because it's trying to get closer to something it can use.

I'm strongly considering having a couple Apollo 10's build to order with 90 degree lensing and this configuration per 15 x 3w module's:

Violet 400nm
Blue 460nm
Red 630nm
Deedp Red: 660nm

Each module (15 diodes in each):

400 nm: 1
460 nm: 8
630 nm: 1
660 nm: 5

The website I'm looking at only has certain spectrum's available for the Apollo 10. It looks like plants peak their efficiency at around 80% with the 460nm spectrum, and secondly at the 660nm spectrum (40% at 660 vs the 80% at 460nm).

Has anyone tried playing with adding more blue and backing off on the red?

Edit:
chlorophyll a peaks @ 430nm blue, 662nm red
chlorophyll b peaks @ 452nm blue, 642nm red

So on average chlorophyll synthesis peaks at 435 nm and 445 nm in the blue spectrum and 640 and 675 nm in the red wavelengths.

Carotenoids absorption peak @ 450nm, little to no production with red spectrums
xanthophyll absorption between 480nm - 648nm

I wonder if Apollo could offer a range of blue 435/445, and red 640, 660nm.
 

Attachments

MajorCoco

Well-Known Member
I've had great success with white LEDs on their own, so I would recommend any panel you build includes a few white LEDs. Green light is actually used by the plant, though of course much less efficiently than the red or blue peaks, but green light also penetrates better, benefiting buds under the canopy.
White LEDs tend to have a spectrum which is highest in the blue and red peaks close to a plant's par peaks, which is why I think they worked so well for me. Wide band is still vastly underrated in LED design.
 
Top