Proper light management is crucial for every grower to ensure the amount of light your crop is receiving in a period.
Daily Light Integrals (DLI) mol.m-2. s-1 moles per sq meter. per second.
This describes the amount of photosynthetically active photons that reach the leaf area in a 24-hour period, 86,400,000 seconds.
DLI expresses the sum of light measurements in a 24-hour period. Plants use phytochrome pigments to harvest light to fuel photosynthesis. Phytochrome is a blue-green plant pigment which regulates plant development, including seed germination, stem growth, leaf expansion, pigment synthesis, and flowering. Phytochrome has been found in most of the organs of seed plants and free-sporing plants. Chlorophyll is the most common and abundant plant pigment, blue and red mostly. Red 660 influences leaf growth and stem elongation, so red-light plays a key role in flowering cannabis by activating phytochrome pigments.
Cannabis, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes love the 660 photons, it trusts it and eats more and in return the plants deteriorate sooner allowing your crop to finish days sooner than with old HPS/ MH lights.
The blue photon is needed, in tiny amounts, to prevent irregular stem elongation; blue light to regulate opening of the stomata pores on the underside of the cannabis leaf to take in Co2.
The measure of the light is the next step to setting up your LED light, now that you know more about PPFD and DLI, and that it is monumental to a plants health and growth.
Use the calculator below to see how much DLI you need: