[jonny_tinslecat]

Hi guys!

ive been doing a bit of reading recently into plant growth, and factors that effect it.
From this i have seen that there have been all sorts of research into what colour (and hence what frequency) light is best for plants to grow and fruit.

Hang on in there - i'm not going to get all scientific on you! 

As i was supposed to be doing my invoicing today, i got bored quickly and thought i should make myself a little desktop "greenhouse" to see if there is any impact.
I had some blue superbright LED's lying round that i keep intend on using, so i quickly lashed up a test rig that ran from the USB of my Laptop!

pretty basic really, 4 superbright LED's, some wire, an old USB lead, some kitchen foil, some little cable ties and a deep plastic plant pot (i think its for roses origionally)

Take a look!




the lights look pretty strong, and i have placed a dorset Naga chilli in there for the time being, but for the purpose of my experiment, i will use some orange habanero's that have just germinated. some i will have on windowsills, one in my new rig, plus i have ordered some red LED's to see if there is any difference!

Hope i havent bored you to death by now, but if your interested i'll let you know how they get on!

[Rangerkris]

Crazy    hope it works well for you.

[sunshineband]

Actually you might have a point. In our tropical fish tanks there are different colour light tubes to support good healthy plant growth. be interested to see how you get on

[peapod]

I love it! What a fun idea, cant wait to see what happens 

[jonny_tinslecat]

if it works well ive got some cold cathode tubes that are blue kicking round - a mate gave them to me to put inside my PC ( :blink: dont know why i would want to do that!)

it would be interesting, as the LED's use very little power - and with a cheap solar panel off of ebay and a motorbike battery, it would be cheap to build into a greenhouse, to prolong the amount of light that your plants get.

ive also read that the colour of light may affect the time before flowering by advancing flowers by up to 4 weeks. from a chilli perspective this is great as we all know they need long seasons to produce a good crop. i'm hoping that the blue light will make the plant more compact, a space saving option for home cultivation!

[peapod]

Definately keep up posted, I think a lot of people would be interested to see and then implement in the GH (if it works!)

[Parsnip]

Does it say..." we will exterminate, we will exterminate"  

[sunshineband]

Does it say..." we will exterminate, we will exterminate"  

Don't worry Snippy, it can't go up steps

[Parsnip]

Phew, I'm frightened of Daleks.. Well I was when I was a kid..

It looks amazing actually JT...keep us up to date with the results, I'm very into my chillis and am growing lots this year!!

[sunshineband]

Phew, I'm frightened of Daleks.. Well I was when I was a kid..

It looks amazing actually JT...keep us up to date with the results, I'm very into my chillis and am growing lots this year!!

I used to hide behind the settee 

[jonny_tinslecat]

HAHA!
i guess it does look like a dalek doesnt it! if it was, it would just keep me away from the laptop, which isnt a bad thing really!

i may make a couple of rigs now - all blue (as per the pics), all red and a mix of blue and red!

good to see your into your chilli's too ive got some weird and wonderful ones just peeping through the vermiculite - the one i'm most proud of is my maui purple chilli's - a purple plant - leaves / stems / fruit. even the seedlings are purple!

[sunshineband]

HAHA!
i guess it does look like a dalek doesnt it! if it was, it would just keep me away from the laptop, which isnt a bad thing really!

i may make a couple of rigs now - all blue (as per the pics), all red and a mix of blue and red!

good to see your into your chilli's too ive got some weird and wonderful ones just peeping through the vermiculite - the one i'm most proud of is my maui purple chilli's - a purple plant - leaves / stems / fruit. even the seedlings are purple!

That maui purple sounds good 

[Parsnip]

My hubby has got an asbestos gob, so it's got to be all the hot ones that I grow..

[tam]

That's a very neat DIY set up! I cheated and brought a bulb I started two sweet peppers under it in November. They got a bit big and went on window sill eventually but I picked first green pepper start of Feb and the next batch are just going red now.

I think blue is meant to be for growing leaves so perfect for your plants at the moment but you're meant to need red for flowering/fruiting. The bulb I have has some of each so not sure how much difference it makes.

[richyrich7]

  idea Johnny Lets us know how it works, not sure if the colour spectrum will be right my old grolux tubes where more of a purply blue but you never know.

I'm gonna bump you over to design and construction  "Hold tight Please"