Adequate lighting is essential to the health and productivity of your plants. Plants need light for photosynthesis, which is how they produce the food they need to grow. Light also affects plant metabolism, hormones, flowering, and fruiting. Without enough light, plants will become leggy and pale, and they won’t produce as much fruit or flowers.
The need of sufficient lighting to a grow operation’s success makes knowing how to measure the quantity of light reaching the plant a significant edge. This improves the likelihood of success by ensuring that the cultivation process is appropriately regulated.
The lux meter is used for this extremely valuable procedure, and I’ll go through what it is, why you’d want one, and how to use it in detail.
What is a Lux Meter?
A lux meter is a gadget that measures the amount of light in lumen per square meter in a grow room. The lux meter is often referred to as a measurement of light. A lux meter is a simple tool that may help growers maximize their production processes while also achieving optimal yield. Professionals use quantum meters and PAR meters to determine the amount of photosynthetically active radiation available to the plant for photosynthesis.
The higher sensitivity of these meters, as well as their cost disadvantages, render them less popular than lux meters. PAR meters are more expensive than luxmeters because they are more sensitive and can cost up to $1000 each. Because a lux meter correctly assesses the quantity of visible light in the growing area and gives the grower the information needed to evaluate the plant’s health, it is readily sufficient for a grower to satisfy its demands with one.
Benefits of a Lux Meter
Here are a few benefits of using a lux meter during the growing process:
Increase in yield
A lux meteris a device that helps growers measure the amount of light entering the cultivation area. By using a lux meter, farmers can identify areas in their room with an optimum amount of light for plant growth as well as blind spots where plants are not getting enough exposure to light. Maximizing yield potential through even lighting distribution leads to bigger and healthier crops overall.
Prevention of plant health problems
The grower, armed with the knowledge of how much light is reaching the plants, can then take measures to prevent any health problems that may arise from either too little or too much light. When the cannabis plant in your grow area is exposed to too much light, it is likely to get a light burn or bleach, which will disrupt the growth cycle. When less than adequate light reaches the plant, it is unable to actively photosynthesize and can experience growth problems as a result. As a result, the use of the lux meter protects the plant from these medical issues.
More efficient than the eyes
When it comes to light, most growers are used to physically looking at and measuring the amount of sunshine that reaches their grow space, especially when using white lights indoors. Lux meters, on the other hand, are more effective and efficient than physical eyes in determining the quantity of light because they assist growers maximize the amount of light reaching their plants by determining the distance to the source of illumination.
Helps to replace HID grow lights
The grower utilizing HID lights can determine the lifespan of their bulbs with a lux meter. It is also beneficial for a grower to know how much light is optimal for not only cannabis clones or seedlings, but also the vegetative and flowering plant.
Clones or seedlings can be cultivated in readings from 5000 to 7000 lux. Vegetative cannabis plants thrive in light levels ranging from 15,000 to 50000 lumens.
The optimum range for a flowering plant is from 45000 to 65000 hertz.
The maximum amount of light that a cannabis plant for work can utilize is 75000 lux, which is approximately 7500 foot-candles. Lux meter readings of 85000 and above are already too intense, and they will promote light stress and bleaching in the plant.
Getting precise readings from your lux meter is vital for growers, as it helps them determine how much light their plants are getting. To get the most accurate idea of what’s going on, take readings in different areas of the grow room at various heights within the plant canopy.
Final Summary
To measure the light, the Lux Meter calculates it to ensure that it is at the correct height so you can determine how much to use. It should also be distributed uniformly so that it reaches all of the plants, even those in dark locations.