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albert_135

Articles reference 'blue light' for early experiments on trophism

Articles reference "blue light" for early experiments on tropism.

Articles on early experimenters on tropism, 1920s or so, say they use "blue light" but I cannot find that defined. Can I go to Loews and get a blue colored light bulb? Or did they have something specific they used?

Comments (2)

  • smokemaster_2007
    13 years ago

    I think you can't use a bulb that the glass is colored blue.
    It's really making white light but looks blue only because it's got the blue glass.
    I read something a while back about LEDs and it said something about not using LEDs with a red or blue colored lens because it wasn't really putting out light in the wavelength you wanted.
    Blue is in the 400nm+ range and red in the 600nm+ range.
    Different other light sources put out varried amounts of red and blue among other colors.
    Plants use light wavelengths mainly in the 400nm to 700 range generaly.
    I think certain fluorescent lights would be your best bet if you don't use LEDs.
    I'm playing with red and blue LEDs right now in different wavelengths in the highest lumen I can find.
    Even with LEDs you get a lot of white light with the blue.
    I've noticed how some of the new car headlights put out a blue white light.I am thinking about trying out a couple of them.The bulbs do get pretty hot though so that might be an issue.
    With Fluorescent bulbs they have a rating in color temparasture they put out - example 5000K rate is more blue than a 4500K.
    The more red they put out the lower the "K" rating will be.
    K meams Kelvin,the color temparature of the bulb.
    Most bulbs will have Lumens(brightness),watts,and sometimes CRI(color rendering index).
    I'd go with LEDs.I just put together a board with 3 watt star LEDs that puts out a lot of light in blue and red (50/50).
    I have to cool it then I'll be growing my peppers under it.

    Below is some info on fluorescent bulbs by 1 company.
    Check out the blue max bulbs too.
    They claim those bulbs put out more Lumens and more blue than others.
    Take it with a grain of salt,they are selling the bulbs but it does have some good info underneath as far as explaining CRI etc.

    I wouldn't try UV or infa red on your plants in more than very small amounts.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Max.

  • wordwiz
    13 years ago

    Blue Light in these days refers to a bulb rated at 5,000-6,000K color temp. Supposedly, these bulbs come closest to mimicking sunlight.

    Mike

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