High Intensity Gardening

Gardening is a most enjoyable hobby offering limitless hours of relaxation and rejuvenation to most green thumb practisers, including those who live in conditions that are not necessarily tropical. Gardening that has been considered as a pursuit to be done essentially in times of summer/spring has now transcended, to be practiced even in the most brutal of climates, and is aptly called indoor gardening. The major necessity for indoor gardening would be the adequate amount of light required for the proper development of a plant. To facilitate this, artificial light is provided as a replacement to natural sunlight.

One of the best availabilities for this artificial high intensity supplementation of light is through the use of High Intensity Discharge light bulbs. High intensity bulbs have made it possible for most horticulturalists and indoor growers to practice year-round gardening. These lamps have replaced space consuming greenhouse lights as, they can be hung from a hook and do not require any special electrical output. The non-consumption of high levels of electricity is a major advantage of these lamps.

Two of the characteristic features of these high intensity bulbs is their high level production of light (around 10 times more luminosity/watt than incandescent light bulbs)and the color range that is available through these light bulbs and also which most plants require.

High intensity discharge lamps are a type of arc lamp which is composed of tungsten electrodes that are arranged in an arc tube usually made of fused quartz or fused alumina. The arc tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas is responsible for the arc’s initial strike, which leads to its heating followed by the evaporating of the metal salt, forming a plasma. The plasma serves to increase the intensity of the light produced while reducing the power consumed.

Based on the type of metal salt and gas filled in the tube, there are many different types of discharge lamps. For example, high pressure sodium light bulbs, give off reddish light, which leads to enlarged fruit development in the plant’s fruiting phase, as warmer colours raise the quantity of chlorophyll produced.

High intensity halide lamps emit an entire spectrum of light. The visible color range is blue in color, thereby providing plants their requirements for healthy vegetative and reproductive development. Halide light is pleasing to look at and does not irritate the human eyes.

Some of the parameters that need to be checked in a high intensity light bulb are as follows:

-                                                           The strength of the pre-galvanized steel base

-                                                           The durability of the electro-coat finish

-                                                           The standard of the UV filters

A drawback of using high intensity light bulb for indoor gardening, is the amount of UV radiation that is a by product of the light. Special filters are available that block UV radiation. Many of the light bulbs are designed to automatically switch off, if their filters don’t work properly as exposure to UV radiation, especially from a high intensity light bulb is hazardous.