Plants, insects, fungi and people perceive light colour and intensity via different organs and pigments.
The human eye is particularly sensitive to green light, while plants have various pigments that absorb light and control different processes. Insects are sensitive to light in a different way again. The advent of LED technology, with a wide range of light colours to choose from, opens up new opportunities for use in greenhouse horticulture.
But which combination of light colours is needed for optimum plant growth and development, and what effect does adding LED to the sunlight and high-pressure sodium spectrum have? Does using LED lighting on its own produce other reactions in the crop? And what does this mean in terms of plant cultivation cells in urban farming? Does growing plants using only LED lighting enable you to produce vegetables and flowers without using gas (i.e. fully electric)? These are just some of the questions that arise when considering the ways in which LED lighting could be used. The Denkkader Licht (Thinking about Light) project looks at these opportunities and uses.
