If you want to grow your cannabis plant indoors, for example in a Bonsanto Mini Growbox, your plant will not be supplied with sunlight as it would be outdoors. Therefore, you need to imitate sunlight with the help of a lamp. The topic of “cannabis cultivation light” and the right lighting are crucial for the growth and development of your plant, as it needs the energy to carry out photosynthesis and produce nutrients.
Below we explain what you should know about lighting your cannabis plant, which grow lamp is best suited, what you should look out for when buying a grow lamp and which values are important.
If you own one of our Bonsanto mini grow boxes, you’re in luck! It already comes with a suitable lamp for your grow!
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Why do you need light to grow cannabis?
Like other plants, cannabis needs light for photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert light into the energy they need to survive and grow. Without light, plants cannot form new cells and therefore cannot grow. If a cannabis plant is supplied with insufficient light, not only does its growth suffer, but also its health.
Cannabis cultivation light - What do you need to consider?
Cannabis plants need a lot of light. However, not every lamp is suitable for growing hemp indoors. As a general rule, you should always buy a lamp that has been specially designed for growing hemp. Commercially available light bulbs are not suitable for indoor growing. But there are also some differences in the quality of grow lamps. It is important to pay attention to how much light and what type of light a lamp emits. The intensity and color spectrum of the light play a decisive role here. The distance between the lamp and the plant and the lighting cycle are also important points in the area of “cannabis cultivation light”.
If you want to use the light from your lamp efficiently, you can equip your grow box with a Bonsanto reflective foil. The reflective foil provides your plant with more light so that it can grow faster and more efficiently.
Intensity of the light
When buying a grow light, you should pay attention to how intense or bright the light of the lamp is. The larger your cultivation area, the brighter the light should be. Furthermore, the better a cannabis plant is supplied with light, the faster it grows and the higher the yield. But also note that too much light can cause burns to the plant.
If you buy one of our Bonsanto LED lamps, you can easily avoid this problem, as our lamps have the right light intensity for your grow.
Color spectrum
The light produced by a lamp is measured in Kelvin (K) and is referred to as the color temperature. If a light has a high K value, it appears bluish. If the K value is low, however, the light appears reddish. If a lamp emits incandescent light, it covers the entire color spectrum from red to blue. LED lights are therefore particularly suitable for growing hemp plants indoors, as they contain this color spectrum.
Normally, lamps need to be changed frequently, as the plants require bluish light during the initial growth phase and reddish light during the flowering phase. The bluish light promotes the formation of chlorophyll – a chemical that ensures rapid plant growth. The Bonsanto LED lamps cover the required color spectrum from blue to red to provide cannabis plants with the light they need in every growth phase. This saves you annoying lamp changes.
Distance of the lamp
The distance from the lamp to the plant is also something you should pay attention to when it comes to “cannabis cultivation light”. LED lamps with over 200W should be mounted about 30 to 70 cm above the plant. If the lamp has an output of over 400W, the distance between the light and the plant should be around 50 to 80 cm. Therefore, the higher the wattage, the greater the distance should be. Raise the lamp if you notice that your plant is suffering from burns or the leaves are losing color.
If you have a Bonsanto grow box, place the LED lamp in the upper part of the grow box and leave it there during the entire cultivation process.
Lighting cycle
Depending on the growth phase, a cannabis plant requires different lighting conditions. In the seedling or cutting phase, you can either use a 24-hour light cycle or an 18/6 cycle. If you are growing in the Bonsanto grow box, we recommend 24-hour lighting for the first 4-7 days. The latter stands for an exposure time of 18 hours and a dark phase of 6 hours and is of course more energy-efficient. This 18/6 cycle is also maintained during the growth phase of the hemp plant. To initiate the flowering phase, the light exposure is reduced from 18h to 12h per day, which is why this is referred to as a 12/12 cycle.
Cannabis cultivation light - What are the advantages of LED lamps?
There are various lamps that are suitable for growing hemp indoors. These include HID, LED, CFL and induction lights. Each type of lamp has advantages and disadvantages. In recent years, LED lighting has gained popularity among growers and is well suited to cannabis cultivation for a number of reasons. LED lamps have a longer lifespan than other lamps and provide more efficiency and high light intensity. They also ensure that your plant does not overheat, as they emit less heat than other types of lamps. LED lamps also consume less energy, which saves costs due to the low power consumption.
What are the signs of too much or too little light?
If the leaves of your plant turn yellow, have green veins and are difficult to pull off the stem, this is an indicator of light oversaturation or a PAR value that is too high. This is also known as light burn. Loose, airy or white buds also indicate too much light.
Plants need light to carry out photosynthesis. If they receive too little, this can be detected by very slow growth. A tall plant stem also indicates too little light. Due to insufficient light, the stem stretches towards the light source and thus grows taller.
If you want to avoid this problem, it is advisable to use Bonsanto LED lamps, as these have the optimum values that your plant needs for healthy growth.
How can you measure the effectiveness "goodness" of cannabis cultivation light?
The quality of an LED lamp can be measured using the PAR value. Light consists of photons, whereby these photons can oscillate at different wavelengths. The wavelengths that are responsible for photosynthesis are referred to as PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). This is the radiation that the plant can use for the process of photosynthesis. The PAR value therefore describes the flow of photosynthetic photons and is measured in μmol. When looking at grow lamps, it is therefore essential to pay attention to the PAR value, as only this radiation can be used by the plant.
What PAR value does cannabis need?
The PAR value of your lamp should be adjusted depending on the growth phase. The optimum PAR value at the start of the growth phase is 100 to 300 μmol. In the flowering phase, the value should be between 500 and 1050 μmol. Make sure that the PAR value does not exceed this specification, otherwise it can hinder the growth of your plant. If you use one of our Bonsanto lamps, you can easily avoid the problem of changing lamps in the different growth phases, as our lamps can be used during all growth phases.
| Growth phase | PAR-Value |
|---|---|
|
Seedling |
100-300 |
|
Growth |
250-600 |
|
Blossom |
500-1050 |
Why is the PAR value more important than the wattage?
Cheap China lamps may have a high wattage, but a lower PAR value. As explained above, the PAR value is essential for the growth and yield of your plant. This is why the Bonsanto LED lamps included with the mini grow boxes are superior to other lamps with a higher wattage due to their maximum efficiency and good PAR value.
