Introduction: The test is being performed in a lab room, inside of a 4' x 2' x 6' grow tent. The upper 3' of the tent is reserved for the plants under Hydro Grow LED Grow Lights, while the bottom 3' is reserved for the T5 plants. The LED section is lit by 4x63W Penetrator lights, consuming 57-58W of electricity each. The T5 section is lit by a 4' Sunlight Supply unit, using 4x54W High Output bulbs. All equipment used is brand new. This test has been balanced on the quantum level using a Li-Cor 250A Quantum light meter. Each set of plants are receiving 430 micromoles of either LED or CFL lighting, giving both sides an equal amount of PAR lighting. The only difference is spectrum, with LED using 440nm, 470nm, 640nm, 660nm, 740nm, and 6500k white, and the T5 using 2x3000k bulbs and 2x6500k bulbs. The Li-Cor 250A Quantum light meter was used to balance the micromole levels.

 

Test Parameters:

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Results: The Lettuce grown under 430μmol/m2/s of LED Grow Light produced on average 39.7% more yield compared to the lettuce grown under 430μmol/m2/s of CFL light. The Basil on the other hand fared slightly better under T5, however margin of error indicate that it is not significant enough. This may also indicate that lettuce is more spectrum driven than basil or that our LED Grow Lights contains spectral blends that is matched more for lettuce than basil. Tests like this help our company develop our technology further, and show us what plants we need to focus on for spectral development. In the future research like this will be applied to new products developed specifically for each individual plant species, as the vast majority of plants have different spectral requirements. We would like to thank the University of Washington and the Professor involved in this test, for their ongoing efforts in performing these sorts of tests for our company. Stay tuned for more tests to come in the near future!