Supplemental light: PPFD vs Foot Candles

[Kosmo83]

Originally Posted by estación seca

The best way would be to find the best-grown plants in cultivation and measure the light they receive.

Thats the wrong attempt, from my perspektiv.

I think, the best would be, to place some data-logger to log temperature, light intensitsy, spektrum and humidity/rain and place these next to 2 or 3 big Plants in the wild (one species).

After a year, we have some data and than we can start with the trials, with variation from "best known cultivation variant" up to "simulated nature".

The problem could be, that every cultivation-form has a sweet spot for fertilizing > more light but not enough of something other (nitrogen, CO2, whatever) can be cause, that we don't need a benefit with more light or maybe a step back.

It is a complex system, modifying one thing influences another.

So the Informations from books are not wrong all the way, it is a sweetspot to grow the plants in a greenhouse in the northern hemisphere far away from equator.

With todays posibilitys, I would go the other way, collecting so much data as possible, simulate this climate as best as possible (with LED, Growtents and co, it should be possible) and see how it works and compare it to known cultivation-forms.

Sorry, I am a phd. in mechanical engineering :P I love to collect datas

[Ray]

I’m certainly no expert in the field, but I recall reading that many CAM plants display C3 or C4 activity, as well, and there is no doubt that a plant’s “body chemistry” can change, depending upon many cultural factors.

I think there may be a bit of convolution of rate of growth and flowering and quality therein.

Folks often see faster growth and sooner flowering in phals grown under somewhat high light levels, but if you observe many of the phal species in the wild, they are deep understory plants that never see much light intensity.

Those grown brighter may bloom sooner, but the blossoms tend to be more short-lived.

Without a doubt, in over 50 years of growing, the best blooming phals I’ve ever seen were in a hot, humid greenhouse that was SO coated with algae it was dark inside - very similar to a rainforest.

Maybe a good analogy is that of “overfeeding”, but in terms of photons instead of nitrogen, or in people, calories. Certainly one can live on a lot of calories, but limiting them tends to lead to better health.

[estación seca]

Plants cultivated by good gardeners who provide ideal conditions grow better, faster and flower better than plants in habitat. People who regularly visit habitat notice this quickly.

Plants in habitat grow in those spots because they can outcompete other plants there, not because they grow best there. It's very important to remember this concept.