Ask A Scientist© Botany Archive

name         Marshall
status       student
age          14

Question -   Is plant growth affected differently when exposed to
artificial light instead of sunlight?
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Hello Marshall

Yes, plant growth can be affected by artificial lighting - but it depends
on what type of lights are used.

Plants are best at using certain colors of light - blue light and red light
are the best colors. Light from the sun has all the colors of light so
plants grow well in light from the sun. Often artificial lights are either
not strong enough or produce the wrong colors for the plants to be able to
use the light and grow well. Consequently you need to buy special lights to
grow plants under - these lights are very strong and produce the right
colors for plant growth.

Thanks for the question.

Cameron Millsom


Cameron Millsom
Trinity Education Centre
University of Melbourne
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