Photoperiod cannabis strains work on a specific light schedule that acts as signals to the plant to start transitioning to different stages. These photoperiods dictate how long your grow lights are on, essentially mimicking the time of day the plants would normally be active.
This means that there is a period when the lights are off and your plants can work behind the scenes. It is during this lights off period that you want to avoid shedding light on your plants, so to speak.
Oftentimes, a persistent bright light from a leak somewhere will cause your plants to freak out and start doing some weird stuff (think reverting to veg or going hermie). But what if the grower needed to go into the grow room to fix a problem or check on the plants.
Green light is one of the only spectrums of light that plants don’t photosynthesize which means it won’t disturb them while the lights are off. The green spectrum does have a role in cannabis development in the form of a regulator.
There has been some science showing that cannabis benefits from green lighting at different points in the life cycle.
How Does Green Lighting Affect Cannabis?
During the seedling stage, your cannabis plant won’t be producing a lot of chlorophyll because they don’t have the leaf system in place to photosynthesize. Having a green lighting on your seedling may provide a stand-in effect until they get big enough to produce enough on their own.
The interesting thing about cannabis is that it easily recognizes the blue end and the red end of the light spectrum, yet doesn’t seem to notice the green part.
Instead, it seems that the plant uses the green spectrum to realize that it’s not getting the light it needs and it’ll adjust the growth of the plant accordingly.
Cannabis tends to reflect a small amount of green light and that is why we perceive plants as being the color green. The rest of the light gets put to use and if the plant needs a bridge between the two ends of the spectrum, the green will help achieve that balance.
Using a green lighting may help the grower with eye strain. Working under metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights can cause eye strain when working under them for long periods.
Checking your garden at night with a green lighting won’t disturb the plants and will make it easy for your vision.
Green Light Is Nature’s Regulator
Studies have shown that while green lighting does not promote more flowers or fruit, it helps with metabolism which ultimately affects what the plant looks like.
This means that if there is a spectrum deficiency in your red or blue spectrums, adding a small amount of green light to your grow room can help fill the gap and keep your plant healthy.
Green light doesn’t add anything specific to your grow, but it does help balance everything out.
Learn more about lighting for growing cannabis – 12/12 light cycle guide, LED lighting, autoflower cannabis light cycles, and more!
