If you are aware of light spectrum, or color wavelengths. It is the range of light colors we see or didn’t see. Visible light that our eyes can see is between 380-740 nanometers. And similarly, the leaves of plants also enjoy these visible wavelength; the chlorophyll uses these light to manufacture food. The green light is an exception. Because chlorophyll only reflects green and they don’t absorb it, that explains why plants’ leaves are green. 

So for the most parts, plants respond to the blue and red colors very well. These are the two most important wavelengths that plants need during their growth. Basically, plants need blue light for their vegetative phase and red light for the flowering period.

Understanding that, many grow light manufacturers have made it possible to produce the light colors plants need with their LEDs light. Many modern LED grow lights have a programmable setting to produce different color wavelengths. By this, you can control the type of lights at the different ratios for plants at different stages of growth in their life.

These types of LED lights with a very wide or full range of color wavelengths are called full-spectrum LED grow lights.

So two of the most important criteria that affect plant growth are light intensity (or the power of light output), and light colors (color wavelengths).

For light intensity, you can opt for the powerful light, but for light colors, you should choose one with a wide range of color wavelength (or full spectrum).

The Benefits of Full Spectrum Light for Plants

Traditional LED arrays tend to only emit the spectrums that activate after the photorespiration period takes place ( grow lights with dominant red and blue LEDs). This is the reason traditional LED lights sometimes finish cycles with immature plants that produce low yields. By supplying plants with only the limited “beneficial” spectrums (pink light) from traditional LED arrays, you are essentially putting them into a permanent chill mode. You may end up with some healthy plants, but they will not yield as much or be as healthy as plants under a full spectrum LED grow light. If red and blue light were truly all that plants needed then why do HPS lights which don’t have much of either color outperform them? The answer is intensity which plants go for first then spectrum. When you give your plants both intensity and full spectrum light they will pay you back every time.