The photoperiod of the plant will determine how long you should turn your grow lights on.
What is photoperiod, then? The photoperiod describes how long each day is or how long it takes for plants to absorb light. Different plants have different photoperiods. For instance, short-day plants don’t need a lot of light in the daytime. The nights are longer in these plants. The majority of winter plants are short-day plants. Short-day plants like kalanchoe, Chrysanthemums, and begonias need 12 hours of light exposure. On the other hand, long-day plants, such as seedlings for veg and garden flowers, need more light exposure (18 hours per day).
Besides, the lighting duration varies according to the growth stage of plants. Plant growth stages are typically broken down into three categories: seeding, vegetative, and flowering/fruiting. The following is the duration of light per day for these three stages:
- Seeding stage: 14 -16 hours
- Vegetative stage: 14-18 hours
- Flowering and fruiting stage: 12 hours
