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Cannabis plants growing indoors lack one of the most essential resources for growth: natural sunlight! Indoor cultivators recreate sunlight using grow lights. Although it’s challenging to stimulate sunlight exactly, customising grow lights can actually yield some exciting results for your harvest.

LED grow lights have become the industry standard for their brightness and cost efficiency. Brightness is what many growers focus on when choosing the best grow lights for their grow tent. However, understanding how different colour lights impact your plant growth can unlock a boost in terpenes and other unique characteristics.

We’re giving you the green light to explore how you can use spectrum tuning in your grow tent.

What is spectrum tuning

Did you know that the colours of the rainbow aren’t the only colours? They’re just the colourswe can see with our naked eyes. This ‘visible region’ of light falls within 400nm-700nm wavelength on the light spectrum. Similar to humans, research has shown that this light range has the greatest impact on photosynthesis, which helps cannabis plants grow. Recent studies have revealed that wavelengths outside this range also affect plant growth. Strategically utilising them in your grow tent can enhance terpene production through trichomes.

Visible light on the spectrum ranges from cooler colours, such as blues and purples, to warmer colours, like yellow and red. Each colour has a different effect on how the plant grows. This phenomenon is called photomorphogenesis. Certain light colours trigger receptors in the cannabis plant that alter its shape and growth.

Here’s how the most common LED grow lights affect cannabis plants:

• Blue LED lights – a favourite for growing indoors since blue light impacts plant height. More blue light leads to shorter, bushier plants, ideal for smaller indoor grow tent settings.
• Green LED lights – the best light absorbed in photosynthesis since the green light penetrates deeper into the plant leaves.
• Red LED lights – produce high photosynthesis levels (PAR)

Spectrum tuning grow lights involves adjusting the light settings to produce more of one type of colour. Some grow lights allow customisation, while other models have a set light colour.

LED lights also come in full-spectrum varieties. Full spectrum is white light resulting from a combination of all the colours in the spectrum. Using full-spectrum LED lights gives cannabis plants exposure to all light colours within the visible range. Additionally, it’s the best light for examining your plants.

Best spectrum wavelengths to boost terpenes

Cannabis plants thrive in lights that fall within the visible light spectrum. It’s the pant’s comfort zone to produce an average level yield. Exposing the cannabis plant to spectrum wavelengths outside of the visible light range introduces unexpected conditions for the plant. These unexpected conditions actually trigger unique features of the cannabis plant that can make it more potent and flavourful.

Terpenes are the flavour and aroma-producing characteristics of cannabis. These are stored inside trichomes, which are those white crystals that appear on the buds. The more trichomes a plant has, the more terpenes it stores for potent taste and smell. Specific light wavelengths activate trichome production in response to stress. It’s the plant’s response to protecting itself that actually turns out to be a benefit when used correctly. Spectrum tuning your grow tent to include UV light can boost terpenes on the cannabis plant. The two types of UV light to use are:

• UV-A
• UV-B

Note that UV light can be harmful to your skin and the cannabis plant. Here are the best practices to achieve higher terpene production.

UV-A (315nm-400nm)

UV-A light has similar features to blue light. It can be used throughout the entire plant growth cycle to influence shorter plant growth. It’s helpful in indoor grow tents to keep plants shorter and bushier. The plant responds to this light wavelength by growing thicker leaves and more trichomes.

UV-B (280nm-315nm)

Use caution when using UV-B lights in your grow tent—it can also be harmful to the skin). It’s best used during the flowering stage. The light wavelengths can penetrate the plant canopy and provide light energy to lower areas. It’s helpful with bushier plants to provide adequate light energy to the entire plant to produce trichomes.

UV-B should only be used for a couple of hours a day during the last few weeks of flowering. Overuse can burn your plant.

Conserving energy with spectrum tuning

Cannabis plants require constant light—up to 18 hours per day—for optimal growth. For home growers, it’s one of the biggest costs to maintain a home grow tent. Spectrum tuning is a cost-effective way to save money with every cultivation. It works by using lights that consume less energy than others and ensuring the plant receives only the light it needs without waste.

A common cannabis-growing myth is that green light is wasteful since cannabis plants reflect mostly green light (which is why they are green). However, the myth was debunked with the discovery that it penetrates plant leaves deeper compared to red or blue lights.

Start with LEDs. LED lights are the most energy-efficient grow lights. Although full-spectrum white light is the most common choice for grow tent setups, red- or blue-dominant lights are the most energy-efficient.

Find grow lights with Infrared (or far red) light (760nm). It boosts the warm red light effect exponentially without consuming excessive energy.

Boost terpenes on your next grow

Indoor growers can create unique grow effects for their cannabis plants using spectral tuning. Customise the type of light your cannabis plant receives to influence more terpene growth for a potent harvest! Try it on the next strain you choose from our premium cannabis seeds.