Today I Learned (TIL)

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TIL that lettuce can grow with artificial sunlight (specifically red/blue LED lights) (nowiknow.com)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by Potatos_are_not_friends to c/[email protected]

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As Cary Mitchell, a horticulturist at Purdue University told NPR, in the 1990s, “research showed that you could grow lettuce in just red light. If you add a little bit of blue, it grows better.”

If you’re interested in why, a redditor named SuperAngryGuy wrote up a detailed, well-sourced analysis about three years ago, here

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Most plants do. That's why they're green - they reflect the photons from the mid range, and absorb the ones from the extremes (red and blue/violet) to actually work their shit. Like this:

Picture from Wikipedia.

(I wonder how efficient this would be to power exclusively with solar light. How many layers of plants could we grow, where we usually grow only one?)

[–] shalafi 7 points 7 months ago

Neat! I knew that but the pic is worth 1,000 words.