Indoor growers are constantly trying to improve upon their previous results. As they become more experienced and confident, they might consider ways to optimise their indoor gardens for greater returns.
The main factors that impact plant growth and yield is light, temperature and nutrition.
One way to efficiently increase yield - without increasing the growing space or number of plants - is to increase the light intensity in the grow space.
Light intensity can be modified by either:- adding more lights to the space
- or reducing the area the light covers.
The saturation point indicates the maximum food a plant can use for new growth, while the compensation point indicates the minimum amount of food required to maintain existing growth. Between these points, varying growth rates occur, with faster growth nearer the saturation point and slower growth nearer the compensation point. These points vary among different species, even among sun plants.
For many high-energy sun plants, the light saturation point is around 4000-5000 fc (900-1000 PPFD).
Research on tomato plants, often used as an alternative for Cannabis, suggests a saturation point of 6510 fc. Although specific data for cannabis is lacking, guidelines suggest that flowering Cannabis performs well at 3000-5000 fc. Based on comparisons with other sun plants, the cannabis light saturation point is estimated to be between 3000-6500 fc, with 5000 fc as a probable value.
