Have you always wondered how professional growers achieve such consistently excellent results? The secret lies not only in the quality of the lamp, but in the precision of the light plan – also known as the light recipe.
Imagine baking a cake. You wouldn’t just throw all the ingredients into the oven at once and set it to maximum temperature. In the same way, plants need different light “ingredients” in exactly the right quantity and at exactly the right time throughout their life cycle.
A light recipe is just that: a pre-defined, expert-supported plan that automatically determines how your plant lamp works every day. It not only controls how bright the light is, but also its color (spectrum) and the daily rhythm of your plants – and saves you money in the process.
Manage your personal light recipe library with the Smart Grow app – it contains perfectly pre-configured spectra for every species and variety. Whether 2.5-3 g/W harvest or aromatic flowers – with this technology you are always one step ahead.
While many systems work with rigid programs, our technology gives you the freedom to design your own light recipe – an advantage that others cannot offer.
The components of a lighting recipe: more than just on and off
A good lighting recipe is like a symphony. Each instrument plays a decisive role in the overall result.
1. intensity (brightness):
- What it is: How strong (in percent) your lamp lights up.
- Why it’s important: Young seedlings burn at 100% power, while flowering plants need this intensity to form thick, dense buds. One recipe perfectly regulates the strength for each growth phase.
2. spectrum (light color):
- What it is: The color of the light that is emitted. Blue light promotes vegetative growth, red light triggers flowering.
- Why it’s important: Modern LED lamps can adjust their spectrum. A recipe switches between “Grow” (more blue) and “Bloom” (more red) mode at the perfect time to control the desired plant response.
3rd photoperiod (length of day):
- What it is: How many hours per day the light is switched on (e.g. 18h for the vegetative phase, 12h for flowering in photoperiodic plants).
- Why it’s important: This is the crucial signal for the plant to grow or flower. Autoflowers often thrive under long 18-20h cycles throughout their entire life.
4. sunrise & sunset (Sunrise/Sunset):
- What it is: A gentle, gradual increase and decrease in light intensity at the beginning and end of each “day”.
- Why it’s important: This mimics nature and prevents stress in plants. It can also stimulate metabolism and boost terpene production, which makes for better flavors.
All these components are controlled in a user-friendly app. You simply choose your goal – maximum yield, best quality or easy growth – and the app & lamp do the rest.
The unexpected benefit: why light recipes save you money on your electricity bill
The most obvious advantage is a better grow. But here comes the brilliant, often overlooked benefit: huge electricity savings.
A lamp that simply runs at 100% power all day is like a car that always drives at 200 km/h – inefficient and expensive.
Lighting recipes are designed to be intelligent rather than constant:
- Targeted use: The lamp only runs at high intensity when the plants really need it (e.g. in late bloom). In the early phases, it operates at a much lower output and therefore consumes less energy.
- No waste: You avoid wasting energy through manual errors, such as using too much light for too long.
- Efficiency through automation: The system is optimized so that the plants are supplied with exactly the right amount of light – no more and no less. This precision significantly reduces overall power consumption.
The result?
Lusher plants with lower operating costs. Not only do you achieve better results, you also do your wallet and the environment a favor. It’s a classic win-win situation.
Conclusion: A light recipe is the intelligent way to grow. It combines the art of growing plants with the science of light control and the economics of energy efficiency. You no longer have to choose between top results and high electricity bills. With light recipes, you can have both.
