Grow lights themselves are often associated with UV light, which of course many customers have health concerns about. We are not health professionals, so we can't speak to any health advice, however we can tell you what is in our lights, and why we feel they are totally safe for normal household use. For more information on UV light and it's health impacts, the world health organisation has this resource freely available: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-ultraviolet-(uv)
What spectrum of light do plants need to grow?
Firstly, it is a common misconception that UV light (which is light between the 100 and 400 nanometer wavelength range) is what powers plant growth. UV light can be damaging to many plants, just as it is to humans. In fact is is actually primarily light within the blue (400-500 nanometer wavelengths) and red (600-700 nanometer wavelengths) sections of the visible light spectrum that power plant growth. In some industrial hydroponic farms, UV light is deliberately used to induce plant stress, which can cause them to do a range of things including fruiting or dropping seeds early, or holding onto sugars to develop a stronger flavour. None of the products at gathera are designed to emit UV light.
What spectrum of light do our LEDs emit?
Each of our lights have slightly different spectrums, but for the most part they typically look a bit like the "white LED" in the bottom right of the image, or the "monochromatic LEDs" in the bottom-left.
As you can see, there is no significant crossover between the UV range and what the grow lights could be emitting. Compared to fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, the output is tiny, and compared to daylight, its even smaller. Considering most of our lights are between 10 and 100 Watts and focused directly on plants rather than on people, the total amount of irradiation in this range would be negligible.
What spectrum of light is considered harmful to human health
The link from the WHO above shows the 3 types of UV radiation. This entire section below is directly from the WHO website:
- UVA (315-400 nm)
- UVB (280-315 nm)
- UVC (100-280 nm).
Short-wavelength UVC is the most damaging type of UV radiation. However, it is completely filtered by the atmosphere and does not reach the earth's surface.
Medium-wavelength UVB is very biologically active but cannot penetrate beyond the superficial skin layers. It is responsible for delayed tanning and burning; in addition to these short-term effects it enhances skin ageing and significantly promotes the development of skin cancer. Most solar UVB is filtered by the atmosphere.
The relatively long-wavelength UVA accounts for approximately 95 per cent of the UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface. It can penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin and is responsible for the immediate tanning effect. Furthermore, it also contributes to skin ageing and wrinkling. For a long time it was thought that UVA could not cause any lasting damage. Recent studies strongly suggest that it may also enhance the development of skin cancers.
From this it seems that UVA (which is the closest to what our grow lights emit) is the least damaging of the three types of UV light.
Conclusion
Harmful UV light is between 180-400nm wavelenths.
Our LED lights are not targeted at UV wavelengths, and as such have a negligible amount of UV light that they emit. Not zero, but not an amount to cause concern.
The intensity of the light is still negligible compared to higher powered lights that most people would come into daily contact with already.
We hope this helps, if you have any other queries, feel free to reach out, and as always we recommend that you do your own research!