Adding UV to plant lighting.

The Carnation mentioned in my previous post of bending the seasons, and illustrated in my 12/30/08 post, has flowered. This variety is Dianthus Plumarius, or Ipswitch Pink.

It progressed from just forming buds to bloom in one week, however, I can not attribute the blooming to just the addition of UV lighting. In addition to adding the UV LEDs, the photoperiod, temperature and Kelvin temperature of the lighting were also changed.

A future project will be to use the UV lighting with the LED grow light to grow a Calceolaria to completion. I have two plants about the same size, and I will grow one under T5 fluorescent, and the other with the LED and UV lights for comparison.