Typical PPFD and DLI values per crop

Plants absorb radiation mostly in the 400-700 nm visible range and convert CO₂ uptake and water into oxygen and glucose.

The amount of absorption in each wavelength depends on the cellular structure of the plant and may differ from species to species somewhat.

Another important parameter is Daily Light Integral which is defined as the total number of photons impinging per square meter in one day.

DLI is measured in units of mol/m².d and each plant has a specific requirement of DLI for its growth.

Values ranging between 6-18 mol/m²/d are common depending on the particular plant.

There is a relationship between PPFD and DLI which is given by:

DLI=PPFD x light hours per day x (3600/1000,000).

You can see from this formula that there is a trade-off between PPFD and number of light hours required to achieve a certain DLI value.

If there is a certain amount of natural lighting available for a green-house, it has to be subtracted from the original DLI value for proper artificial lighting fixture calculations.

Taking into account the DLI, PPFD and number of light hours per day, you can calculate the total number of fixtures required in a green-house to illuminate the crops.

Calculation from DLI to PPFD

12 moles / 16 hr photoperiod / 60 minutes / 60 seconds = 0.000208 moles

(This gives us the amount of moles delivered per second per square meter)

0.000208 moles x 1,000,000 = 208 µmols per second per meter squared (µmol/sm²)

As a rule of thumb below values can be taken when your crops are not specified

Greenhouse

Vegetative Growth (Leafy Greens/Herbs): Minimum 17 mol/m²/d
Flowering Crops (Peppers/Tomatoes): 20-40 mol/m²/d

Indoors

Microgreens: 6-12 mol/m²/d
Vegetative Growth (Leafy Greens/Herbs): 12-17 mol/m²/d
Flowering Crops: 15-40 mol/m²/d

Minimum ○	Average Daily Light Intergral (Moles/Day)
Spices	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30
Ferns (Pteris Adiantum)	○	◎	●	●	●
Maranta	○	◎	●	●	●
Phalaenopsis (Orchid)	○	◎	●	●	●
Saintpaulia	○	◎	●	●	●
Spathiphyllum	○	◎	●	●	●
Forced Hyacinth	○	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Forced Narcissus	○	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Forced Tulip		○	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Aglaonema		○	◎	●	●	●	●
Bromeliads		○	◎	●	●	●	●
Caladium		○	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Dracaena		○	◎	●	●	●	●
Nephrolepsis		○	◎	●	●	●	●
Streptocarpus		○	◎	●	●	●	●
Hosta		○	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hedera (English Ivy)		○	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Begonia		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●
Sinningia		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●
Schlumbergera		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Cyclamen		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●
Exacum		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●
Heuchera		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●
Coleus (Shade)		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Impatiens, New Guinea		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Iris, Dutch (Cut Flowers)		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Kalanchoe		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lobelia		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Primula		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Impatiens		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Pelargonium Peltatum (Ivy Geranium)		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Begonia (Fibrous)		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Senecia (Dusty Miller)		○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Fuchsia			○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Euphorbia (Poinsettia)			○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lilium (Asiatic and Oriental)			○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lilium Longiflorum (Easter Lily)			○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Antirrhinum			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chrysanthemum (Potted)			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Dianthus			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gazania			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gerbera			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hibiscus Rosa-Siniensis			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lobularia			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Pelargonium Hororum (Zonal Gera-Nium)			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Rose (Miniature Potted)			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Salvia Splendens			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Schefflera			○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Angelonia				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Aster				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Salvia Farinacea				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Iberis				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Catharanthus (Vinca)				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Celosia				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chrysanthemum (Garden)				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Dahlia				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Echinacea				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Ficus Bejaminia				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gaura				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hemerocallis				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lantana				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lavendula (Lavender)				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Tagetes (Marigold)				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Petunia				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Phlox (Creeping)				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Rudbeckia				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sedum				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Thymus				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Verbena				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Viola (Pansy)				○	○	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Zinnia					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Alstroemeria (Cut Flower)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Capsicum (Pepper)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chrysanthemum (Cut Flower)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Dianthus (Carnation)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gladiolus (Cut Flower)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Lycopersicon (Tomato)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●
Rose (Cut Flower)					○	○	◎	◎	◎	●	●	●	●	●	●

What are typical μmol/s.m² values for horticulture lighting?
What light level for what type of crop?
Plant	Min (μmol/s.m²)	Max (μmol/s.m²)	Typical (μmol/s.m²)
Tomato	170	350	270
Pepper	120	300	230
Cucumber	120	350	230
Cannabis Vegetative growth	280	550	350
Cannabis Flowering	650	1,500	1,000

What light level for what potted plant?
Plant	Min (μmol/s.m²)	Max (μmol/s.m²)	Typical (μmol/s.m²)
Orchid / Phalaenopsis	80	230	160
Dendrobium	130	350	230
Bromelia	40	120	90
Anthurium	60	130	90
Kalanchoë	60	120	90
Potted chrysanthemum	40	80	50
Potted rose	40	120	50
Geranium	40	90	50

What light level for what cut flower?
Plant	Min (μmol/s.m²)	Max (μmol/s.m²)	Typical (μmol/s.m²)
Chrysanthemum	105	220	140
Rose	170	350	220
Lily	80	130	90
Lisianthus	170	350	230
Alstroemeria	60	160	120
Anthurium / Orchid - cut	80	160	120
Freesia	70	140	90
Gerbera	80	120	90
Tulip	25	90	60

Typical PPFD and DLI values per crop

Calculation from DLI to PPFD

Greenhouse

Indoors

What are typical μmol/s.m² values for horticulture lighting?