How To Use Grow Lights
Most people who love plants in their environment lack an ideal outdoor space to grow the plants. As disappointing as this is, it is such a relief when they find out that it is possible to have indoor plants grow just as well as they would outdoors, with the help of grow lights.Grow lights allow your houseplants to get the required components they need to photosynthesize and grow healthy.
You no longer have to miss out on having the plants you love because you live in an apartment or do not have a backyard. With the right selection of grow lights, your plants should be flourishing well and giving your home the much needed aesthetic value.With the right choice of grow lights, you can efficiently grow many household plants. Examples include orchids, fruit plants, and even an indoor garden. Grow lights will ensure green and stocky seedlings. You can also effectively grow wintertime harvest of herbs and salad greens under grow lights.
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How Do You Go About Choosing The Right Grow Lights?
It is important to know how to go about choosing the grow lights your specific plants will need. The sun offers the complete spectrum of light, including all the colors of the rainbow. Your plants will require the same full-spectrum outdoor plants would, so it is important to choose bulbs that offer the same.Replicating the natural solar spectrum will offer your plants all the wavelengths they require for optimal growth.
Your culinary herbs, seedlings, and houseplants will enjoy exuberant health and will flourish just as they would outdoors.
LED or Fluorescent Grow Lights?
While both bulb types produce full-spectrum light, LED lights are friendlier to your pocket and better for the home environment. The LED grow lights are made specifically for indoor growing, use half the electricity compared to other bulbs, and last longer than fluorescent grow lights.LED lights are great at offering optimal light needed for the growth of your houseplants.
What’s more, they give a spike of blue light that promotes stronger root growth, enhance photosynthesis, and ensure peak growth.Another advantage is that the mercury-free LED tubes don’t shatter like glass.In general, high-density bulbs will be great for hardier plants such as rose bushes and ferns. Low-density bulbs are excellent for succulents and soft-stemmed flowers.
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How Much Light Will I Need To Use?
All indoor growing plants require just the right amounts and duration of light. It is crucial to know when to give your indoor plants a break, taking into consideration several factors affecting plant growth. Excessive lighting could choke and affect the luster of your plants.Plants naturally carry out respiration during the night.
Respiration is an important biological process that plants require, helping them with their growth rate and the setting of buds and fruits. It would be great if your lighting does not interfere with the natural growth of the plants.Short day plants such as kalanchoe, azaleas, chrysanthemums, and begonias will do great with under twelve hours of light per day.
They naturally require shorter days before they set their buds and flowers. For these plants, exceeding their required light amount will result in poor growth.Longer day plants will require fourteen to eighteen hours of grow lighting per day. Most of your vegetables and garden flowers fall under this category. They might get pale and extra leggy if they do not get the required amounts of light.
Day-neutral plants such as African violets, foliage plants, and geraniums will do great with eight to twelve hours of light all year round.Being sure to identify which category your indoor plants fall in will help you to take better care of them as far as growing lighting is concerned.
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Setting Up My Growing Lights
After establishing your bulb types and clearing out the area, you will use for your indoor plants, setting up can begin. If you have a spot in your house that allows for some natural lighting, this would be ideal for setting up your plant bed.
During the day, when the sun shines, you can comfortably switch your grow lights off and save up on energy.Gooseneck lamps are a great choice because bending them towards the targeted plants is possible. You will have amazing growing light by properly attaching the necessary bulbs into the gooseneck lamp and installing the base on a wall or stand.
Ensure to use enough screws when attaching lamps to a wall, to minimize the chances of falling and breaking. Setting your growing lights directly on a wall might be better than using lampstands, although the latter works alright too.When positioning your growing lights, ensure a safe distance between the plants and the lights. A four to five feet distance is ideal, so the lighting and heat do not overwhelm your houseplants.Hardier plants could withstand a closer grow light distance than the more delicate plants.
A general rule of thumb is to take caution when using high density or strong UV bulbs. Following the specific growing instructions should adequately guide you on your growing lights' positioning for your specific indoor plants.
Place your growing lights over the plant beds or pots. This will mimic natural sunlight as well as ensure even distribution of light on all leaves and sides of your plants.
How Many Bulbs Do I Need?
Figuring out the number of bulbs to use is important. Guided obviously by the size of your plant bed, it is good to note that most edible plants require at least thirty watts per square foot. Fruiting species such as tomatoes need forty to fifty watts per square foot.
Observe the watts indicated on your bulbs. Multiply the square footage of your growing area by the number of watts your plants need to provide, then divide the watts' number on your bulb. This will allow you to get just the right amount of growing light.Overcrowding bulbs will result in too much light and heat that could be too harsh for your house plants.
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Making A Light Rack
You will need to devise a light rack over your plants, especially if your house plants will be growing in length. Making a movable growing lights rack is recommended, as you can move and adjust it as needed.Hanging the light fixtures with a metal chain or developing some kind of pulley will help you adjust your grow light with ease.
Closing Thoughts
Having an indoor garden should not only be limited to people with access to natural lighting. It is possible to have flourishing growing plants in your own house.By properly establishing the indoor plants that thrive well in your area and taking the proper maintenance measures, you will enjoy the aesthetic beauty that indoor plants bring to your home.
Choosing the proper grow lights to suit your seedlings and house plants is paramount. Take time and go through the types of grow lights, the intensity of light your plants will need as well as the duration of growing light needed.Following the instructions on the grow lights as well as understanding your house plants requirements is always a big plus.