Plant lights: How to choose the best indoor lights for plants
It can be difficult to provide enough light for houseplants due to seasonal changes or lack of window space. See these suggestions on how to choose the best indoor lighting for your plants.
LED, short for light-emitting diode, is the most common type of grow light today. Bulbs are highly efficient, generating very little heat compared to their brightness. Many options can be found, including screw-in replacement bulbs, stand-alone clamp and desktop-mount fixtures, and even high-intensity greenhouse lights. LED grow lights typically provide full spectrum light, but many can also be tailored to the specific bandwidth your plants need. Some LED products can be programmed to provide different levels of intensity at different times of the day, and some can even offer smart technology that allows you to synchronize them. with your smartphone.
Incandescent lights are great for illuminating a room or growing low-light indoor plants, such as vines, ferns, or ferns. They have limited use for growing plants with higher light requirements. These lamps only generate about 10% of the energy as light while 90% as heat. So unless you want to cook your plants, they are not ideal for light-loving plants like many tropics, cacti or cacti.
Fluorescent lights are ideal for plants with low to medium light requirements, like African violets. They are also great to start with growing vegetables indoors. These lights typically have long, tube-like bulbs in a variety of sizes including T5, T8 and T12.
The narrower the bulb, the more efficient and brighter it is due to the smaller surface area. In addition, fluorescent bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent lamps. So, for example, a 25 watt fluorescent bulb emits as much light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb. The T5 system provides twice as much light per tube as standard fluorescent lamps. They have an intensity of 6500 Kelvin and are also full spectrum, which is very strong light.
Kelvin is a basic unit of color temperature used to measure the whiteness of emitted light; which is how warm or cool the light source is visually. So the higher the Kelvin, the more blue or “cool” the lights appear. The lower the Kelvin, the more red or “warm” it appears.
When growing most houseplants, use a 4000 to 6000 Kelvin bulb, as the bulb’s color temperature will borrow from the full color spectrum — cooling and warming. With these lights you can really mimic the growth you would get in a greenhouse or outdoors. Culinary herbs, greens and starter plants can be grown all year round with them. Indoor plants that require a lot of light, such as Cattleya orchids, succulents and carnivores, also perform much better under these full-spectrum lights. For starter plants and seedlings, place T8 or T5 bulbs two to four inches away from plants to mimic sunshine. For perennials, including herbs or houseplants, place them a foot or two away from the light source.
Compact fluorescent lights are great for lighting indoor plants without having to use a full T5 system and at a fraction of the cost of incandescent lights. Powers vary, so be sure to ask your professional what will work best for you and your lighting needs. Carnivorous plants and phalaenopsis grow well under compact fluorescent lighting.
Halogens are often used in larger spaces or on larger plants, as they cover more distances in terms of light. In most cases, you won’t need a 1000 watt light. You can use a smaller halogen lamp or a T5 fluorescent system.
Remember, plants need darkness too. Although they can grow under constant light, all plants prefer dark periods. Give them 12 to 18 hours of light per day.