Are indoor lights enough for plants? We’ve all seen the many benefits of having plants in our homes. They can provide natural light, purify the air, and make us more productive. But are indoor lights enough for plants? Find out more about that topic by reading this article until end. In this article, we also have an article about grow your own indoor herb garden that you might want to read about it.
Are Indoor Lights Enough For Plants
You know, there are plants in the house. There is a lot less light here than outdoors. You’ve seen this before. Make sure everyone is on the same page. Many plants can survive in low light settings, but there are few few that can survive in complete darkness. That’s correct. In the absence of light, no plant can survive for long periods of time.
Just how much additional lighting do plants require?
Your plants don’t necessitate the purchase of additional lighting. The jungle has no means of growing plants under artificial lighting. In addition to the fact that grow lights aren’t a substitute for sunlight, it’s important to note that they aren’t an exact match. Grow lights can be useful in a variety of settings, including:
In a dark area of your home, you’d like to put some plants.
In the back of my living room, I have a dismal area outfitted with a bookcase from Ikea and a set of grow lights (I like these ones from Amazon). As long as the light isn’t too bright, my overgrown philodendrons and a few Calathea can thrive.
At night, your home is dimly lit.
It’s fine if your home doesn’t get as much sunlight as you’d like. Choose your plant carefully if you want to keep a plant in your home (here are my picks for low light plants). While grow lights aren’t a replacement for sunlight, low light plants could thrive with them.
In the winter, your plants suffer.
Over the winter, houseplants have a difficult time. They’re typically from tropical regions with no winters. There is less light, as well as lower humidity and colder temperatures. They might benefit from a few grow lights.
Fortunately, I didn’t lose any of my plants in the winter, which is a good sign. If you’re concerned about how to keep your plants alive over the winter, I’ve written a blog entry on it.
How to Pick the Best Lighting for Your Home
Low-Emitting Diode (LED) Lighting
The most prevalent sort of grow light these days is an LED, which stands for light-emitting-diode. It takes a lot of energy to produce the brightness of the bulbs, yet the bulbs are quite efficient. Many choices are available, including as screw-in replacement bulbs, clip-on and desktop fixtures, as well as high-intensity greenhouse lights.
Many LED grow lights can be configured to offer only the bandwidth your plants require, but full spectrum lighting is the norm. It is possible to set the brightness of some LED products based on time of day, and some even feature smart technology that can be synchronized with your phone.
Electricity Produced by a Bulb of Light
When it comes to lighting up a room or growing low-light houseplants like dracaena or dracaena vines, incandescent lights are the way to go. Plants with higher light requirements can’t be grown with them because of their low value.
Despite putting out only 10% of their energy as light, these lights are able to generate 90% heat. They’re not suitable for light-loving plants like tropicals, cacti, or succulents, so unless you want to roast your plants.
Lighting using Fluorescent Tubes
Low- to medium-light plants like African violets can benefit from fluorescent lighting. You may even use them to get a head start on your veggie garden by beginning them indoors. T5, T8, and T12 light bulbs, for example, are long, tube-like shapes that are available in a variety of lengths.
Because of the smaller surface area, a narrower bulb is more efficient and brighter. It also uses 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescent lamps. A 25-watt fluorescent emits nearly the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent light bulb, as an example T5 fluorescent lighting systems have a light output per tube that is about two times more than that of ordinary fluorescent lighting. Intense light is produced through the use of 6500 Kelvin and the complete spectrum.
A light source’s perceived warmth or coolness is measured in Kelvins, which are the simplest units of color temperature. They represent how warm or chilly a light source appears to the human eye. When a result, the lamp appears bluer or “cooler” as the Kelvin temperature rises. The lower the Kelvin temperature, the more reddish or “warm” the color is.
In order to grow most houseplants, it is best to use light bulbs between 4000 and 6000 Kelvin in order to draw from a wide range of hues, including cools and warms. The growth you’d see in a greenhouse or outside can be simulated with these lights. With these, you can produce a variety of herbs, greens, and starting plants all year round.
Succulents, cattleya orchids, and other light-hungry houseplants, such as carnivorous plants, benefit greatly from using full-spectrum lighting. Use T8 or T5 bulbs to imitate the sun’s rays on young plants and seedlings by placing them two to four inches away from the plants. Close to the light source is best for established plants such as herbs or houseplants.
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