How to Choose the Best Grow Lights for Indoor Plants Ideas & Advice

Knowing how long to keep your grow lights on your plants depends on a few factors. We’ve broken them down below to help you set up your best grow light routine for your plants. Grow lights are quickly becoming an important part of indoor gardening.

In addition, many plants also require both dark and light periods, an effect known as photoperiodism, to trigger flowering. Light quantity refers to the amount of light a plant requires each day for optimal growth. Historically, light quantity was expressed in units of W m−2, lumens, or lux. PPFD is an explicit measure of the quantity of photons hitting a surface per square meter per second, a more accurate way to measure how plants interact with photons. Plant performance of mint, basil, lentil, lettuce, cabbage, parsley, carrot were measured by assessing health and vigor of plants and success in promoting growth.

Light intensity

A low-light plant would be suitable for a north window or a fairly dark corner. In their native growing environments, these plants are “understory plants” meaning they grow underneath the branches of larger plants. In environments with less light, plants grow more slowly and use less water. Supplemental lighting can make up for a lack of natural sunlight. If you have several large floor plants, this inexpensive grow light can be directed exactly where you need the light. This all-in-one grow light and self-watering pot is perfect if you’re a plant parent newbie.

• A table lamp like this could give this Snake Plant hours of bright light.
• Your personal preference doesn’t influence the intensity of the sun.
• This helps promote growth and allows even the most delicate tropical plants and flowers not only to grow but bloom year-round.
• She has over a decade of experience working in several plant settings, including golf courses, public parks, and commercial garden centers.

Warm red spectrum is recommended for flowering, and cool blue spectrum is recommended for vegetative growth. Reflectors are thus often used in the lights to maximize light efficiency. Grow lights are used for horticulture, indoor gardening, plant propagation and food production, including indoor hydroponics and aquatic plants. Although most grow lights are used on an industrial level, they can also be used in households.

Best Plant Grow Lights to Help Your Greenery Thrive in Dark Areas

It has a 15-foot fabric cord and comes with an LED bulb, three ceiling hooks, two wall fairleads, and a swag hook. You can choose from two sizes—5.8 x 3.8 inches with 2,000 lumens or 7 x 4 inches with 4,000 lumens—and two colors to customize it to your space and needs. Artificial grow lights allow gardeners to keep plants in rooms with little light or no windows like bathrooms or closets. They also allow growers to make sure their extra-sensitive plants aren’t affected by sunburn. These small plants are quite sensitive to direct sunlight but without enough light, they will begin to lose their color. This sensitivity to extra light makes them well suited for artificial lights.