How To Use Grow Lights For Indoor Plants - Tips For Beginners

If your plants are too weak to survive outdoors during the winter, why not bring them indoors?

Using grow lights in replacement of the natural sunlight to boost your plants thrive and flourish isn’t a bad idea because if you choose the right bulbs, your monthly electricity bill doesn’t noticeably go up.

Below is how to use grow lights for indoor plants in addition to tips for beginners to try this new plant growing method. Read on!

How To Use Grow Lights For Indoor Plants?

Choose The Type Of Plant To Grow

The choices of indoor plants are commonly limited by the natural light conditions in your home but in this case, they will be thrived under grow lights, therefore, it isn’t a problem anymore.

Your selection now will depend on:

• Amount of electricity you can use
• Space in your home
• Your purpose of use (to purify your indoor air or to suit the house’s interior décor or both)

Note:

Exotic plants require less light than vegetable plants.

Learn Which Light Color Is Needed For Your Plants And How Much

The color of light does affect indoor plants’ growth.

The lower the light intensity, the more noticeable the effects.

As the colors on the light spectrum used for each indoor plant are varied, it’s important to learn which light color is needed for your plants.

In common, green has the least effect, red and blue are conversely the two most effective.

That means if you have a higher concentration of red and blue light rather than green and yellow, your indoor plants will be enhanced in certain functions. That said, I still highly recommend to give them the whole light spectrum for comprehensive growth.

Another thing to consider is how much the light is. The higher the intensity, the more the amount of photosynthesis that plants can go through.

Choose The Right To Grow Lights

There are commonly three types of grow lights:

• High-intensity discharge lamps
• Fluorescent bulbs
• Incandescent bulbs

High-intensity discharge lamps

As its name defines, this lamp produces the highest amount of light with extreme energy efficiency. They boost the plant growth the most but at the same time, they’re the most expensive type out of the three.

Fluorescent bulbs

This is the most popular type in the market with various bulb options – full-spectrum, warm white, and cool white.

The full spectrum fluorescent bulbs work best for most indoor plants, providing all light colors to enhance the plant’s growth.

The warm white bulbs give off more orange and red light while the cool white is excellent for those plants that need yellow-green and blue light.

Incandescent bulbs

In comparison to the fluorescent bulbs, this is 3x less light intensity but it is a superior source of red light.

Install The Grow Light System

Once you have bought the right indoor plants and grow lights, it’s time to choose a good place to set them up.

When finding a location for the lighting, you should keep in mind the proper distance away from your houseplants to avoid burning leaves.

While the minimum distance recommended between plant varies and light is 10 inches, there is also the upper limit which is 40 inches. Don’t go any farther than that because the lack of light intensity will not boost the plant growth, if not saying that they can’t thrive properly.

Maintain The Plants And Lights

Plants

Learn about the fertilizer and water needs of your houseplants to give them proper care.

You should buy a small indoor watering can with a small, gentle sprout. Water and fertilize them as needed.

In general, watering should be once or twice per week during spring and summer while reducing the frequency to once every 2 or 3 weeks in the fall and winter.

Remember to add some seaweed solution to the water every month to optimize the plant growth. Pick off older leaves to encourage the new ones to thrive and apply controlled-release fertilizer every six months, during the spring and autumn.

Rotate the plant pots every week to ensure each side gets the same light.

Light

Make sure it provides a consistent amount of light all the time. If the bulbs start aging, change them out before they dim, especially the fluorescent bulbs.

FAQs

How Far Should Led Grow Lights Be From Plants

10” to 40”

Can Any Led Light Be Used As A Grow Light

Yes, it literally can.

But the growth of your houseplants will be affected because normal LED lights don’t provide as a full light spectrum as the specialized grow LED light. So, I still suggest choosing the grow LED lights for the best results.

Are Led Lights Good For Aquarium Plants

Yes, they are.

Like houseplants, different aquarium plants require specific levels of light to properly grow. So that when choosing LED lights for aquarium plants, consider which fixtures are the most suitable.

Conclusion

Before putting this post an end, here is one last tip for beginners:

To create a full-color spectrum of light for your houseplants, you can combine warm white fluorescent lights and the cool white if this solution is cheaper than buying a full-spectrum bulb.

That’s all. Thanks for reading!