Indoor Growing – Lights Used To Grow Indoor Plants

Today, a lot of people prefer indoor growing due to limited space. In fact, growing indoor plants also makes your home look cozy as well as bring a bit of nature inside. When it comes to indoor growing, there are certain things you need to consider. One of them is light, as we know some homes do not provide sufficient natural light for growing many plants well.Artificial light is one of the best alternatives to sunlight, and variety of plants thrives under this type of lighting. The plants can absorb energy from blue and red lights from the light source. There is variety of lights that you can use for indoor growing. Here, we will let you know some of the lights that you can use grow plants indoors.
Incandescent lights – You can use this light for growing indoor plants but it would be a poor choice if you use alone. As we know this kind of light bulb is quite common in various light fixtures in homes. As a matter of fact, they can often provide too much of heat, thus you need to be cautious when using them in close proximity to the plant. Keep in mind that this type of light provides an ample source of red light but little of the blue, whereas natural lights provide a balance of both. While using incandescent lights for growing plants, do add 100 watts of fluorescent lighting per each 30 watts of incandescent for creating the proper balance of red and blue rays. Always keep or place your lights at least a foot above from your plants, as this can prevent the leaves from burning.
Florescent lights – Florescent light best to use for growing plants indoors. You will find these lights in various sizes and shapes, but tubes in 2-,4- or 8- foot lengths are common for plant use. You can always opt to use this type of lights as it is very cost effective also lasts 1o times as long as incandescent lighting. This type of light emits less heat so you can place them within 4 to 6 inches of the plants.
Light exposure – Plants that can’t get natural lights always require artificial lighting for roughly 16 – 18 hours daily. However, 12 – 14 hours are generally adequate for plants that receive some natural light. To get better results, you should use the lights during the daytime hours in spite of using in evening hours, unless the natural light is quite bright.
Grow lights – There are also special florescent lights known as ‘grow light’ which are manufactured to assist in growing indoorplants. This type of light balances the blue and the red light output of the light source. Grow lights are expensive, but you can always save money by utilizing one special grow light with one or two cool-white florescent light tubes.