Month: February 2023

Welcome back to The Indoor Garden Guide. The last post discussed low light plants which could be grown in darker rooms or those without windows. The low light plants I talked about can certainly make excellent houseplants, but sometimes you just want to grow something a little different. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the natural light required to grow some things like cactus. Not to worry though, if your heart is set on a certain plant with higher light needs, or you’re just looking to improve you plants growth rates, there is an easy way to do it. That’s right, today we’re talking about grow lights.

I think grow lights get a bad rap from people associating the term with giant marijuana grow operations. Luckily for you, if you just want a couple houseplants, there is no need to make your basement look like this:

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There are a couple types of grow lights available to home growers, including florescent bulbs and high pressure solidum halide bulbs, but right now the best choice for anyone growing at home is an LED grow light.

LED grow lights are optimal for hobbyists and home gardeners because they’re cheap, lightweight, and far more energy efficient than the other options. They also don’t get nearly as hot so you don’t need to figure out additional ventilation or worry about burning your plants.

LED Lights

There are two main types of LED grow lights available: Red/Blue (sometimes called “blurple” because of their purplish appearance) and the white/full spectrum lights.

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The reason for the purple coloration is that plants mainly absorb light for photosynthesis in two different wavelengths which appear as the red and blue colors of visible light, while they absorb very little green light.

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The peaks of red and blue are showing how those wavelengths are absorbed by the chlorophyll for photosynthesis, while the green wavelength is not absorbed as much. This results in the green light reflecting off the leaf, making plants appear green to us. The reason for the purple grow lights therefore, is that they are only supplying the red and blue wavelengths of light, which are the main wavelengths used for photosynthesis. The full spectrum “white” lights also emit these wavelengths, but they are mixed in with other colors, which makes the lights slightly less energy efficient. However, LEDs in general are so efficient that for a hobbyist having just a couple lights, the efficiency gains from having the purple lights are minimal.

Because of this, I would actually recommend the “white” colored lights, because they make your plants much better to look at and don’t wash out the color like the purple lights do. After all, if you’re growing a plant for its ornamental value, doesn’t it make sense to want to see it well? That being said, if you want the purple lights or the color makes no difference to you, there’s also nothing wrong with using them.

Where to get grow lights?

There are a lot of places you can buy grow lights, from specialty hydroponics stores and greenhouse suppliers, to random listings on Amazon. Many people will say that the lights on Amazon are generally lower quality compared to the professional lights, which is a valid argument. However, as long as you’re getting a “decent” light, you don’t need a professional quality one to just grow a couple succulents.

What is a “good” grow light?

I haven’t personally tried too many different types of grow lights, so I can’t provide a comprehensive review on this aspect, but I can tell you a couple things to look for.

• • • • Wattage: Look for an LED light of at least 20W for a smaller/medium sized light, and more for a larger one.
        • Beware of the “100W equivalent” marketing gimmick where they tell you how much power the light would use if it weren’t LED, you want to find out what the “true wattage” is.
      • Look for decent reviews and a more name brand company.
        • Amazon has a lot of crappy lights, most of them look similar to the good brands, but the seller description should give you a bit of a hint. If the name sounds legitimate (aka not from “SUNBLASTINGLIGHTS.COM” or similar) and the product gets decent reviews, then its worth looking into more
          • Its also helpful to google the company name and see what comes up. Be wary of brand new sellers with barely any information online about them
      • Avoid these things (They usually suck):
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Where to put grow lights?

Because you’re not spending $100s or $1000s of dollars on grow lights, the light you end up with will likely not be strong enough to help the plant if they’re far away. Try to keep the lights within 12″ of the leaves when possible. Much farther away, and you’ll lose most of the benefits of having the grow lights in the first place.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week. Next post we’ll take a look at some sun loving plants that you might want to use those grow lights for (succulents and cacti)

 

Welcome back to The Indoor Garden Guide. Today’s post will be discussing low light houseplants

Many people want to grow houseplants, but then at some point come to the abrupt realization that plants require light, and their room is not very bright. This may seem discouraging, but you’ll be pleased to know there are actually several different types of houseplants which can be grown in rooms that don’t get much sunlight, and even some for rooms with no natural light.

Now to be clear, even the most shade tolerant plants still require some light, there’s nothing you can put in your dark closet and expect it to do well. At the very least there should be some indirect light from a window with a northern exposure (southern exposure gets the most sun, followed by east and west, while north gets only indirect sunlight), or in a place with consistent artificial lighting (like an office). Additionally, even though these plants are quite tolerant of lower light levels, they may still grow slower than they usually would in brighter conditions.

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A note on variegation: Some versions of certain plants are variegated, meaning they have portions of the leaves/stem which lack the normal pigments used in photosynthesis. While these plants can certainly look cool (and are usually considered desirable), they have reduced surface area available for capturing sunlight, which means they aren’t as well suited for low light conditions compared to their non variegated counterparts.

Low Light Plants:

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)

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• • • Potentially the most common and popular of all houseplants, pothos (aka devil’s ivy) is well suited to nearly all indoor growing conditions. It grows as a trailing plant, with vines that can reach 40 ft or more if cared for properly. It comes in several different colors and patterns, but for extremely low light situations, the plain green varieties are best.

Heartleaf Philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum)

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• • • • Very similar to pothos in many ways, the philodendron is actually a distant cousin of pothos as well. It is also a green trailing vine that can tolerate a wide range of light conditions. The “heartleaf” (seen above) and “brasil” varieties are some of the most popular

Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum)

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• • • • This leafy plant is native to the rainforests of South and Central America. It blooms throughout the year with attractive white flowers.  It can tolerate low light conditions very well, and actually risks burning the leaves if you put it in direct light. This plant is generally quite resilient, but it does like to stay fairly moist, and will droop significantly if it needs water.
        • It is very important to note that all parts of this plant are incredibly toxic to cats, so its best to avoid if you have any feline friends.
        • “Eating just a small amount of a leaf or flower petal, licking a few pollen grains off its fur while grooming, or drinking the water from the vase can cause your cat to develop fatal kidney failure in less than 3 days”- FDA

Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema)

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• • • • Native to Southeast Asia, Chinese Evergreens are commonly seen in places like shopping malls which don’t usually have the brightest natural light. They have large glossy leaves, typically with silver or gold patterns. They are also relatively easy to care for.

Snakeplant (Sansevieria)

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• • • • These upright, succulent-like plants are another pretty common houseplant. They are tolerant of low light, mostly because they enter a state of semi-dormancy when they don’t have enough light to grow. They can normally tolerate full sun when well adjusted, so they do best in at least moderate light, but they can still survive in sub-optimal conditions.

Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra elatior)

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• • • • Just like its name implies, this plant is as tough as cast iron. This includes temperature fluctuations and a wide range of light tolerances. They grow as a rosette of long dark green leaves and are very beginner friendly.

Corn Plant (Dracaena fragrans)

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• • • • This plant grows into upright stalks of long green leaves which resemble those of a cornstalk. They are common in office buildings and libraries (there are a bunch in Paterno Library here at PSU) because they can survive in lower light rooms.

This is not an exhaustive list, there are certainly many more types of plants out there that can do well in limited light. These are just some of the more common and easy to care for types that you’ll be likely to find at your local nursery/garden center. If none of these peaked your interest however, make sure to come back next week as we’ll be talking about grow lights and how you can use them to grow nearly any type of plant indoors, regardless of your natural lighting situation.