How to Get Enough Light for Indoor Plants
Plants are grown indoors for decoration. But the best place to decorate with a plant may not be the best place for a plant to grow. Inadequate lighting can limit the growth of plants more than any other factor. To help plants to grow, many growers use supplemental lighting. Supplemental lighting can highlight a plant's beauty while providing it with the light that it needs to carry out photosynthesis. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Select a portable plant grow light that is formulated with wavelengths in the red and blue spectrum of the light system. Plants use light in these wavelengths more efficiently than light in the yellow and green spectrum. This is why plants appear green, because they are reflecting green and yellow light rather than absorbing it. The best balance of light includes a combination of cool white fluorescent tubes along with incandescent bulbs. Use 30 watts of incandescent bulbs for every 100 watts of cool white tubes.
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Install plant light bulbs so that the bulbs are 6 to 12 inches from the tips of the plant canopy.
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Adjust the number of bulbs and the distance of the light from the plants based on the type of plant that you are growing under the bulb. Plants that prefer low intensity light such as ferns or peace lilies may be placed as far as 4 foot away from an ordinary light fixture. Plants that prefer medium-intensity light such as African violets may be placed 12 inches or closer to an ordinary light fixture or 6 inches from a high intensity light source. Plants that prefer high intensity light such as cactus must be placed within 6 inches of high-intensity lighting sources.
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