Plants which thrive with no natural light

October 20, 2019 10:50 PM

Have you ever successfully kept plants alive with no natural light?

I have recently taken over a small clinic in central London. It is very thoroughly underground. No natural light whatsoever, no skylights etc.

Is it possible to have plants which can survive in this environment? The internet is giving me mixed messages...

I can definitely buy additional lights for the plants if that is what is required!

posted by fizban to Home & Garden (17 answers total)

Yes, for sure! Several years ago I taught in a classroom with no natural light (it was truly difficult and I moved to a classroom with windows just as soon as I could). Plants and lamps got me through that time in a way that nothing else could. Here’s what I did: I went to my local nursery, found the nicest looking person and explained my situation to her. She spent the next hour explaining stuff to me and helping me pot two big ‘ole lovely plants. The trick was not to overwater, but also not to totally forget about them. Years later, both plants are still alive; I attribute this solely to the excellent expert help I received. You’ll love having greenery in your space - plants really add so much life.
posted by WaspEnterprises at 11:44 PM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

The answer is pothos!
posted by stowaway at 11:45 PM on October 20, 2019 [10 favorites]

LED grow lights will help tremendously and they're not expensive to use.
posted by quince at 12:44 AM on October 21, 2019 [5 favorites]

I have grown Devil's Ivy in many a windowless server room.

I usually start by choosing the healthiest looking plant from the back of a big box store, on the theory that if it is already thriving there, it will do ok in a basement.

Occasionally water, as they grow slowly, don't fertilize for much the same reason.

In my experience, they get to 5 or 6 feet or so and then tend to bush out but they are always a little straggly.
But what can you expect in a windowless room?
posted by madajb at 1:11 AM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Years ago, I worked in an office where the reception area had no natural light. We used a plant service, and their choice near the reception desk was a variety of Chinese Evergreen, called Silver Queen, Aglaonema, which grows well in dim light. Think there are other varieties as well in that category.

Another good choice is Peace Lily. I gave my Dad one for his office, and it survived for years.

Snake Plant, also known as Mother-in-Law's Tongue, will also tolerate low light situations.

The main thing with these plants is not to overwater them.

You could also get a variety of air plants. They sell them at gardening centers here, usually in open glass globes. This article explains why that's a good choice for housing your air plants, an open terrarium.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 1:20 AM on October 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

Nearly anything is possible with grow lights. Using regular office florescent lights, you’re restricted to what evolved as dark understory plants, usually tropicals, like the many good examples above. Also philodendron, ferns, prayer plants etc, just search /low light indoor plant/ if you have plenty of overhead office lights and want to stick to that only.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:11 AM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

A money tree will grow toward an incandescent light bulb. It won’t be the world’s lushest plant, but it can live for a year or so on 12 hours a day of normal (bright, direct), bulb light. We had one in a dark office at work directly under a 100w normal pot light and it was tall and leggy but lived a long time until the worst guy in the office poured a Pepsi into the pot. Of all the shit things that guy did... actually he did a lot of even shittier things too. Keep your plants away from Andrew.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:29 AM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

I worked in a windowless basement for about 5 years and had a lot of success with African violets down there. I'm not sure those are the conditions specifically recommended for African violets, but mine really flourished, and it was lovely to have not only the greenery but also the blooms. (Pointing this out in case there are pollen allergies, in which case maybe not the best choice.)

Make sure to get the special pots that water from below; this also reduces the risk of over-watering (plus someone told me they don't like to get their leaves wet).
posted by onell at 7:36 AM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

ZZ plant.
posted by joeyjoejoejr at 8:07 AM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

And there are different and very pretty Pothos to choose from! I've recently started collecting them, my pokemon plant, gotta have them all.

If you go to a houseplant shop or garden centre in the UK rather than a big store/supermarket (or buy online) as well as the standard Golden, you can buy Marble Queen, NJoy, Neon and Happy Leaf (aka Manjula but seems to be called Happy Leaf in the UK).

Ikea do a full spectrum screw bulb (Vaxer), you can buy an Ikea angle lamp to pop it in. They also do a strip of LEDs for plants. Fluorescent lights are actually better than standard house lights for plants so if they're in the space maybe just go for it.

Plant taxonomy seems to be being revisited and you'll see reference to Scindapsus vs Pothos...it’s all very confusing, if its pothos / scindapsus it'll probably manage in low light!
posted by Ness at 8:10 AM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

My coworker routinely doesn't water his peace lily until it's totally wilted, and it perks right back up once it gets water. They're fighters and do okay with office fluorescents. Since they're not vine-y, they also can't get leggy.

Sansevieria / snake plant is another one I like for the same reason, but they usually have fewer/bigger leaves so if one gets damaged you can't just blithely snip it off like you can with a peace lily.
posted by momus_window at 8:26 AM on October 21, 2019

lots of folks successfully grow cannabis indoors, using only electric lights. So it’s totally possible—if you’re willing to invest in good lights. The question really is do you want plants that flourish only with office lights? Or “daylight spectrum” lights? Or weird red and blue LEDs?
posted by leahwrenn at 8:54 AM on October 21, 2019

Oo yea its worth pointing out that if you search for grow lights, you'll mostly get specialist indoor grow lights and they tend to have pink and purple hues. Not a great choice for the office.

The Ikea bulb is a normal hue, not sure about the Ikea strip. The magic phrase to search for normal hue bulbs is 'full spectrum', you'll see references to SAD too.

So,
Grow lights - best but pink.
Fluorescent/office - not bad
Full spectrum standard bulbs - not bad.
Standard 'warm' bulbs - least good.
posted by Ness at 9:31 AM on October 21, 2019

Presented with schefflera and peace lily for the lobby of our condo, one neighbor snooted "Well, they're such cliches." I didn't say anything to her but I thought, Yes, they're cliches. Folks use them in situations with limited light and limited attention because they work: they live and grow. Slowly, but they grow.

I would add suggesting a beautiful ming aralia. A large ming aralia will be expensive to buy but that's because they're so slow growing.
posted by tmdonahue at 1:24 PM on October 21, 2019

Yeah most tropical understory plants that like low light will do great indoors w nothing other than daytime fluorescents. Like WaspEnterprises, I had a classroom with no windows, but I had it for five years. All my plants — pothos, various succulents, and dracaenas, did great provided I remembered to stick them outside during long vacations (thanksgiving & Xmas).
posted by toodleydoodley at 8:19 AM on October 22, 2019

On a whim, a couple years ago I purchased a bamboo in a decorative pot from an Asian market that has been thriving despite being exposed to natural light for only a few hours a week. I believe bamboos are notoriously hardy, though, so much so that if planted outside, in the ground, they will just take over everything and it's hard to fight back.
posted by madonna of the unloved at 4:44 PM on October 22, 2019

Response by poster: No way to choose a best answer here! Thank you all so much, going plant shopping next week.
posted by fizban at 1:56 PM on October 24, 2019