Grow lights for indoor houseplants
March 3, 2023 1:27 PM Subscribe
I have some small houseplants that I think need more light that my apartment orientation can't provide. How to growlight?
I have a few run-of-the-mill houseplants (snake, pothos, etc) that seem like they'd benefit from a little more light, and moving them elsewhere in my small apartment isn't an option. I'd love to look into some simple, low cost grow lights.
What should I look for? Again, small apartment, so want lights to be small and unobtrusive. Would like to start with whatever the most basic option might be for me.
Once I have them, what am I supposed do with them? When do I have the lights on? For how long? How close or far away from the plants do they need to be?
Just assuming I know nothing, because I...know nothing.
Any help would be appreciated!
I have a few run-of-the-mill houseplants (snake, pothos, etc) that seem like they'd benefit from a little more light, and moving them elsewhere in my small apartment isn't an option. I'd love to look into some simple, low cost grow lights.
What should I look for? Again, small apartment, so want lights to be small and unobtrusive. Would like to start with whatever the most basic option might be for me.
Once I have them, what am I supposed do with them? When do I have the lights on? For how long? How close or far away from the plants do they need to be?
Just assuming I know nothing, because I...know nothing.
Any help would be appreciated!
My plants live outside all summer, then I keep them alive over winter using a couple of clip-on 40W LED gooseneck growlight lamps from China via Amazon.
The ones I got are out of stock but the brand was Amsuns. There are a lot of similar products available on Amazon.
You just place your plants and clip the light on where convenient, bend it to shed light appropriately. The units plug into a small wall wart transformer and hardly use up any current.
posted by zadcat at 2:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
The ones I got are out of stock but the brand was Amsuns. There are a lot of similar products available on Amazon.
You just place your plants and clip the light on where convenient, bend it to shed light appropriately. The units plug into a small wall wart transformer and hardly use up any current.
posted by zadcat at 2:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have 2 of these I rotate plants under it. It's on 18 hours a day on internal timer.
posted by Ftsqg at 2:32 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ftsqg at 2:32 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
How tall are your plants? Something to consider is that you want the plants pretty darn close to the light, which can be a challenge if you have a lot of plants of varying heights.
I have an Ikea shelf and have two sets of these light strips under the top two shelves, with plants sitting underneath. The smaller plants sit on top of overturned pots to get them closer to the light. I have some taller plants, too, but this is where my shorter/smaller plants live in the winter. I also have another set of the same lights divided between the three shelves of this narrower Ikea shelf. I've had to replace a broken strip after two years, but otherwise, they are used just about every day. They have a timer, but I turn them on in the morning and off just before bed (sometimes I leave them on overnight). They also provide some nice ambient light in some darker corners of a room with the least amount of natural light.
I like these lights because they aren't an unusual color and they're bright and affordable. I think the plants under these light strips get better winter lighting than my plants that live in my windows, actually.
I have thought about getting one of these GE grow lights to fit into a regular light fixture to have a dedicated light to have one of my bigger plants in a darker spot.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:38 PM on March 3, 2023
I have an Ikea shelf and have two sets of these light strips under the top two shelves, with plants sitting underneath. The smaller plants sit on top of overturned pots to get them closer to the light. I have some taller plants, too, but this is where my shorter/smaller plants live in the winter. I also have another set of the same lights divided between the three shelves of this narrower Ikea shelf. I've had to replace a broken strip after two years, but otherwise, they are used just about every day. They have a timer, but I turn them on in the morning and off just before bed (sometimes I leave them on overnight). They also provide some nice ambient light in some darker corners of a room with the least amount of natural light.
I like these lights because they aren't an unusual color and they're bright and affordable. I think the plants under these light strips get better winter lighting than my plants that live in my windows, actually.
I have thought about getting one of these GE grow lights to fit into a regular light fixture to have a dedicated light to have one of my bigger plants in a darker spot.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:38 PM on March 3, 2023
Don't get dollar store grow light LED light bulbs. They don't remotely provide enough light.
posted by Jane the Brown at 5:20 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Jane the Brown at 5:20 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
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A 60w or 60w LED equivalent should be enough without being glaringly bright in the room, but you can go 75 if you want. They're not tomatoes, they don't need like full blazing solar-grade exposure to bear fruit, they just want a bit more light. I've used the above method (in cheap-ass aluminum clamp worklights) for seed-starting, microgreens, and an aquarium with low-light plants including pothos.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:49 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]