5 Important Tips for Using Grow Lights for Houseplants

Grow lights for houseplants are the lights generated through electricity to help indoor plants in the growth process. As the plants require lights and warmth to grow, indoor plants might not benefit until you decide to improvise and install the best light for the plants.

The different types of grow lights would help boost the growth of your plants to grow. Plants grown under the grow light germinate like any other plants planted outdoors.

The light provided by these grow lights varies; some lights produce low heats, others produce medium and some high heat. Moreover, the heats for these houseplants are set according to the stages the plants grow, thus making it; there are plants that need low heat and others that need a higher amount of heat.

We understand that using grow lights for houseplants might sound complicated at first. This is why we have compiled the 5 important tips to help you.

Most Important Tips

After finally deciding to buy grow lights for your indoor plants, there are important tips and factors that you will have to consider before getting one. These are helpful tips that will help you in choosing the right lights that would fit the plant.

Below are some of the best tips to help you come up with the best grow lights for your houseplants.

Tip 1: Chosing the right color wavelength

Plants need color to grow, but not just any other color. When buying grow lights for your plants, consider colors that would easily facilitate their growth. The colors are red and blue.

Colors provide the plants with a wavelength that will help the plant in the growth and flowering process. These colors produce wavelengths that are measured by nanometers.

The best color wavelength is from 400 up to 700 nanometers. This is the best amount of color needed to necessitate the process of photosynthesis in your houseplants.

Tip 2: Which is better for plants blue or red light?

Your indoor plant depends on both red and blue light colors during its growth. The two colors play different roles in this whole process. Both red and blue colors work together, each playing its own role.

The red color helps in the photosynthesis process. A led grow light will be the best for your plants to produce flowers for a longer period.

Although the red color helps plants manufacture their food, blue makes the growth more complete because it helps ensure that the plant gets fit and strong as it continues growing.

Chlorophyll converts the blue lights produced during photosynthesis then converted to energy that will help in strengthening your houseplants.

The Red helps the plants produce fruits and flowering, while the blue color helps in the growth of roots and leaves.

Therefore, the combination of red and blue light plays a very important role in your plants. Neither blue nor the red color on its own is helpful to the plants, but buying a grow light with these two works colors will effectively boost the growth of your house plant in a positive way. 

Tip 3: Full spectrum

A full spectrum light tries to imitate the sun, thus making it similar in functions like that of the sun. Therefore, buying a grow light for your indoor plants, choosing a full-spectrum light will be great because your houseplants will experience a sun-like production.

A full spectrum ensures that the plants provide enough light and color to your plants. A full spectrum light covers the whole plant giving high chances of receiving the required color, which is being omitted.

For you to be sure that your grow light is producing the required light for your plants, a rainbow color will be visible in the whole room, and the light will resemble that of natural light from the sun.

Using a grow light omitting a full spectrum light helps the plants to increase the production rate, it also helps in improving the color of your plants, full-spectrum light enhances the growth of your indoor plants,

Tip 4: Chosing the right lit surface

While choosing the best lights for your houseplants, you have to consider the surface is enough for your plants. The light surface has to be good enough to efficiently receive the required amount of light without any interference.

Your indoor plants need as much light and space as the garden plant; therefore, a good lit surface growth will ensure light provided in the room is enough for all plants in the room.

Tip 5: Best heating output for grow lights

Different grow lights produce heat differently. When choosing one for your plants, consider getting the best bulb with the best watts needed for plant growth.

In a small surface area, a low amount of watts will be appropriate because a high heat production means that your plants face risks of being affected by the high heat. A larger surface area will also mean a higher wattage production of light.

Therefore, moderate light production in heat is very helpful in your houseplants. This is because if your grow light produces little light, your plants face risks of poor growth, like having weaker and not straight stems.

Also, too much heat production affects the soil. It makes the soil dry leading to the plants getting burned from the roots; the plant will end up withering, the leaves fading their color and dropping too.

So choosing a good amount of lights for your grow lights ensures a good and undisturbed growth for your indoor plants.

Related Questions:

After settling on the decision to grow your plants indoors, you should be able to consider factors that might benefit or affect the whole process indoors. Getting the right to grow lights for your plants is important.

Because growing houseplants is very much different from outside gardening, there are possibilities of arising challenges during the whole process. Therefore, a thorough and good background check on the best grow lights will be useful, and it will minimize any risks and plant losses.

Below are some of the related questions that you should consider getting answers to before you buy your desired grow lights:

When to Use Grow Light?

After planting your plants indoors, that means that you are set with your grow lights. You should be ready with the information about the best time and hours you should use your grow light. Your plants are growing indoors; therefore, it receives less light.

Immediately after planting your seedlings, you should be ready to provide them with the lights. Your houseplants will need longer hours of between fourteen to eighteen hours in a day.

This amount of light helps ensure that the amount omitted makes the growing process smooth. Because artificial lights are not the same as the light from the sun, moderating this grow light is required.

You will need to ensure that you put off the lights for at least six hours a day. The best time to put off your lights is during the night because the darkness is also very important in plants' growth. Respiration takes place in darkness by utilizing the light received earlier.

Lights are not supposed to be on the whole day. This will make your plant balance the amount of both light and darkness for the development and production process.

What Kind of Growing Light Should You Buy?

When deciding on the type of row light to buy, there are so many factors you need to consider, including the following:

Fluorescent Lights

• Fluorescent lights are good for growing vegetables. Vegetables require low or medium lights during the early stages. Choosing this type of light will be the best option because you will be sure of the positive growth of your plants without any risks.
  • Fluorescent produces lights of all colors needed; thus, choosing it ensures that your plants get enough colors needed during the early growth. The medium and low lights produced are friendly to the plants too.
  • They are affordable and last longer too.
  • The produced lights are mostly blue in color.

High-Pressure Sodium (HPS), also known as High-Intensity Discharge (HID)

• HPS lights emit different wavelengths of colors. They produce red, yellow, and orange spectrum colors. Buying HPS is good for your plants at their early stages because it encourages the roots to grow stronger.
  • It also triggers the flowering process because of the red color that it produces, which looks like the natural sun produced during the summer season.
  • HPS is also good to use in the early growth stages of vegetables; you only need to use low watts that would not affect the general growth.
  • HPS also produces a high amount of light, so you should not be worried about its light's sufficiency to the plant.
  • This is the best light to be used because of the strength of heat it emits; its heat is good for all types of plants. The only problem you might face with the price it is sold. It is more expensive than the other types of lights. But they are durable.

Light Emitting Diodes commonly known as LED

• LED growth lights are good in indoor plants because they are cheap and plant-friendly too. The light produced is moderate and fits every plant well.
  • LED lights have both blue and red colors, which is the best for house planting.
  • The amount of light produced by these lights is low and does not have the risk of burning the plants if left for long on for longer hours.
  • LED lights work best if placed closer to your plants because the amount of heat produced is not too high.
  • These lights are good only for plants that grow in less heat like some types of grass.

Where to Place Your Grow Lights?

When you have finally settled on the type of grow light to use in your indoor planting, you need to ensure that you know the best distance to install the lights from your plants.

The right distance of the grow light helps your plant receive moderate light without being affected either by too much or too low heat. The right amount of light ensures your plants grow stronger like outdoor plants.

The best position to place your artificial light is just above your plants. A distance of about twelve inches is recommended. Different types of lights are positioned differently.

You should place them at a closer inch of four to six higher than your plant for the fluorescent lights. For LED lights, a measurement of between fourteen to thirty inches above your plants is suitable.

HPS lights are placed differently from fluorescent and LED lights; the distance is measured in feet, not in inches as usual. They are placed higher for a distance of feet above the plant, starting from five to eight high.

HPS omits stronger lights, and this is the reason you should always place it farther from your plants to avoid plants being affected by either losing the right color or getting burned in by too much heat emitted by this type of light.

How to Keep Your Plants on a Grow Light?

Your houseplants depend on light to grow stronger and into shape. Plants depend on light to grow; therefore, you should ensure that you place your plants in a spacious place to give them enough surface area to facilitate their growth.

Plants should not get squeezed in a room because they will bend or even break during germination.

It is good to ensure that your plant is placed at the proper distance from the grow light to minimize the effect of more miniature or high lights on your houseplants.

When using a low or medium-light grow light, you should ensure that your plant is placed not too far from the same light case for too much light where you will need to move your plant farther from the light.

Final Words

Using grow lights for houseplants is less complicated than you. But, if you encounter any difficulties, just refer to the tips mentioned above to make things more manageable. It will help you figure out what is the best grow lights to use for your houseplant, along with the benefits you will get from it.