How to Use Grow Lights for Indoor Plants

Reviewed By Era Daphne Last Updated on Jun 28th, 2021

It is rare to find people who don’t love plants. However, many have to resort to growing a handful of indoor plants because they do not have access to a lot of space. To keep these plants healthy, you need to know how to use grow lights for indoor plants.

The use of a grow light might seem redundant because indoor plants supposedly require less light. However, that doesn’t mean the light you’re providing them is adequate. To provide optimum growth conditions, the use of a grow light bulb might be prudent.

I was quite skeptical about grow lights myself. But after I got the proper grow lights for my houseplants, I was astonished to see their lavish growth. If you’re not used to the idea of grow lights, let me introduce you to them. They’re amazingly efficient, and would reinvigorate your fading plants in no time!

Table of Contents

How Much Light Do Plants Need
Does Your Plant Need a Grow Light?
- Signs of an Indoor Plant Lacking Light
- Signs of an Indoor Plant Getting Too Much Light
What Kind of Lights Can Be Used as a Grow Light
How to Use Grow Lights for Indoor Plants
Conclusion

How Much Light Do Plants Need

Indoor plants are often advertised as low maintenance and hard to kill. But you will soon learn that the task of keeping an indoor plant healthy and vigorous isn’t so simple. You’ve probably left it on a windowsill with indirect sunlight and fed it water regularly. But it’s still fading. Why?

It might have something to do with how much light you’re letting your plant have. Let’s take a look at the different types of light requirements for your plants:

Full sun: Indoor plants usually aren’t the ones who prefer full sun. Even plants that are supposed to be grown outdoors don’t always prefer full sun. Only some plants such as cacti and succulent plants enjoy full sun. These plants should be left outdoors or on a south-facing windowsill.
Partial sunlight and shade: Some plants enjoy bright morning sunlight and then indirect light or shade the rest of the day. Many flowering plants fall in this category. Placing them on an east or west-facing window would be conducive to their growth, as this will enable them to avoid the scorching midday sun.
Full shade or low light: Not all plants enjoy a lot of light for long hours. Some plants prefer the comfort of a shaded nook. These are good for you if you’re a beginner trying to grow indoor plants. To grow a shade-loving plant, a north-facing window is your best bet.
Indirect sun: Some plants prefer bright sunlight, but not direct. A lot of popular indoor plants are of this type. These plants are mostly grown for their foliage, but some are also flowering types. If you have an east or west-facing window that gets plenty of light, then place this plant near this window but a little way back so it isn’t directly touched by sunlight.

Sometimes you have obtained an indoor plant with a light requirement that you cannot fulfill. In cases like these, it’s best to provide grow lights for indoor plants. As not everyone can have a sunny window, there’s no shame in providing what your plant needs artificially.

Does Your Plant Need a Grow Light?

There are two cases when your plant might need a grow light- when it’s not getting enough light where you put it, or when it’s getting too much light. In either case, you can move the plant away from that window and put it under a grow light that will provide what the plant needs.

Too little light may deprive your plant of what it needs. On the other hand, Aside from sitting in intense light, being exposed to light for too long also has adverse effects. But how would you know which is the case, or if your plant needs a grow light at all? There are some signs to look out for.

Signs of an Indoor Plant Lacking Light

Plants can turn pale, yellow, or even white
Plants become leggy
Start leaning towards the source of light
Leaf dropping occurs, especially in the case of lower, older leaves
Variegated plants may revert to being solid green
Doesn’t flower properly

Signs of an Indoor Plant Getting Too Much Light

Leaf tip or edge browning or yellowing
Wilting of younger foliage
Dry patches on the plant
Scorched and bleached leaves

These are all symptoms that you’d be able to notice easily. You can try moving your plant to a sunnier location if it seems to be getting inadequate light. Similarly, if it seems to be suffering from too much light, move it to a shadier location.

However, sometimes, measures like these aren’t that effective, and it might be prudent to get a grow light. But before you run out and purchase any old grow light bulb, you need to know how to use grow lights for indoor house plants.

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What Kind of Lights Can Be Used as a Grow Light

First of all, you cannot expect household lighting to work the same way a grow light would. Can you use led lights for growing plants? Absolutely. But not just any old LED lights. You need to use ones that are specifically designed as grow lights. Other than LED, there are also a few other types of grow light. Here’s an overview of them all:

LED (Light Emitting Diode)

Nowadays, most grow lights come in LED variations. Even among LED lights, there are choices such as bulbs, tubes, and arrangements. There are also red and blue spectrums to choose from. On the other hand, if you’re investing in a light arrangement, you’re probably going to get the whole spectrum.

Do LED lights help plants grow? Yes. LED grow lights tend to be rather an energy-efficient choice. So even if they cost a little more when buying up-front, maintenance costs lower than other types of grow lights. It also produces less heat, so it’s healthier for your plants.

The problem is that this sort of grow light can sometimes seem too glaring and unnatural with your decor. However, the pros still outweigh the cons. Later on, we’ll discuss how to use led grow lights for indoor plants.

Fluorescent

Fluorescent lights fall in the medium range in terms of cost and energy efficiency. The problem with these is that they don’t last as long as LED lights, and you might not be able to get a wide spectrum of light if you’re going for the cheaper ones.

Incandescent

Incandescent grow lights are the cheapest out of the bunch, but that’s about all that’s good about them. They’re less efficient than both LED and Fluorescent lights, don’t last long, produce heat, and produce more red light than blue.

High-Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide

These are also called High-Intensity Discharge (HID) grow lights. If you’ve got a lot of indoor plants to pamper, this sort of grow light is a good idea. They cover a wide surface area, so they’re quite popular in the commercial scene. However, they use older technology and release a lot of heat. Unless you have a lot of space, using this sort of grow light would be quite a bit of a hassle.