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Light is one of the most important factors that contribute to the growth of a plant. Without proper lighting, plants won’t be able to continue the process of photosynthesis that can further lead to a lack of nutrition in the plants.
Though the plants growing in forests and countryside receive a good amount of sunlight, the same cannot be said for houseplants grown in the cities or colder areas, where sunlight is scarce.
In such cases, you need to have to use LED lights as an alternative. Are they good? Do they provide plants with enough nutrition? All these questions are answered below. 1. 2
Are LED Lights Good For Plants?
Indoor gardening can be difficult if you do not have the proper equipment to grow your plants. The main factor that you need in indoor gardening is light, and one of the best alternatives for sunlight is LED lights.
There are various types of LED bulbs available in the market that you can use for your houseplants.
But, not all of them are meant for helping your plants grow. Manufacturers have created specific growth lights that help plants get all the nutrients that they need while growing in the shade. 1. 2. 3.
Can Plants Get Nutrients From LED Lights?
As stated earlier, there are specific LED bulbs designed to help plants to grow properly. If you install them, there are high chances that your plants can thrive even in dark houses.
It is important for plants to get proper lighting, especially during the winters, so that they don’t die due to lack of food.
As sunlight is scarce during such situations, you need to provide some extra lighting and help your plant get the image of sunlight so that they can process their food making.
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Can I Use Normal LED Light To Grow Plants Indoor?
When it comes to indoor lighting, you can use any 16.5 Watt LED bulb to help your plants grow. Though you have the option of installing incandescent bulbs and CFL, it is better to get a LED bulb.
That’s because these bulbs shine the brightest and do not cause any safety hazards in the house. On the other hand, incandescent bulbs are not at all safe to use as they easily get heated and might break due to it.
If you place such bulbs above your houseplants, then they would get easily damaged or might even catch fire.
Though you can use a normal LED light bulb as a growth light, there are certain things that you need to take care of before buying one. We have discussed this in the next section. 3. 4.
Can Any LED Light Be Used As A Grow Light?
While choosing a LED bulb as a lighting alternative, you need to take care of certain factors—one of the most important being the color of the light.
The color of the light is the most important factor that you should consider while buying one.
You cannot simply use any colored LED bulb and expect your plant to consider it as sunlight. It would rather die than accept any dark color light. Due to this, you need to be careful in the selection process.
Plants do extremely well under red and blue light. It helps them in bearing flowers, and some plants have even shown new shoots and leaves under blue lights.
While selecting a color, do not get confused with color temperature.
Most people assume that the color temperature states how the bulb would exactly look like.
Instead, color temperature shows the spectrum distribution that the light has in that particular bulb. You might get two same blue LEDs but with different color temperatures. 2. 4. 5.
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Why Is It Important to Provide Extra Light To Houseplants?
Indoor plants do not get sufficient sunlight as compared to outdoor plants. Most houseplants cannot bear standing under direct sunlight and have to depend on indirect sunlight for living.
However, most of the time, indirect sunlight is not enough and might not even meet the plant’s lighting requirements. Due to this, you need to provide extra lighting to your houseplants.
If you live in a place that doesn’t receive much sunlight or the lighting is blocked due to high buildings, you need to have an artificial lighting system for your plants.
It would replace the need for sunlight and help plants survive without any sunlight.
Apart from that, LED lighting is a must for places where the temperature is always below 10 degrees Celsius.
It is difficult for the sun rays to penetrate through foggy clouds and reach your plants. Due to this, you need to add some LED bulbs around your plants and help them grow even without any sunlight.
Another reason for opting for an artificial lighting system is to improve the growth speed. Most seeds do not go through the process of germination due to a lack of sunlight.
LED lighting can help in [providing enough light waves to the seed and help it grow.
Besides, growth lights help the plant develop new shoots and leaves. Most red lights also help in bearing beautiful flowers. 1. 3. 5.
What Kind Of LED Lights Grow Plants?
Red or Blue LED light works the best while growing indoor plants. They match the wavelength of the light that the sun produces, thus imitating sunlight perfectly.
Due to this, plants immediately accept the incoming light rays and start the process of photosynthesis without thinking twice. Though these lights are quite harmful to the human eye, they are perfect for plants.
Can You USE LED Strips To Grow Plants?
If you don’t want to ruin the aesthetic of your room by installing a LED bulb, then you do have the choice of going for LED strips. The best thing about LED strips is that you can arrange them in whatever way you want.
Besides, the equal distribution of light throughout the plant helps it in generating food that can help the plants survive throughout the day.
LED strips do not have any complicated connection.
All you have to do is to stick them to your wall and connect the end wire with a power source. Besides, the lights are quite pleasing to the eye and do not cause any harm. 3. 4.
Difference Between LED Lights And LED Grow Lights
As stated earlier, growth lights are the ones that are specifically designed for helping indoor plants grow properly. These bulbs have a mixture of red, blue, and other useful light in a specific wavelength range that helps plants to grow beautifully, even in a dark room.
Besides, LED growth bulbs eliminate the percentage of the heat generated, thus reducing the chances of the bulb blasting off due to an increase in temperature.
Due to their special production process, the cost of the entire system is high as compared to normal LED bulbs.
If you plan on using growth lights, then make sure to get at least five such bulbs that would help all your indoor plants to thrive in the house.
On the other hand, normal LED lights are the ones that are generally used at homes and do not have such high specifications.
Each bulb comes in a specific color and wavelength that may or may not suit your plant’s needs.
Though they might help the plant grow, the progress would be really low. However, these bulbs are cheaper as compared to growth LED bulbs. 2. 4.
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Advantages & Disadvantages Of Using LED Lighting For Houseplants
Everything has a good and bad side, and LED lighting is no exception.
What are the advantages that you would get by using LED bulbs for growing plants? They are long-lasting, extremely energy-efficient, can generate light of high wavelength, control the temperature of the area surrounding the pot, and are not harmful to the environment as well.
Besides, these lights do not cause any sunburn or spots on the plant’s leaves, thus leaving you from the tension of worrying about burnt leaves.
However, there are some disadvantages that you might find while installing a LED system in your apartment. One of the major concerns is the cost of installing the entire system.
Though it might be a bit costly, it’s a one-time investment, and you would be able to reap the benefits for a long time.
Another thing you might have to worry about is that blue LED lighting is not good for the human eyes. If you are installing blue lights, then make sure to wear protective spectacles while working in your indoor garden.
Do LED Lights Help Plants Grow?
Yes, LED lights do help plants to grow if they have the proper wavelength that matches the plants’ requirements. If the lights are too bright or too dim, then it would be difficult for the houseplants to start the process of photosynthesis.
Besides, proper LED lighting is considered a good alternative to indoor plants.
As various plant owners live in areas with a scarcity of natural lighting, LED bulbs are the only way to help their plants grow.
And yes, plants have shown improvement under artificial lighting. Though the growth rate is quite slow, it’s better than nothing.
Can A Regular Light Bulb Help Plants Grow?
LED light bulbs are the closest that you can find for providing sunlight to your houseplants. These electrical bulbs surprisingly help plants to grow even without any sunlight.
The thing is, these bulbs come in various colors. As stated above, the red and blue lights are highly suggested for providing artificial lighting to the plants.
That’s because the wavelength of these two lights matches with those of the sun’s rays. Due to this, your plants will quickly adapt to the lighting system in your house and start showing good growth. 1. 4. 5.
LED lighting systems are quite good for plants. With advanced technology, engineers are able to invent growth lights that can completely replace the need for sunlight and help your indoor plants thrive.
Besides, these lights also help in speeding up the process of photosynthesis, thus helping the plant to create food when it needs it the most.
Apart from that, these lighting systems are perfect for growing new plants from seeds in places where there is rarely a sunny day. Artificial lighting systems are paving the way for nature and technology to collaborating and creating something new. 2. 5.
Reference
- Research on LED light system for plants: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S003040261630496X
- LED helping indoor plants grow: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-017-0333-3
- Effect of light intensity on plants: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/9/12/875
- LED improving the quality of color in plants: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304423819302547
- Effect of artificial lighting on growing vegetables: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13593-014-0209-6