Indoor Gardening: All About LED Lighting

When it comes to gardening indoors, certain plants can benefit from LED lighting. Plants such as hibiscus, wax begonia, geraniums, African violets and miniature roses all flourish under LED lighting. LED lights also serve the apartment dweller with respect to space and energy usage as well.

Space Requirements

As most apartment dwellers have to make the most of the space available to them, LED lighting is a good choice as a lighting source for your indoor plants. The lighting allows for multi-tier gardening and therefore is ideal for situations where space is limited. It offers high intensity lighting so you can place the light in a smaller space and obtain good results with respect to plant growth.

Economical Use of Energy

LED lighting is also an eco friendly way to introduce light when growing plants indoors. The heat output is minimal and therefore the energy consumption is reduced too. Also, LED lighting is quiet and is safe for plants that are sensitive to excessive heat or the damaging effects of UV rays.

Chlorophyll Absorption

By using LED lights to grow your plants, you’re also availing them of the benefit to thrive as well. This is because LED lights supply a higher percentage of light in the optimum areas of the light spectrum where chlorophyll absorption occurs. This means that LED lights supply plants with an enhanced opportunity to develop and grow. What blood is to humans, chlorophyll is to plants. As a result, chlorophyll is necessary for a plant’s metabolic functioning. Therefore, chlorophyll harnesses light to produce photosynthesis which in turn impacts a plant’s capacity to grow. LED lights increase this effect. Therefore, garden plants such as lettuce do extremely well under LED lights as chlorophyll absorption is increased as well as the health benefits of the chlorophyll provided in the plant.

Lighting Requirements

When it comes to lighting requirements, most plants function best with 16 hours of light and 8 hours of complete darkness. Be careful not to give your plants too much light as by doing so can result in scalded leaves or foliage that is bleached. Certain plants thrive on a great deal of light such as wax begonias, geraniums, hibiscus, English ivy and schefflera. African violets and Boston ferns prefer a medium amount of light. In either case, LED lights provide the right amount of condensed light for plant propagation and growth. Make sure then you understand the lighting requirements for your plants before you place them under LED lights. Also, plants need a period of rest; therefore, when you’re not using your LED lights, be sure that the room where the plants are housed is completely dark. As stated, eight hours of darkness should suffice for most plants; nonetheless, it’s essential you understand the specific lighting and darkness guidelines for your individual plants to obtain the best results from growing them under LED lights.

Room Temperature

When using LED lights to grow your plants, also make sure that the temperature in the room is in the span of 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember, lower temperatures mean slower growth of plants; thus, monitoring the temperature is essential if you want to get the most out of your use of LED grow lights.

Follow the above LED light guidelines and you will have a healthy indoor garden that you can appreciate year-round.