Houseplants: Anybody grow under flourescent lights?

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XMelissaX Indianapolis, IN (Zone 5b) March 10, 2009 05:05 AM	I grow all my houseplants in the basement under lights. I have a fairly large collection (about 60 houseplants, a 4' cactus garden, a terrarium, and a seed-starting area). They actually do very well downstairs, but they don't really grow that much so I take them outside every spring. It is a lot of work, but definitly worth it in the middle of winter. I have recently become interested in trying flowers. I have an aechmea(urn plant), african violet, and a christmas cactus. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Carolyn22 Athens, PA (Zone 5b) March 23, 2009 10:35 AM	Melissa I grow all my houseplants in the living areas of the house. I grew African violets in a Northern exposure for years - they did well and flowered beatifully. Unfortunately I lost my African violets when my mother was so ill several years ago. I also have my Christmas Cactus's in the Northern windows - they flower every year, sometimes twice a year. I have grape ivies growing in Southern exposure windows and I also have some Chinese Evergreen (this one is off to the side of the window, so not direct lighting) and some orchids growing in the Southern exposures too. My point to this, is that you really don't need to keep them under flourescent lighting. Most houseplants are quite adaptable and will grow throughout your home. That is not to say there are not some that won't be persnickety. The 3 you have mentioned have lower lighting requirements - I would try them in either a Northern or an Eastern exposure. The only time that I use fluorescent ligting is either for starting cuttings, seedlings or as an example, I have pots off lily bubs that I traded and I am trying to get them to sprout so when the time is right, they will be able to go out in the yard - I just want to carry these bulbs through to planting without losing the bulbs. Try putting your houseplants out in the living area of your home so you can enjoy and see how they do.
XMelissaX Indianapolis, IN (Zone 5b) March 23, 2009 06:25 PM	I used to keep all my plants in my living room/kitchen and they did okay, but I live in a very small house and only have access to two small windows. (My OH refused to let them go in any other part of the upstairs.) As the years went on and my collection grew, I didn't have any more room and couldn't part with the ones I had. So, I decided to give the basement a try. My 'plant room' is right next to the laundry, so I have something enjoyable to look at while doing this chore. I've come to love my plant room so much, I wouldn't want to move it. (I've tried putting a couple plants upstairs, but I have a tendency to neglect them when they are by themself and not with the rest of the group.) I can water without worrying about it, I just let it run down the drain. I can repot and not worry about messing up the floor. I don't have a problem with dry, brown leaves from low humidity. When I go shopping and find plants I just have to have, I don't have to worry about where I'll put them. When the house gets hectic, I can just go down to my 'room' and pretend like I'm doing laundry. I would love to have a heated sun room, but that is not possible for my house. Overall, this has worked much better for me and my plants. They seem to like the cooler temp and consistent light much better than they did upstairs.
Carolyn22 Athens, PA (Zone 5b) March 23, 2009 06:32 PM	Melissa - sounds like your situation works for you - that's great.
XMelissaX Indianapolis, IN (Zone 5b) March 23, 2009 06:42 PM	Thanks for the suggestion, I just have a unique situation.
HecatesMoon Perryville, MO May 17, 2009 11:47 PM	I bought fluorescent lights once. I just didn't like the way they looked. I have some cheapo $16 GE Incandescent Plant Light Reflector Kits. My hibiscus are just blooming like crazy under them!! My hibiscus are both in corners, without any direct sunlight, just these grow lights. I leave them on 13 hours a day, on timers.
Skyla_Smith Exeter United Kingdom June 9, 2009 06:03 PM	I may sound really really dumb here but ive never used lights to help my baby plants and was just wondering what the differece is using fluorescent lights to normal house bulbs? Can you use normal house bulbs and if not why? Sorry if i sound dumb but im newish to baby flowers and plants, im trying to follow in my mums footsteps and im only 17 :) hope some1 can help
XMelissaX Indianapolis, IN (Zone 5b) June 10, 2009 05:07 AM	No question is ever dumb-the more questions asked the more you learn especially at DG. Normal house bulbs are incandescent and they produce a lot of heat. Lights need to be fairly close to the plants and incandescents will burn the leaves. They also use a lot more energy then fluorescents. The benefits of using fluorescents kind of depends on what plants you are trying to grow. Normal houseplants will do fine in sunny windows, seedlings are usually the plants that really benefit from the lights. What are you wanting to use fluorescents for?
Skyla_Smith Exeter United Kingdom June 10, 2009 08:12 AM	well ive got a few cuttings from several houseplants (holiday cactus, bromeliads pups, umbrella plant, and bamboo) and i just saw this thread and was wondering if fluorescent lighting would help them in any way? Thankyou for helping me with the lighting issue, if fluorescent lighting will help my little plants then ill go and purchase one but is there much point purchasing one, what are your opinions?
ecrane3 Dublin, CA (Zone 9a) June 10, 2009 01:58 PM	Do you feel like they're not getting enough light where they are? Most houseplants will do fine with the light that you're getting from windows, etc so you don't necessarily need them. But if you have some things that are getting stretched and leggy looking from not having enough light and you don't have a sunnier window to put them in then it could help to add fluorescent lighting. If you were starting seedlings I would say absolutely invest in some, but for your other plants most of the time they'll be fine with the windows so it's probably not necessary. Or if you've got some darker rooms in the house where you're not growing plants currently but you wanted to put some things there then the lights could also help in that situation.
Skyla_Smith Exeter United Kingdom June 10, 2009 03:02 PM	Well its a west facing window so they do get light especially in the afternoon but i just thought if it helped them then it might be good to invest in a fluorescent light but from what you have said my little plant cuttings should be fine without a light, They havnt rooted yet but im still in the process using water or rooting hormone so hopefully they root and grow up to be perfect plants, :)
kutekawanna Minneapolis, MN June 10, 2009 11:42 PM	Hey Skyla. Welcome to the rewarding world of houseplants !:) If you have these plants in a west window you are doing great! The west window gets great exposure for houseplants from natural daylight. A southern windows gets the most all day. An east window gets the morning sun and the west gets the afternoon/evening sun. I have about 50 houseplants and they are all getting what they need right now from the natural light coming in from the windows. I am moving though :( and I will lose my southern exposure so I will share with you what I've found. Hope you can get something out of it! Supposedly, incandescent bulbs, even the ones labeled grow lights do really nothing more than highlight your plants. Because of their technology they do not render the various colors or UV rays that the sunlight gives off. At best 'supposedly' they say an incandescent bulb could provide minimal light to an individual plant. Plants need the red uv rays from the sun for flowering, these are best found mocked in HPS (HighPressureSodium) lamps...however, if you only use HPS lamps, your plants will grow leggy and have longer lengths than normal between the internodes. A combination of lights are best..Plants also need the blue uv rays which are best mocked by Metal Halide (HID/MH) lamps. These lights produce 'indoor' growth which best mimics outdoor, natural growth. The blue uv rays are utilized in a plants vegetative stages. So they are great for foliage plants. These lamps also distribute the light evenly and are the strongest in power. Flourescent lighting also does well for foliage plants, AV's species, Cacti and succulents but should be kept about 4-6 inches above the plants. If placed further away, the plants do not receive much benefit from the colors it gives out. High output flourescent lights have about twice the power of traditional lamps. CFL, Compact Flourescent lighting is even better bcz they also utilize the high output plus reflectors to more accurately direct the light. Flourescent lighting is available in both the warmer uv rays...having the lower Kelvin readings around 2500K range. The cooler uv rays, are around 5300K-6000K....You could compare 5300K to daylight...coming in say from a south window and 6500K is direct sun, like a plant outside in a sunny spot. Whew! Hope I got most of that right. I would love to find a converter grow light, or switchable grow light which has both the HPS and Metal Halide lights. This would be most ideal. Because the HPS takes care of the flowering plants having the warmer red spectrum..and I'd get the MH in the blue spectrum. But these cost around $200. I think for now, the best most efficient lighting for me will be a few CFL lamps directed at my plants...Fortunately, I do have many windows..I just need to make up for the South window I'm losing..I found this info @ http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/guide3.shtml and http://www.homeharvest.com/lightingmain.htm, click on the "Choosing the Right Plant Light" link. I hope this helped! :))
Skyla_Smith Exeter United Kingdom June 11, 2009 08:43 AM	Kutekawanna - Wow thanks! That information was amazing! Gave me everything i could possibly want to know about lighting for my plants. I think as im unemployed at the moment ill just stick to natural sunlight! Its alot easier and less confusing aswell, i just thought that one f.light would be enough but obviously not! Im sad to hear about you losing your south window, hope your plants are ok with that and stay healthy. Im pretty sure they should be fine. I cant wait to move out of my mums and get my own place where ill have more than 1 window!! Good luck with the house move, hope everything goes to plan :) And thanks again for all your info on lights it really did help :)
kutekawanna Minneapolis, MN June 14, 2009 08:59 PM	Your welcome!!! :) I hope I don't lose my plants either. You'd be surprised at how quickly you get attached...I didn't know that would happen w/green things! :) But yes hon! You are on the right track...remember the lights are used to create artificial sunlight, but if you have the sunlight you're one step ahead! I attached a pic of my southern window which I'll soon lose...:( View Larger
Skyla_Smith Exeter United Kingdom June 14, 2009 11:19 PM	Wow thats amazing! You have quite a collection there :) I know exactly what you mean you do get quite attached to them especially ones you have grow from seeds/cuttings. The ones in your window, did you grow them or buy them? Im sure they will do fine when you move, im sure you will put extra special care into your plants so that they dont miss the light from the south window :) Keep in touch with the progress of the move and the plants if you want :)

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