Light bulbs for houseplants ?

Discussion in 'Houseplants' started by AAnightowl, Mar 6, 2020.

  1. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    Where and what kind of light bulbs do you get nowadays that you cannot get regular light bulbs any more? I got one made by GE that is blue, and nice enough, but they want $8 for one light bulb here at the lumber yard. This one at least LOOKS like a regular light bulb other than being painted blue. I like blue, so that part is not an issue.

    Walmart does not carry them, but they claim to have some LED bulbs for growing plants. I went through their light bulbs multiple times and did not see them. I have been told that LED bulbs do not have the right light frequency for plants?

    Tonight I am looking online for light bulbs for houseplants, and they ALL look like space freaks, and cost a fortune.

    I do not have any fluorescent light fixtures any more, because it was a hassle trying to change those bulbs and get the fixture to stay again. I don't have room for garage style light fixtures anyway.
     
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  3. adam.ca

    adam.ca In Flower

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    compact fluorescent can work for growing plants, just make sure to get the really bright ones.
    any light will do as long as its got high lumens and kelvins. but probably you want a lot of natural light coming into the room also.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2020
  4. marlingardener

    marlingardener Happy

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    Nightowl, if you have an Ace Hardware store near you, they have bulbs and fixtures for chicks. The fixtures are small and the bulb looks like a regular old-fashioned 100 watt light bulb. Nothing fancy but I have used ours on both chicks and plant starts with a good survival/growth rate for both.
     
  5. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    Not for chicks, but for house plants. I have a heat lamp if I get more chicks.
     



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  6. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    The compact fluorescent bulbs are no longer available locally, but online still has them.

    I am talking just ordinary houseplants. I do have 5 windows in my bedroom, but there is one corner where I have shelves with plants that does not get enough light. I have a lot of house plants in my windows and on the shelves. I bring in my porch plants over the winter, and they need a lot of space. The rest of my house does not get enough light for plants.

    I was really hoping for some regular light bulbs and not the high tech stuff... All that high tech stuff would give me nightmares, besides the outrageous price tags on them.

    So, regular LED bulbs would be okay for houseplants? Or are halogen ones okay? (Even a lot of those look creepy.)
     
  7. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    I have never ever seen any light bulbs mention "kelvins" on them, nor heard of it.
     
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  8. adam.ca

    adam.ca In Flower

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    [​IMG]

    this would be an example of a light that isn't good.
    2700K (kelvins) is not ideal for plants
     
  9. adam.ca

    adam.ca In Flower

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    these lights would be good:

    https://www.amazon.ca/Compact-Fluor...ct+fluorescent+daylight&qid=1583633096&sr=8-9

    but seems kind of expensive. but maybe with some shopping around you might find some "daylight" CFL's at a lower price.

    do you even need grow light tho? house plants do fine without grow lights.

    when starting seedlings its important to hit the seedling with really bright really intent light as soon as they germinate, so that they dont grow leggy, and that's why we'll place our lights 1inch away from the seedlings, but once they are past the seedling stage they won't grow leggy and would do fine in a sunny room.
    and if your lights are several feet away from the plants, these light will need to be very powerful, in order to come close to what a room with some windows provides.
     
  10. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    Lights have become a science. I have florescents and LED tubes, neither of these produce vast quantities of heat which will be the problem with incandescents and halogens. there are now LEDs that fit into a regular florescent fixture and there are LED fixtures that come ready to install a LED tube. now you can't just put a LED tube in an old florescent fixture UNLESS the LED says it can go directly into the fixture. You can retrofit an old florescent fixture by removing the ballast to accommodate the LED. IT IS SO CONFUSING. the cheapest place I found a plant LED was Menards. the tube was about 15.00. the actual purple-y colored light when you turn it on. not just a white light.
     
  11. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    Not seedlings! I am talking Christmas cacti, aloe vera, jade tree, arrow leaf, golden pothos, etc.

    The corner where I have to keep their shelves does not get enough daylight from the windows. I have two small table lamps there to give them extra light. They take an ordinary 60W bulb --or its equivalent nowadays.

    The picture of the newfangled wacky bulbs (I have one for them to grow with), does not say "kelvins" either. Most of the ones I had lasted only a few years at most, but they have mercury which makes them a hazmat item. (That "K" would not have meant anything to me.)

    I do not have space to use the tube fluorescent lights...

    Most of the newfangled light bulbs for plants look like space aliens (as shown on Amazon), and cost a fortune anyway. I don't want those either.

    My bedroom is 12 x 16 feet at the most. I have my bed, dresser, nightstands, other furniture and gobs of houseplants in there, and no place to put seedlings.

    The GE plant light is fine (60W), but I was hoping to find it cheaper than $8 which is excessive for only 1 bulb.

    Occasionally, I get to the ACE store, but not often. We have other hardware stores around here. And feed stores.

    Whoever did away with the incandescent light bulbs was a criminal.
     
  12. adam.ca

    adam.ca In Flower

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    the reasoning was that CFLs are better than incandescent in every imaginable way Expect for price. but when you factor in the lifetime of the bubble CFL is actually cheaper than incandescent.
    so in the name of saving the planet, they did away with incandescent lights.
     
  13. mart

    mart Strong Ash

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    Of the plants you listed or at least most of them,,they do fine with indirect light from a window ! None that I am familiar with require an additional light source ! You are in Missouri so you can sit them outside on warm days !
     
  14. Dirtmechanic

    Dirtmechanic Young Pine

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    I have been working with light for a long time. The marketplace always seems to be at odds with the science. Part of what I do with each customer is help them marry the glass film products that I sell to their purposes. Here is a graphic of how "off" LED color scale is relative to their use of the term "Kelvin" to describe lighting. Personally I favor 4000K for a general white light. My wife and probably a host of others prefer the lower numbers toward 3000k for the warm yellow glow. I despise the blue light of "Daylight" at 5000k, but plants may prefer it more, I do not know.

    kelvin_color_temperature_scale_chart.jpg

    In this illustration the infra red is interesting because they indicate the frequencies where water absorbs heat. Ever heard of water scald on a leaf in the summer sun? The crevasses in the graph show why the water gets so hot, and at what frequencies.

    Solar-radiation-This-graph-shows-the-radiation-spectrum-for-direct-light-both-at-the-top.png
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2020
  15. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    ???????

    Don't know about that stuff. Sorry, but your graphics would not help me.

    ****

    I have been keeping the bulbs off a few days because those "good" bulbs for plants are turning my Christmas cactus RED. It probably is not good for my plants. I have thought of a way to rearrange my bedroom, because the lack of light does affect some of my plants.

    *****
    I have heard that nonsense about the CFLS and normal light bulbs. None of the normal light bulbs have harmed my plants and they grew profusely. These wacko new fangled things have harmed them, and they do not grow as well. The CFLs also bother my seizure disorder, I have a hard time with fluorescent lights as they give me migraines and what not. They are NOT good for the planet as they have mercury in them, and that supposed "science" behind them is hogwash. But the powers that be never listen to reason and common sense.

    At any rate the new light bulbs are not as good as the old fashioned ones. The really old fashioned lasted well over 50 years as did the little light for my ancient Singer machine.
     
  16. adam.ca

    adam.ca In Flower

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    you probably just need to get use to it, and there are probably some softer CFLs that wont give out that super white light and won't hurt your eyes so much.

    I agree that the government shouldn't come in and F with the free market, but they have and will continue to do so...

    it's a slippery slop, I can imagine years from now they will ban ( or heavily tax ) animal meat and only allow stores to sell lab-grown meat, in the name of saving the planet. they will say that, lab-grown meat is less fat, better tasting, much better for the environment and your health!:eek: lol
     

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