What Grow Lights Do You Use?
If you grow succulents indoors, what lighting do you recommend?
Kristen R in Philadelphia is asking how to keep her indoor succulents colorful, specifically what lighting works best. "I have a ton of grow lights keeping them alive, but I'm really looking for their bright colors to come back!"
At present I don't use grow lights, but I did research them several years ago, and the best I came up with is Hydrofarm FLT44 System 4' Fluorescent. Kristen also asked about Barrina* grow lights, which seem to be the latest and greatest, but pricey.
I'm out of my depth here, yet I may soon attempt indoor cultivation too. I'd like to grow tropical succulents (specifically, hoyas) that don't do well in the open garden---it's too cold in winter here in the foothills of Southern CA, Zone 9b, and too dry and hot in summer. WWYD?
Would you share your suggestions in a comment below, so others can see and learn from them as well? Thanks!
*Links are affiliate
How to Keep Succulents Happy Indoors
Indoor Succulents Tips to help your succulents thrive inside If you love succulents but have no way to grow them outdoors, good news: Numerous varieties thrive indoors. Below are cultivation tips and a photo gallery of 40+ indoor succulents that are readily available. >> Jump down to the photo gallery Place your succulents near a…
Kristen (who originally emailed me about this) writes:
>>Thank you SO, SO much for trying to help! I really appreciate it! All the lights I have are full spectrum. And they definitely do grow. But I don’t think they’re growing to their full potential because they seem to lose their color & revert to green.
Im also either going to build, or buy, some kind of little green house stand for outside this summer to allow them to get all that wonderful sun!
I plan on propagating & getting new plants in the future & definitely want the best for them!
Once again thank you so much!>>
It seems nowadays there’s a Facebook group for the most obscure topics. There’s even a Cactus and Succulents Indoor LED Growlight Chat Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/766316147574998
It’s open to the public, so you can see all of the posts. It IS a bit technical, having to do with types of lighting, lumens, types of plants, and how close the lights should be.
From the page:
Please have a look at our guidelines & rules before posting and commenting:
✅YES:
Showing off your plants grown under LED lights – kindly state
– type of media used, composition/size of grit/ratio of organic to non organic
– type of fertilizer, dosage
– light intensity
– photoperiod
and any other info you think might be helpful to fellow grow light users to grow plants as nice looking as yours 🌵🌺🤝🤝🤝
Care questions
Tips
Identifications
Asking for plant growing help
Reporting problems to admins