Will incandescent light help my houseplant grow?
Question:I bought common houseplant seeds from home depot (don't really know which, just picked up a few to make my house look nicer) and put a few of them in some dirt in a small pot. The room has a fairly large window but it is not in direct sunlight, it is on a table right next to a incandescent light bulb which is on a good amount of time per day, will my plant grow? I've heard they help it grow but just not that much. The light bulb is used for general lighting in the room anyways so it's on a good amount of the time...so I was thinking I could kill 2 birds with one stone. Will it grow at all?
Answers:
Grow, maybe but certainly not well. Plants need a full spectrum light and incandescents are only partial....high in the red, low in the blues. Also the plants would have to be within inches of the bulb and then you have a heat factor.
Indoor growing chambers use flourescent tubes. The expenseive grow lights aren't that much more efficient. Once again they have to be within inches of the plants.
It would be nice if your new houseplants could be close to that big window...they don't necessarily need the direct sunlight..just close..like around 3 feet or less.
Maybe you can give the plant short vacations to near the window and then move it back to their original location. Couple days in light, couple in the darker area...??
Still, the plants will get alone OK for a while where they are, but watch for low light signs; the plants streeeetch towards the light, the leaves lighten and growth is sparse.
You need to get a full spectrum light bulb called a "Grow Light" It will help your plant much better than a regular incandescent bulb
There are a lot of plants that will grow in relatively low light like philodendrons, dracaena, cast iron plant and others. The incandescent light won't help much, but it won't hurt either.
Check out our website for more indoor gardening ideas at-
http://www.gardening-at-the-crossroads.c...
Good Luck and Happy Gardening from Cathy and Neal!
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