When I started to grow plants under artificial lighting, I noticed different growth habits for identical plants growing in the south facing window, natural sunlight, vs the artificial lighting. I had the artificial light on a fixed schedule year-round.
I experimented by changing my artificial lighting to mimic the natural sunlight, seasons, and noticed the plants responded the same way as the plants receiving the natural sunlight.
Flora and Fauna not coming from around the equator follow seasonal cues.

Many Haworthia mainly come from South Africa.
Below is monthly daylight hours for Pretoria, South Africa.



Roughly my schedule.



Do I need to do this? I doubt it. Do the plants need to have simulated seasons? Probably not.

Because it is so easy to for me to set a set the schedule, it is what I choose to do.

So I have heard a lot of different people discussing which type of artificial light is best... So is there a safe option for beginners to try? Then once they gain some confidence they can figure out which light waves are best....

These are the lights I am using they use a passive cooling system, no fans. They are white lights, actually a blend of cool, warm and infrared lights, but white to the eye. They grow compact plants with great colour. I keep one foot between each light and the plants between the lights still show great colour. Its a great spot for plants needing a little less light. I'm able to grow plants that want indirect light up to 6" away from the lights without issues.
The window behind the lights are west facing windows. On normal summers the window shades are shut all summer long to keep the house cooler, but open the rest of the year. This summer we have had very cool weather, so they have remained open. Even without the lights its too hot upstairs unless I close them during warm days. Very few people have AC in the PNW.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/produ...











This red aloe is not directly under the lights, but between two lights and still has great colour. The picture does not show how bright red it is actually.

Hi, all,
Don't mean to be argumentative, wasn't the quote at the end of the post created by Hunter S. Thompson? My family used that quote at my nephews funeral last January. Great statement either way!

Jay


quote="DaisyI"] Isn't that what I did say? Ok, I see what you are saying....

Let me qualify: For those who might like sitting around in the purple sun, just make sure you have some full spectrum white light (natural or otherwise) in there too.

The reason strictly red/blue works for pot farmers is they only expect their crop to survive a few months, not years. The red/blue-only does encourage optimum growth but, eventually the lesser light colors are needed to sustain the life of the plant. But it takes a lot of light. Indoor growers were busted in the past because the phenomenal growth of the plants was only equaled by the phenomenal electric bill. The electric company turned them in. [/quote]

I use a lot of the photosynthetic analysis work by Dr. Bruce Bugbee in my consideration of lighting strategies.

I use LED and HID lighting mostly, but have a couple of compact fluorescent lights as well that I sometimes use.
I've become very fond of High Bay LED light fixtures (in the 150-200 watt range) designed for lighting workshops. I also love 315 watt Ceramic Metal Halide lighting, which is the closest thing to the sun aside from sulfur bulbs so far.

For cacti my lux ratings are between 18,000 and 26,000, depending on the lighting and I use from 40-70 watts per square foot, with all types of lighting. I also gauge distance from a light by heat using my hand as well as a thermometer to make sure that temps are not too high.

However I expect that specialized laser lighting, like the type used on recent models of Rolls Royce automobiles, will revolutionize indoor plant lighting just as soon as people start applying the technology to indoor growing. Unlike the lighting we use at present, this type of lighting has a very similar photo intensity 1 foot away from the lamp as it does 10 feet away from the lamp and has extremely practical applications for growing crops indoors.

So, I think I want to get the light Charlinex used for his plants, but I'm not sure what to put it in. I see he hasn't been on the forum in some time so I'm not sure I can ask what he used.

It's 15.5 watts and when I look at bendable desk lamps, they suggest 4-10 watts max for an LED light bulb.


I know Ursula uses a brooder light, but I'm not sure how to mount it on a pole of sorts (I only have a few plants so I don't want to use a shelf). I found this online which I think I could manage, but I think it would just be cheaper to buy a lamp of sorts?


Any thoughts? It would be on for 12 plus hours a day so it obviously needs to be able to handle being on for so long.

@Ursula (see above)

I just clamp mine on to a bar above it, or - in a different location clamp it on to whatever is sturdy enough to hold it nearby. I find them very practical.

I don't have anything to clamp it onto though. Maybe I can just make a pvc stand or a wooden one and clamp it on there.

I bought the light bulb Ursula uses and found a $36 reptile "brooder light" on sale at a local pet store for $18. I have to pick up the light and I'm having the light bulb shipped to me, so hopefully #1 they fit together and #2, they work together.

It says compatible with their brand of halogen light bulbs (and it says the light bulb is halogen) and some folks say they don't use the brand's light bulbs, so I don't think using their brand is a must. And I figure reptile lights have to be on for hours every day plus they use a higher wattage bulb than I'm using, so I should be good. But, once I get the stuff, I'm going to see about making a pvc stand like the picture above.

My main plant room has both west facing windows and another area with artificial lights. They both seam to be doing about the same

What kind of lights did you use and where did you buy them?

All of my cacti are in a SW facing windo in Dallas. Would love to build something so I can move them to the living room to show them off instead of the window sill in my bedroom.

ketsui73 said: OK some of you may remember me creating a problem by putting plants outside for the summer, but them immediately filling that space with new plants.
Now the winter is coming in (zero last night) i needed to come up with a plan for an indoor lighting solution, because i was flat out of window sill space and i needed to get these plants out the cold

So here in my first LED light build

I copied a lot of this from an article i read in the BCSS whereby a guy was growing echeveria in a similar setup. I am not trying to grow through the winter, only provide enough light to prevent eloitation . What i settled on doing was having less lights than the build i saw (to try keep costs down a bit). I funded some of the build by selling duplicate plants and clothes i had not worn on ebay

Cabinet is ikea - good choice because its all metal and can take the weight of my clay pots
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/f...

Lights are 40W LED two per shelf. I decided to go for one 4000K and one 6500K bulb on each shelf to try to provide more of a spectrum. Not sure if that was such a smart move



i mounted the bulbs direct to the shelfs


i also decided to wire inline switches into each shelf so they are switchable

The build i was copying had 10 plugs going into a massive extension. I didn't want that, so i created a junction boxes to wire all lights into one out plug



finished build


and loaded up



I am happy with the look and neatness of the build. I would like to experiment with reflectors to try and bounce the light around and maybe mix the two spectrum's better. I might also look at fitting reflective back and sides to keep the light from splaying out so much. I might also need to lift the plants closer to the lights
Overall pretty happy , lets see how the plants react though
Steve

willisstate said: What kind of lights did you use and where did you buy them?

All of my cacti are in a SW facing windo in Dallas. Would love to build something so I can move them to the living room to show them off instead of the window sill in my bedroom.

I know this ain't your post but if you are doing this and the shelf is made from metal you may want to earth (CPC) the metal work to your electrical installation just in the off chance a cable wears down on the metal, gets nicked and makes the whole shelf live mains voltage. Earthing would completely eradicate this.

I really wanna do this setup as it looks neat too.