will plants grow better under natural light or artificial light

Sunlight is best. Artificials need to be right over the plant to receive best benefit...and usually need to be there longer than if under the sun. I'm assuming by natural you were referring to sunlight.

Without getting into a discussion about light wavelengths, it is the quality and intensity of light that makes natural sunlight better.

as well lolo. That said, if you have a specific plant or plants in mind please let us know. Some tolerate artificial light better than others

Even though the vast majority of my tropical plants are in two greenhouses, during the late fall and winter months, with the sun so low in the southern sky, I suppliment my lighting with lots of "day-light" fluorescent lights. I have just installed four red + blue LED lights over several hundred "baby" orchid plants. The LED light usage is an experiment. Hopefully, after 4 or so months, I will be able to tell IF these lights are any more effective than the fluorescent ones.

Ken, where did you get your LED lights?

I have two types, bought from two different vendors.

The red + blue LED is a strip light, approximately 12" long and 2" wide. They are 11w units and their item number is LH-G111WWP. These are also water-proof units, the only practical water-proof units I could find. I wanted to hang them under the top shelf of a two-shelf unit, casting light on four trays of "baby" orchids. That's why I needed them to be water-proof. They are expensive lights! I purchased the four from LEDgrowlight-hydro.com. I don't remember what their lumen output is.

I also have two LED flood-type lights that simply screw into a socket. Their spectrum is white, not red/blue. They were purchased on Amazon and the name of them is Miracle LED 605038 Commercial Hydroponic Ultra Grow Lite. You could not use these in a wet enviornment. They each cost 1/10 of what the strip-lights cost, about $11.00 each. These are 5w bulbs and produce 500 lumens.

Thanks, Ken! I may try some for my houseplants. Sounds like the price on LEDs has dropped a bit since I last looked.

Woofie, the screw bulbs were $11.00 each. The LED strips, about $125 each!

Heh, I WAS thinking about the screw lights. But I remember looking at leds screw-type lights a couple of years ago and they started around $25 to $30!

OK, I just didn't want you to misunderstand the cost of those water-proof strip lights.

I just ordered 2 of these Miracle LED for my greenhouse. I'll let you guys know. Ken keep us posted on how you like the more expensive. Those look great but I will have to wait until the price comes down.

I will give my opinion of those red/blue ones when I have 3-4 months usage. They really look weird when on and are very intense.