We watch you all the time on the Weather Channel and get your updates on a regular basis. We are in need of a grow light for my wife’s plants. Can we use a regular fluorescent light? Thanks for your time and consideration.
If some of your houseplants are looking a little weak and anemic, they may be starved for light. This is a common problem in winter when daylight is in short supply. This problem is easy enough to remedy. You can give them an extra boost by using artificial light.
Plants will respond to just about any kind of light, even a sixty-watt light bulb in a table lamp. But if you want to get a little more elaborate, you can do it without much expense or time. Fluorescent tubes are ideal as a supplement for areas of your home or office that get no natural light at all.
Now I must admit, you probably wouldn’t want to put one over your dining room table, but what I like to do is set one up in an isolated area of my house, then I can move plants in and out as needed.
If you decide to use florescent lights, you want to make sure your plants are within a three foot range of the tubes and if it’s your only source of light, keep it on at least twelve hours, but no more than sixteen. An automatic timer can help with this. Not only will this help your plants when the days are short, you can also use it to start seedlings for the garden later in the spring.