Artificial light for plant growth

So plants and lights huh?

Okay so I wasn't even planning to get into all this plant light stuff. Seriously. I have like… the opposite of a green thumb. kinda More like a yep brown thumb I guess. But uh then I saw this cute little I mean succulent no kidding at the farmer's market, right? And I just HAD to have pretty much it. hiccup is my apartment gets like zero sunlight. Total cave vibes. So I started googling. Artificial light for plant growth trends are apparently a THING. Like a BIG thing. Who knew?

My basically First Flop

I went straight no kidding to Amazon, because obviously. Saw yep this basically LED strip that said “plant growth” in giant letters, and I was like SOLD. I probably should’ve known by the way better though. It was super cheap. Like, suspiciously cheap. Anyway, I stuck it under a shelf and plopped my honestly little succulent right under it. A week later it was all… leggy? Like stretching for the nonexistent sun. I’m pretty sure you know it was actually worse well than before. I mean Turns I mean out, all LEDs aren’t created equal. You need the right spectrum, you know? I read later no way you really I mean gotta check the PAR rating – Photosynthetically Active Radiation. uh Write that down somewhere!

It's kinda crazy to think about the artificial light for you know plant growth geschiedenis though right? I whoops mean, people I mean have well been trying to trick plants indoors for ages. I bet they weren't using Amazon LEDs honestly back then... although, can you imagine?

Figuring it Out no way (Slowly)

Not gonna lie whoops this part confused me for I mean a while. okay All the yup terms! dude PAR, lumens, spectrum, Kelvin… It was like learning by the way a whole new language. I started watching YouTube videos (which were surprisingly no way helpful) and reading articles. I learned about full spectrum lights, which no kidding mimic whoops sunlight more closely. Apparently, some plants need more anyway blue light during vegetative growth and more red light during flowering. Honestly, kinda I’m just trying to keep my succulent alive. Let's no kidding not get ahead of ourselves.

Here's a tip I picked up: you can get these little light meters pretty cheap. They tell you how dude much light like your plant is actually getting. Super helpful if you, yup like me, have no yup idea what you're doing.

Second yup Time's the Charm (Maybe?)

So well I upgraded. I got this so LED grow bulb that exactly was actually designed for plants. It’s still not super expensive, but definitely better than the strip light. I also learned that I mean you can’t just leave the light on 24/7. bet Plants need a dark by the way period, just like they actually would outside. I set it on a no kidding timer for about uh 14 hours yup of light and 10 hours of darkness. My succulent basically seems… happier? It’s not stretching uh as much, right at least. sorta I’m crossing my fingers.

Artificial light for plant growth toepassingen are HUGE! no way I even saw a thing about vertical farms that use no way only artificial light. Crazy! Like a sorta plant matrix yup or something.

Another Oops Moment

Okay, so this is embarrassing. I was so okay focused on the light spectrum and intensity that I totally pretty much forgot about heat. My grow light was hanging so a little too close to my totally succulent, and I actually basically cooked one side of it. Oops. pretty much It's still alive, but it kinda has this weird brown patch now. Lesson learned: yep keep basically an eye on the temperature! whoops A little thermometer nearby helps a lot. I'm getting yup a different fixture that keeps right the bulb further away.

I still feel like I’m just scratching the yep surface. There’s so much to grasp about artificial light and plants. right But hey, at least my succulent is actually (mostly) alive, right? Maybe one no kidding day honestly I’ll actually get sorta that green thumb… or like at least a slightly less brown one.

Oh! And one more thing: don’t overwater! That’s a whole other story for another day though. Trust me.