Indoor Succulent Woes? Grow Lights Could Be the Solution You’ve Been Searching For
Using grow lights with indoor succulents can help keep your succulents looking their best. But you may find that the information out there can be quite confusing.
My goal with is to answer the questions of “do I need grow lights?” and “what grow lights should I buy?” as simply as possible.
Do succulents need grow lights indoors?
The short answer is, not necessarily – but it can be a good idea. If you have a window that gets bright light all day your succulents will likely survive just fine over the winter. However, the days do get shorter so they won't get as much light as they did in the summer.
If succulents don't get enough light they start to stretch out and lose their bright colors and compact shape. They are still alive, and otherwise healthy, they'd just like more light. Often the shorter days in the winter will cause succulents to stretch.
A grow light can be a great way to keep your succulents colorful and compact. It helps add more bright light during the day. I've had succulents indoors for several winters without a grow light and they've been ok.
By the time spring rolls around many of the succulents are really elongated, but I trim them up and plant them before moving them outside. I have decided though that I want to prevent my succulents from stretching out this year so I decided to invest in some grow lights.
How long should I leave grow lights on in the winter?
Succulents have growing and dormant periods, just like other plants. Winter is often the dormant season for most succulents, and therefore require less light, but indoors they will still generally take as much as they can get.
Succulents won’t go through a true dormancy when growing indoors unless you force it with changes in temperature and light.
All succulents need darkness each day to maintain a healthy growing cycle, but need at least six hours of sunlight a day to stay thriving. When using grow lights for my indoor succulents, I'll leave them on for about 12-14 hours, mimicking the natural daylight plus a few hours.
Knowing when your succulents are dormant can help you know which of your plants will need less or more water based on the time of year.
What grow lights should I buy?
There is a lot of information about what type of grow lights to use, how much light you need, what color the light should be, how far away should the light be, etc. I had a hard time figuring out what everything meant and how to know what it meant for me.
Based on some helpful articles along with input from succulent growing friends, here is what I've determined:
- What type of light: Fluorescent or LED lights
Note: These do NOT need to be labeled as a “grow light” — they can simply be regular fluorescent or LED bulbs - What color of light: “Daylight” spectrum – preferably a color temp of 5000 – 6500K
- How far away should the light be: about 12″ from the top of the succulents
- How many lights: depends on the number of plants, this may require some trial and error
These suggestions are based on two goals: inexpensive and efficient. There are other more expensive options, some of which are more effective and some are less. The fluorescent lights are easy to find and do a great job.
I've put together a video going over these details and how simple your grow light setup can be.
I think the most confusing two questions I faced were what color of light and how many lights (or how much light). There's a lot of talk about red light and blue light. The 6500K daylight temperature is slightly more blue in color. It provides light as close as possible to natural daylight.
The amount of light you'll need is a little trickier. Basically, it's a good idea to get as much as you can. Having light shining directly above all your plants is ideal. If you are in a small space that may not be possible. But the idea would be if you have plants in a 1 foot by 4 foot space, you'll want to use a light that takes up about 1 foot by 4 feet.
Most of my lights are about 12" away from a strip of LED lights. I run them for 12-13 hours a day, every day of the year.
I have a lot of succulents and large shelves for them, so this option works really well.
If you have just a few succulents, you could use an LED or Fluorescent bulb in a regular desk lamp with the light about 12" away from the top of the plants. You could even do one on each side if you have a larger group of succulents.
The great thing is LED lights -- both strips and bulbs -- are getting much cheaper and easier to find. You don't need anything fancy, but get the brightest light you can for the size or area you need it for.
How much does it cost to use grow lights?
I love the walnut grow light plant stand that my husband built for me! The biggest question I'm always asked about it is - how expensive is it to have grow lights on all the time?
I run my grow lights for 13 hours a day, every day of the year. It costs about $125 for the electricity each year for just this plant stand. I put together a more in-depth video that shows how I figured out how much my grow lights cost to run.
Grow lights are a great way to supplement the natural light your succulents are already getting, especially in the winter. Getting enough light for succulents indoors is one of the biggest challenges. Fortunately grow lights (as long as you opt for fluorescent) are pretty inexpensive and can make a big difference for your succulents!
Are you overlooking this critical part of succulent care?
Many people who struggle to grow succulents think they have a watering problem. As it turns out, most of them have a soil problem. Using the proper succulent soil will make caring for these unique plants so much easier. Find out what type of soil is best for succulents and where to find it.
This article originally appeared on Succulents and Sunshine.