Grow lights?

[chad2468emr]

I just moved into a new townhome, and while it has PLENTY of room outside for my potted pots and they are thriving, the downstairs indoors has minimal lighting and it's killing me not having any palms (or other plants for that matter) in the home. It's seriously lacking in greenery. 

We are in need for some floor lamps anyway, so does anyone have any recommendations on a  4-5 foot tall grow light that isn't hideous and similar looking to a typical floor lamp? How bright is it and how much of a sun-loving palm (or other plant for that matter) can I get away with? Is there the risk of burning anything that doesn't want a lot of light? 

I also have a bookshelf that I'd LOVE to repurpose into a seedling shelf / small container plant shelf, but it only gets good lighting for the first few hours of the day. I've seen strip light LEDs before; are there any that I could stick to the bottom of each shelf and then use as supplemental lighting? 

Overall, how do you know if a grow light is bright enough and what "rule of thumb" can I follow to determine if a light is enough for a low / med / high light-requiring palm / plant? 

Thank you in advance for all the help you guys can provide! 

[Fusca]

I've used an existing floor lamp and just purchased a plant light bulb from the blue big box store to replace the existing bulb.  My indoor plants/palms aren't particularly light needy but since my home is rather dark I thought I'd help them out a bit.  I don't remember but I think the cost was only $6 or $7.   Not a professional setup but serves the purpose.  I have it on a timer during the evening when I normally want the light anyway.  It supplements the plants with some additional light and also gives the appearance that I am at home when away from the house.

[PalmX]

From my research, unless you're looking at multiple high end LED grow panels, you're not going to get great results.

It's all about how much PAR from the light reaches the palm.  Full sun is about 2000-3000 PAR. However, most mid-level LED grow lights only claim around 1200 PAR (when hung 12 inches from the plant). PAR drastically goes down each inch you move away. That same light would advertise 700 PAR at 18 inches. 400 and 24 inches. etc..

So unless you have several high end grow lights that cover the entire canopy of the palm all hung 12 inches away.... it's not going to produce great results.

Now imagine you had adequate lighting, you also need proper heat and humidity to match, and encourage growth. 

In short, a single LED bulb from HD in a lamp won't do much but look bright. However, brightness/lumens has no significance to the plants. It's the amount of usable light that matters.

[jimmyt]

@chad2468emr

As @PalmX stated true LED grow lights are much  different from incandescent, CFL, HID, and fluorescent lights.  LED grow light is measured in PAR(photosynthetic active radiation).  You would need Quantum or PAR light meter.  Decent meters are several hundred dollars.  There is a much more economical version for iPhone in the app store named Korona.  It has good reviews and is considered a decent substitute for the high-end meters. They do make under cabinet LED lights.  There are also LED grow lights that retro fit fluorescent tube F8 fixtures in 2 and 4 ft lengths.  There are not many aesthetic LED fixtures that will serve your needs.  They also emit a purple-colored light.  Try to go with low light level requiring palms.  There are people especially in the north US and Canada who use LED grow lights a lot on this Forum. 

jimmyt

[chad2468emr]

Interesting... 

Given how bright even a regular bulb can be, I’d figured there was something economical and not hideous that I could use to grow a medium to low light palm or any other plant in a shady corner of my house. 

If I wanted to give something a shot, what would you all recommend? Any specific lights paired with a palm / plant in general that you think would work well? Or generally is this just a no-go unless it’s purely supplemental to an already well lit area? 

I hear you on your concerns regarding heat / humidity too. I wouldn’t plan on giving this a shot with anything overly-tropical, though I know the humidity / heat rule holds for a lot of indoor plants anyway. 

[jimmyt]

Try looking thru Rickybobby’s post here for some ideas too.