Going through the other threads too, very informative stuff - thks! Do you have a picture of your setup, sure would be interesting to see how others have their indoor areas set up :)

Sure thing. Here is part of my primary setup. The closer portion is my raised high light area and further back my plants are a couple inches lower.

It is mostly Mesembs, Crassula, Gasteria, some Echeveria, some Haworthia, some Aloe.

And here is my secondary setup. Sorry it's very cluttered because I am starting many new succulents from seed.

The lights are quite far away from the Haworthia because some had very minimal roots when I received them (and are just becoming established now):

This is a major challenge for me and what makes it even more difficult is the height differences in my plants. Some are as low as 4 inches, pot included, while others are well over a foot, and others that hang. It is nearly impossible for me to meet the light requirements of all my plants at the same time. Right now I just move them around every time I water (which is ever 10-14 days). But I do need to find a better, and simple, solution.

Deva - Hanging and sprawling plants drive me nuts! My Huernia and Schlumbergera are the worst (and nowhere near as difficult as yours).

Is it sad that I specifically choose plants that don't grow like this now? It's a giant tetris game fitting everything in and at the right height.

I've got a very crude set up for my plants. Last winter season I didn't provide any extra lighting for them and many of them ended up becoming elongated from lack of sun so I decided I had to do something this year.

It's not anything fancy, but it has been almost 3 months and the plants don't seem to be complaining! I'm using a work light, a small lamp, some fruit snack boxes.... And some tin foil! I used tin foil in hopes that it would sort of direct the light where I wanted.

I didn't put much thought into it when I created it. Just thought I might share what has been working for me.

I've used and researched various grow lights, like most people started with ordinary shop lights (not bright enough), then a large 400 wat hps lamp (very bright but quite hot don't like to use it for fear of setting house on fire) now I put a few plants by a sunny window and use a 200 watt led panel designed for reef aqauriums that is full spectrum and a smaller led lamp. Anyway couple tips pointers I've learned

1 it's actually kinda hard to replicate full midday sun light levels without a high intensity discharge lamp - even then takes a lot of watts. I'm skeptical of any full sun light set up with fluorescent lights. Not saying it's impossible but not easy.

2 there is a big difference between expensive and cheap fluorescent lights, but even good ones aren't much help if they are more than a foot away from plants

3 the human eye is a poor judge or brightness. It adjusts to light levels. You need a meter

4 generally yes plants can tolerate more bright light at cooler temperatures with sufficent moisture. Cool and bright is a good way to grow plants, tends to keep them compact.

Christina - I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but the reflectivity of aluminum foil isn't that good. White paint does a better job. Reflective mylar is best and not too expensive (check hydroponics stores). That is, in case you want to take your setup even further!

I haven't added side reflectors to my secondary setup yet, mostly because it will look quite obtrusive, but maybe later in the year I will try it.

Todd - In my case it took around 350W of T5HO to replicate full midday sun. Of course it is not at 10a levels, but maybe something like 8a. Also has the bonus of being extremely consistent day-to-day. Here is my past 6 month data (very roughly compressed) with my PAR light meter/data logger:

ewwmayo that would make sense! White is reflective... A very nice set up you have by the way! If only I had the space and money for it

I'm sourcing for light tubes at the moment and am trying to decide between the 2 above. Based on these manufacturer spectrum charts, which would you say is more ideal?

Absolutely love both your set ups and definitely has given me some inspiration on how I could do mine. I also love how well all your plants seem to be doing :)

My little nook has painted white walls but I've just gone ahead to place an order for a couple of these sheets to mess around with, not too pricey to try too. Perhaps this might help?

In terms of ventilation, anyone do anything specific to aid in this aspect?

I like the first one better - depends somewhat on what you are growing. For primarily vegetative plants (like most succulents) more blue spectrum will result in shorter internodes and more compact growth. For fruiting plants, where the fruit is the main goal (like tomatoes) you want spectrum skewed more towards red. If optimizing for production (IE your selling the fruit, tracking power usage and trying to generate profit rather than pretty plants as a goal) then it can be worthwhile to switch spectrum at different growth stages/seasons.

Personally I've only grown indoors with higher CRI (blue skewed) spectrums and always been very happy with results. But, I'm also not trying to produce fruit or vegetables.

Obi - I'm using three Vornado fans, which provide a lot of airflow. Two designed for small room air circulation and blowing directly on my plants. One is permanently on, the other only for a day after watering.

The third fan is quite large and circulates air up my stairwell and into the loft, reducing temperature greatly. It's set on a timer to start an hour after my lights go on and maybe two hours after they go off.

The power setting is the lowest for each to save on electricity. I recommend buying a power meter ($40) or borrowing one free from your local library to decide on the optimal power vs airflow setting for your fans.

Like Daniel, I have had no issues with more blueish (daylight balanced) lights.

I do not believe red lights are required for succulents to flower. At least, I confirm this does not apply to my: Haworthia, Aloes, Echeveria, Huernia, Lithops, Faucaria, Crassula, Schlumbergera, Euphorbia, Aloinopsis, Gibbaeum, and Lapidaria. My experiment/research is ongoing and hope to add more to this list. =)

An excess of red light isn't required for any plant to flower (at least to my knowledge, which is not infinite...), but can cause the flowers/fruits to grow much bigger - this might not even be desirable, and the fruit volume gain from an excess of red will often be at the expense of other parts of the plant. Beneficial if you grow annual fruit bearing plants like tomatoes or cannabis, but not ideal in many other situations.

Daniel

One thing I would say about your light intensity bar graph ewwmayo is that it would look very different where I live in south central texas 29 degrees of latitude haven't done the math but the difference might be something like 30 percent more intensity in daylight, maybe more

Todd - Check out this map: USA DLI Map.

In summer you are probably reaching peak DLI of 50? My peak DLI is about 45. In practice, it's a little bit lower (35 or so) on my rooftop because I use a clear diffuser panel over my succulents to protect them from the rain.

Some additional notes: With lights on for 13 hours/day (summer daylight) I am able to reach DLI of nearly 38 with my main setup.

But honestly, I question the need for DLIs beyond 35 for succulents. A large majority of species should be hitting the max capabilities of CAM photosynthesis well before that.

Additionally, most are Spring/Fall or Winter growers where the light levels are lower anyway. Obviously temperature has a large factor as well. Which is why I think crazy setups are not required (and that's a good thing). =)

Been an exciting past 10 or so days of hopping from retail store to store, browsing and buying stuff to get my indoor setup going. It's merely a week now, and I must say I'm pretty amazed at how some of the plants are responding!