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Growing under Lights Cacti & Succulents

Advice for growing succulents strictly with grow lights.

5 years ago

Hey guys,

I have recently set up a sort of growing display on some shelving in my basement (my wife was tired of too many plants upstairs!). Now these plants are growing strictly under grow lights (T8) for 12hrs on a timer.

I’m wondering a few things:

are the succulent types that I have under the lights going to be negatively effected?

Do I have the timing right?

How do I account for seasons so the plants don’t get too greenhouse confused if I want to bring them back upstairs in real sunlight?

Thank you for any advice!

Featured Answer

fdsafasdf dffs

5 years ago

Photsynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) is a very useful measre for grow lights too.

Full spectrum grow lights are very easy to use and they are suitable for many plants from snake plants, dragon plants to succulents.

Red and blue spectrum grow lights are more efficient to succulents compared to full spectrum ones.

Red Blue Spectrum Grow Light at Amazon

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Comments (10)

User
5 years ago
I can't really tell - do you have a diffuser (the frosted, translucent cover over the light bulbs) on that light?

Why is it purple?? What sort of fluorescent bulb do you have that's purple? Some sort of plant bulb?

How far above your plants is the light? I can't quite tell from the pictures.

Since it looks like there is no natural light there, and you are using a relatively weak light, I would suggest you leave the light on more than 12 hours. At least 16, maybe more.
Joey G
Original Author
5 years ago
There is a diffuser on both lights and they are mounted about 5 or 6 inches above the plants. The bulb is a T8 grow light bulb which I’ve read some posts where these are relatively good grow lights.

I can definitely leave them on longer to adjust for “weakness” of the bulbs, but the plants I have under them seem to be doing great. This includes some propagating leaves, which have all rooted very well (I know rooting doesn’t take much at all).

Wouldn’t I start to see some stretching of the lights weren’t enough?
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Wintering succulents: grow lights or not?
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I can only speak for myself. I live in Wisconsin, zone 5. Once the temps start to hit the upper 40's/low 50's consistently, the plants come inside. I have a tall south facing window with a built-in planter box where I put anything that I am rooting and most of my aloes. Everything else goes into the basement on wire shelves in a corner under lights. If you go to a big box store, you can find fluorescent light fixtures (like garage style lights) for pretty cheap. I have two 4 ft. fixtures that I picked up for about $10 each. I mounted them to the ceiling rafters and put them on a timer. You can use these same fixtures in any room in the house (or apartment, like I once did) by mounting plant hanger hooks to the ceiling and then using s hooks to hang the lights by the enclosed chains. It sounds like you may have room to crowd them in one or two window sills. That should be sufficient this year. Just be forewarned that these plants have an addictive quality about them and you will probably need to get lights if your collection grows! As long as hot air isn't blowing directly on the plants, or there is no air movement in the room, there shouldn't be a problem with indoor temps. Do you know what plants you have? You should research to see if they are winter or summer growers and that will guide you with how much watering you will be doing over the winter months. Nancy
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Any plant - succulent or not - should be acclimatized to stronger light. Leaves usually get sunburn marks, don't really fall off (maybe for very young plant) - but there could be another reason for that. We need photo to try to diagnose...
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Cindy Just to add to post by illsstep : LED lightbulbs are very economic to run and have longer life too. Yes, they are more expensive to buy, but if you are looking at the longer use, they are worth it. And they produce almost no heat, which means that you can have lights closer to your plants and will not burn them. Tubes are what I was suggesting - they fit 'shop light' fixture. Just make sure you buy proper fixture: LED tubes have much smaller diameter, and will not fit/work with old type fixtures. I have used all of different bulbs over he years...I am also using many CFL lightbulbs now, that are quite economic (23W CFL bulbs equals 100W incandescent bulb). They produce some heat, so if using, start with bulbs little further away and gradually move closer to the plant. Reason I am still using them is that I was given almost 50 bulbs few years ago...so they were all free and work quite well. I am using them in the basement, where looks do not matter, and little extra heat is np. They are all min 23W (few are more), and all are 6500k. But anything new I buy is LED. I have 1 bulb T5HO, they are approx. $50 in Canada. Sold in any Hydroponic store. Other lightbulbs and fixtures are available in any BBS (Lowe's, Home Depo, probably in many hardware and home improvement stores). Just MO, but I wouldn't waste $ on T8 if buying new (even if they are inexpensive) - only if I couldn't find or afford anything better (like T5HO or LED). I do not find light from 6500k too strong - but it is bright! But it is for plants that are on shelves by the windows and in the basement, and I do not stare at the lights :) They are all on timers. I do not bother with shorter than 4' for plants I have, but you could buy shorter to fit your area and number of plants. LED tubes fit in 'shop light' fixture, as long as you get the proper size. T5HO comes with the 'fixture'. LED panels (as in link provided by mesembs) emit 'funny' light (that would bother me in the living area much more than daylight - but I am thinking of buying at least 1 for use in the basement), and you can get info about them on net. Some color will promote growth, other flowering - I am not too concerned much about it since I grow mostly succulents, and do not worry much about flowering - they do quite well under lights I have :) This is only for the winter in my case, since all plants I have go outside as early as possible in Spring.
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I'm traveling right now so I don't have the light with me, but I found a link to the specific bulb that I have online https://www.aqlightinggroup.com/lightbulbs/led-light-bulbs/led-a19-bulbs/120v-9w-led-plant-grow-a19-light-bulb-feit/
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User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Hey, if things are going great, then keep doing what you're doing (I might ask why you asked for advice, though..)

If your plants haven't been in place long, it's possible you won't have seen etiolation yet (it occurs on new growth). You also may have enough light to avoid (much) etiolation, but not enough to encourage (much) new growth. You are correct that rooting requires much less light than active growth does.

My advice is to ditch the diffusers (they reduce the light reaching your plants), lower the lights a couple inches, and leave them on longer.
Joey G
Original Author
5 years ago
I guess my biggest question is whether I need to do anything to adjust for seasons, or if it is not possible under the grow lights?
gdinieontarioz5
5 years ago
You can let the room temperature go down at night, and you can give a few hours less of light. Twelve in winter, 14-16 in summer, or something like that. I have mesembs under lights, and in winter the room temperature goes down to 16 C, and I change the timer. They keep the seasons.
fdsafasdf dffs
5 years ago
Agree with gdinieontarioz5

Temperature and lighting time, humidity...

If it's difficult to change temperature, you can change lighting time.

14 hrs in summer, 13 hrs in spring and autumn, 12 hrs in winter.

When you bring them upstairs, use grow lights for a period of time, wait until they accommodate themselves to new environment.
Joey G
Original Author
5 years ago
I asked this in the growing lights forum today, but I’ll ask here too in hope to get a quick response.

I am changing the bulbs. Currently I am using a 3500k bulb, but have read that I need to be much higher for succulents.

So I am looking at two bulbs. One is a 6500k full spectrum and the other is an 8500k “gro-lux” bulb.

Any suggestions on which to go with?
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
5 years ago
I am not familiar with GroLux tube, but 6500k will be ok. Using anything lower than 5000k won't help much. Do you have more info about GroLux - how many lumens?
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
The GroLux bulbs, from what I can find, are generally much lower in lumens than typical fluorescent bulbs. This does not reflect a lack of suitability for growing plants, but rather that lumens are not a useful measure for how "good" an artificial light source is for growing plants. That's what PAR is for.

Lumens measure how bright a light appears to the human eye (which prioritizes yellow and green wavelengths), while PAR measures how much of the light produced can drive photosynthesis (which prioritizes blues and reds).

Since GroLux bulbs are heavy on blues and reds at the expense of yellows and greens, they produce half the lumens of a normal fluorescent bulb - but are likely to be a bit better for photosynthesis (I'm guessing.. you'd have to find PAR values to actually compare the two).

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