Don't get too caught up with the advertising. That is an incredibly low intensity grow light and is nowhere near "direct sunlight." Work up (gradually, like you're doing) to the longest time you're willing to leave that light on - the more light, the better.

I would have it on at least 10 hrs maybe 12.

I have a bunch of monsteras (reg and variegated) out in the greenhouse and they get a lot of indirect light..way more than 6 hrs.

12 on at the minimum.

illsstep - is it really that low intensity? I'm not very well learned in grow lights so I'm not sure, but I've had a bunch of plants under that grow light and they've been performing spectacularly. Like, succulents which tripled in size in 5 months, and Wisteria that are going out of control, and completely light by just that. Would you know other brands that you could recommend?

"succulents which tripled in size in 5 months"

And very likely the increase in size is due to insufficient lighting, ie. etiolation!

I have a 75W incandescent grow light (approx. equivalent to a 15W LED) that is on 24/7 in the winter and even with that, my succulents experience some etiolation.

It is very hard for any grow light to replicate direct sunlight (compare lumens - 2500/hi powered grow light vs 10,000 for direct sunlight). Metal halide comes close but not practical in a home environment.

Gardengal, you should replace that with a 5000k 15w led. That would be the equivalent of a 100w and give you 1600 lumens. That 75 watt incandescent is putting out about 1000 lumens and putting out more heat than anything else, unless, the heat is keeping the plants warmer than they’d otherwise be and that’s what you’re after.

The OPs grow light is putting out just as much light as your incadescent, I agree.

OP would be better served getting a standard A19 base 5000k 100w equivalent led. You’d get more light out of that and it costs much less.

Believe it or not, that was the strongest grow light I could find without doing mail order or driving into the city to visit the Indoor Sun Shoppe :-) And no LED grow lights at all.

But my plants are in a southwest facing window so get as much window-filtered sunlight in winter as we have available. There is some etiolation but not much.

So yeah, I guess I'm still not sure why I would change the lights while none of my succulents are etiolated (per the photo above on my previous comment). I have a bunch of other arrangements like that on the same lights and it's becoming overgrown without etiolation. Do you guys have any links to products on Amazon i can check out?

Gardengal, did you check Lowe’s or Home Depot? They always have plenty.

L Lake, if everything is working great, why not just keep doing what you're doing? :)

My question was specifically for Monstera, which I've been told is an indirect-sun-indoor plant, so I'm cautious of exposing it to too much light.

You could leave that particular light on for 24 hours straight and not give that plant too much light. Don't sweat it!

"did you check Lowe’s or Home Depot? They always have plenty."

LOL!! They didn't have any that I could find....nor any help, either! I finally found them at a small, old fashioned hardware store.

Not sure why they would prove so tricky to find around here. I do live out in the boonies but not that far away from real civilization. Guess I may have to stock up the next time I am in the "big city" :-))

L Lake, a grow light, no matter the intensity, is NO WHERE near as bright as the sun. You’ll never burn the leaves. Plus, the light you have is only about 1000 lumens, that’s not very bright anyway.

High intensity discharge lighting and some of the powerful LED lights (those marketed to marijuana growers) can do some damage if not used correctly.. but in both cases we're talking lights that are hundreds of watts (actual power draw, not this "equivalent wattage" nonsense), and that are very expensive! Virtually every grow light I see pop up in this forum is such low intensity that providing "too much light" is virtually impossible.

I agree. A 1000 actual watt HPS or metal halide could do damage.

But the light in question wouldnt do any damage even if it were pressed up against the leaves and left on 24 hours a day.

Most of the amazon and ebay lights are junk and they’re never as bright as stated.

Awesome. Thank you all so much!

L Lake, other than 15W grow light, SANSI has also 30W and 40W grow lights, they work perfectly for indoor plants.

It all depends on the conditions in which you keep it. The voltage of the lamp is also important. Usually it should be kept for about 11-12 hours. When I first started doing this, I often encountered various problems. I used weak lamps, which were not enough for the plants to germinate normally. After three months of useless work, my friend said that my lamps are absolutely not suitable for my plants. It was very difficult to find a good lamp, but he advised me to use nextlight mega . It turned out to be a great investment for me. Plants do much better. If someone encounters a similar problem, then I advise you to purchase it. Have a good harvest everyone :)

i have some lamps that have blue light mode and red light mode which would be best for my monstera Thai constellations? Thanks

Jane in Australia

@Jane Collins, for a Monstera you would want to choose the blue light mode. In any switchable light, choose red mode generally for fruiting and flowering, blue mode for growing foliage.