GARDENING: CREATING AN INDOOR GARDEN
Insufficient natural light — in some instances, a complete lack of it — give many would-be indoor gardeners a major headache, as only a limited range of houseplants will survive in unnatural light conditions.
There has, however, been a major step forward in growing many houseplants — as well as some vegetables and herbs — using nothing more than artificial lighting. With careful judgment, combined with experimentation, this can change the growing game completely for those living in homes having little or no natural sunlight to brighten the days.
Some plant species such as Pothos (money plants) and Sanseveria (mother-in-law’s tongue) are known to grow perfectly well without any natural light at all but others, especially flowering houseplants, rarely survive more than a few days of sunlight deprivation. Installation of suitable artificial lighting can change this.
Indoor plants perk up living spaces but need proper light, humidity and temperature to thrive
Basically, in order to thrive, plants photosynthesise sunlight into food. Sunlight comprises blue wavelength light for foliage growth, red wavelength light for flowering and fruiting, and green wavelength light is largely reflected back off plants — because of this the leaves on the whole are green.
Hence, when replacing sunlight with artificial lighting, remember this artificial light must produce blue and red wavelength lights for satisfactory plant growth and health. It is not just a matter of simply utilising already fixed light-sockets/fittings, flicking the switch and leaving the lights on for a few hours each day as, along with humidity levels and temperature control, the distance between plants and artificial lighting is also of prime importance.
It is not necessary to invest in the costly ‘grow light’ type of light bulbs/tubes which are rapidly increasing in popularity in some parts of the world if you are growing ‘ordinary’ houseplants. For these, as long as you select suitable light bulbs/tubes and place then correctly, you have a pretty good chance of success.
Indoor plants — especially those grown under artificial lights — tend to need watering more regularly than their outdoor counterparts, so please do pay strict attention to this.