You just bought some beautiful succulents at your local nursery, or even better online with 3 day shipping. You plan to grow these beautiful succulents indoors, but maybe your house doesn’t get much sunlight inside. Yes, your succulent needs light, and sometimes growing indoors won’t provide enough. Especially during the winter, or as the daytimes get shorter.
This is why most indoor growers are using grow lights to grow their beautiful succulents indoors. If the inside of your house doesn’t get much sunlight, then you may want to use grow lights for your succulents. Grow lights have changed the gardening game forever, they are trending, and many growers for all plants are using them.
In this article we will be discussing what are grow lights, why your succulents need a grow light, types of grow lights, and tons of information on grow lights for your succulents.
Before we Begin...
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Let’s start!
What Are Grow Lights?
Grow lights are lights specifically for growing indoor plants. Can any light be a grow light? Yes, any light can be a grow light however, grow lights have more powerful, special lights than the average light in your house. That’s why they are used for growing because they are a bit more powerful.
They are called grow lights for a reason, they are meant for growing plants!
Do Your Succulents Need Grow Lights?
Grow lights are getting popular every single day, and growers love them because they can grow almost anything inside their very own house or warehouse.
So do your succulents need grow lights? A simple answer would be if only your succulents don’t get enough sun inside your house. Some houses just don’t get that nice natural sunlight inside, and that’s a problem for your succulents.
If your succulents don’t get their light/sunlight, they will stretch and look like they are growing super fast. Your succulent isn’t growing fast, your succulent is simply going through the process of etiolation. Etiolation happens when your succulent isn’t getting the light it needs. Your succulent will begin to stretch and expand to find a source of light.
Your succulent is begging for some light/sunlight, so that’s why it is stretching, it’s simply stretching to find any source of light it can find. This is why your house needs to get enough sunlight!
If your house just simply doesn’t get at least 3 hours of sunlight a day in a certain spot, then you may want to invest in some grow lights.
Again, your succulents need light/sunlight you must provide it for them or they will start the process of etiolation. For more information on etiolation and how to prevent it, please read this article about it.
Which Type Of Grow Lights For Your Succulents?
So you decided that you want to invest into some grow lights for your succulents. Now which grow lights should you get?
The 2 most common grow lights for succulents are fluorescent, and LED.
Fluorescent Grow Lights
Fluorescent grow lights come in different sizes and shapes, they also have been around for decades.
The 3 most popular fluorescent grow lights are T5, T8, and T12. Most growers recommend the T5 option because it has an amazing performance.
To be honest, you should only buy the T5 option, the others are older technology, and are just less efficient. T5 lasts longer, uses less energy, and definitely produces more light.
If you want to use fluorescent, then definitely use T5! Most succulent growers use this!
The next common grow lights for succulents are LED grow lights
LED Grow Lights (Light Emitting Diode) are great grow lights for succulents. LED grow lights will provide specific wavelengths of lights for your succulents. Succulents and many other plants only care about red and blue light, and that is exactly what LED lights do for your succulents.
LED grow lights are made simply to narrow down specific spectrums of light, specifically by just 1 color. This makes them provide less energy, and less heat.
So are LED lights less expensive than fluorescent? Yes they are, but are they better? Well not really, in fact LED lights might make your succulent bloom, instead of actually growing them. That is because it is getting exposed to only 1 or 2 lights such as red or blue.
One big annoying issue with LED lights is the color, the color might annoy you and look uncomfortable compared to white fluorescent lights.
Up to you for which grow lights you want for your succulents, but in our opinion we would say use fluorescent grow lights!
How To Set And Use Grow Lights
You definitely need to space your grow lights and your succulents correctly. If your succulent is too close to the grow lights, then you may end up burning your succulent. If your succulent is too far away from the grow lights, then it might not get the light it needs, this will cause etiolation.
If you are using the typical grow lights we listed to grow your succulents, then anywhere from 3 inches to 6 inches will give the best results for your succulents. For LED lights you will want to do a distance of 18-24 inches away.
However, it also depends on the type of succulent you have, some succulents tolerate light and heat differently.
Make sure you monitor your succulents daily at first to make sure they are ok, and no sunburnt are starting on the leaves. If you do notice brown/balck spots on the leaves, then you must adjust the light as soon as possible.
The best color temperature for growth would be 6500K. If you want your succulent to bloom then a color temperature of 3000K light is best.
Lights do not need to be on 24/7, your succulent will need breaks from light. Your lights should be on your succulents for about 12-14 hours a day. Make sure to rotate your succulents weekly, so the whole succulent gets its equal amount of light.
Again, make sure to keep an eye on your succulents. If they look like they are getting sunburnt, then move them further away from the light. If they look like they aren’t light, and might be experiencing etiolation, then definitely move them closer.
That’s it!
Now you know all about growing succulents with grow lights, if your succulents need grow lights, which type, and how to set and use grow lights! Grow lights for succulents are perfect if your house just simply doesn’t let enough sunlight in! Grow lights are definitely a must if your succulents aren’t getting sunlight! They will help avoid etiolation!
Thank You!
Thank you for visiting our website and reading our article. We hope we brought value, and great information to you today. Our goal is to help fellow succulent lovers like you! Any questions or if you’d like more tips email us or comment below!
If you are interested in buying live succulents, soil, cuttings, etc. We have them available here on our website. Go to our homepage, or click the links in our articles for more information.
We thank you so much for your time.
Thank You!
Ramsey Succulents
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