Using Grow Lights for Your Plants

If you have never come across grow lights before, what they do is allow you to get a jump on the gardening season by promoting advanced growth in your seedlings. If this is the your first time learning of them, itâ€™s normal to feel a little daunted about using a new technology in your gardening methods. For all that it may look complicated, it really is relatively simple to come to grips with and before long you will be using the best LED grow lights as though you have been using them for years.

Types of Light

Before you rush out and buy the first set of lights that you see, you need to figure out what kind of light will work best with the set up you have. There are several different types of lights available and each work a little differently than the other. Some of the most commonly used lights are fluorescent lights, which are specifically used for indoor gardening. If you are looking for the perfect light to help you to grow batches of seedlings for your garden, the standard fluorescent lights would be the best choice to go with.

Setting Up Your Lights

One of the reasons people turn to light assistance to grow their plants is because of the fact that there may be a limited light supply to their growing area. While many people use their windowsills to grow their seedlings, this is not always an option for everyone, so grow lights provide the best alternative. You need to find a place in your home where you can grow your plants where they are not going to be disturbed by a lot of through traffic. Find an area where you have access to a couple of electrical sockets, which you will need in order to power your lights, and figure out the best way to get the lights set up. One of the main things that you need to take into consideration is the fact that the lights should be no more than five inches away from the top edge of your planting containers. You need to also make sure that you set up your lights so they can be adjusted as the plants increase in size. There is no need to worry about heat from the light damaging the tender leaves of your delicate plants either as they produce very little heat.

Switching Them On

It is not just simply a case of leaving the lights on all of the time; they need to be turned on and off in a regular pattern. After all, you are trying to simulate natural daylight. The simplest way of doing this is by having them linked to a timer so that the pattern repeats every day. The simplest pattern to go for is twelve hours of light and then twelve hours of darkness, a pattern that will remain in place until it is time for your seedlings to be planted out.