Are the household lighting fixtures useful for plant growth ?

Can you use regular LED lights for grow lights? The answer is YES or NO. There is a high possibility that any old LED spectrum or color won't be enough to help the plants grow.

Your plants need to receive light from a full color LED light and this is only possible with LED grow lights. What this means is your plant will survive with LED light but they won't get all the elements and nutrients required to offer a satisfactory return.

Types of Regular LED Lights
If you only require lights for your normal houseplants, any light fixture or lamp will do the job. The best model will depend on your needs.

However, for the regular LED grow light, you need to ensure that the light you use has the right color temperature. This will improve plants' yield to a large extent and offer better harvest.

The commonly used kinds of regular LED lights for growing plants are fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. You can also use traditional horticultural lights and halogen lights such as metal halide bulbs and high pressure sodium bulbs.

The latter two are recommended for a large grow house while the first two are perfect for a small garden.

If you intend to grow plants from seeds, you should consider getting hanging tube lightings that you can put above the plants. These lights come with special features such as reflectors and other fixtures.



Incandescent Lights
These are the normal lights that we have in our residences. They are quite affordable but the least efficient.

Incandescent bulbs use more energy to provide the same output and produce a lot of heat. Due to this, we wouldn't recommend you to use these lights for growing plants.

In case you use incandescent lights, ensure that you place them at a safe distance from your plants. You can use the hand test when placing them:

Place your need where your plant is for a few minutes.
If you start to feel the heat, then it's too hot.
Move the light further away.
Fluorescent Lights
They are the ideal choice as grow light since they are economical. These lights come in tubes (great for large gardens) or compact bulbs that attach to the normal lamp socket. Compact bulbs are perfect as supplemental lighting or for a few plants.

Fluorescent lights remain cool, meaning that you can place them near your plants. Besides, they use less energy when compared to incandescent bulbs – this will save you power bill.

Many people already have fluorescent bulbs at home. With that said, you should pay close attention to the hue temperature of the light to make sure they give you the right performance.

You can even opt to buy a fluorescent light that will be better for growing plants. For this, you will need to spend more compared to normal fluorescent lights.

Understanding Plants and Light
A plant's lifecycle features a vital process known as photosynthesis which facilities the plant to get the required sugars. Photosynthesis processes the light energy trapped by the leaves.

This sugar (glucose) passes several stages and plants continue to grow through these stages.


High Effciency sincore lighting best Led grow lights

Growing plants with Normal LED Lights
Can You Use Regular LED Light Bulbs To Grow Plants Indoors

For instance, if you want to grow plants, the LED lights will play a critical role in the development process. plants has different requirements and nature when it comes to sustainability and will need proper lighting.

Although the regular LED bulbs feature only a few colors and bands like white and sometimes yellow, weed plant requires light that is similar to sunlight. Sunlight offers different light wavelengths as well as different colors like red, purple, violet, green, orange, and more.

Similarly, plants requires almost all the above colors to grow better. Hence, it is not advisable to grow weed using the regular LED light as most of these colors aren't present.

Why do Plants Need Light?LED lights as grow lights
Plants need light for photosynthesis which is how plants turn light into food or sugars. Humans eat food and convert that energy into cell growth. We often hear the term “you are what you eat”. Well, for plants the type of light also will determine the amount of growth and the quality of growth that a plant will experience.

What Type of Light is Best for Growing Plants Indoors?
Natural light is always the best option for growing plants. The problem is not everyone has a green house where natural light can be used. Natural light helps the plants to grow most effectively. When ineffective light is used, the plants will not grow to their fullest showing thin stems or discolored leaves.

The most effective grow lights will have both red and blue wavelengths which is why selecting the right LED bulbs for plant growth is important.

Which Kelvin Color Temperature is Best for Growing Plants?
We talk a lot about the importance of color temperature when lighting a room. The temperature is also a factor when it comes to growing plants. Not sure what the Kelvin Color temperature is? Read our article on the Kelvin Color Temperature, then come back and continue reading below about choosing an LED light as a grow light.

Plants are looking for lights that have more of a blue color for initial grown but then a red color to them for flowering. As a result, you should select a grow light or LED bulb with a kelvin temperature of 5,000 Kelvin or more initially. Then, when the plants are fully developed and begin to flower you can switch the bulbs to the lower the temperature of about 2700 Kelvin.

How Much Light Do Plants Need?
Every plant will require different types and amount of light. Some do better in colder and less sunny areas than others. Plants that will produce fruits and vegetables will likely need more light than a succulent for example. Plan on keeping your LED light on for at least 14 16 hours per day. Keep them on a timer if possible to make sure they get the same amount of light every day.