Tag: sunlight

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Seasons.

Some plants can thrive in any part of the year indoors, but it doesn’t mean that they won’t be affected when the seasons change. What do I mean by this? If we see that they need regular sunlight, and they are by a window with bright or not-so-bright sunlight, depending on where you are, it will affect the plants and how they grow.

You may not be in a place that has all four seasons, or even something closer to two or three of them. But for argument’s sake, I’ll discuss the impact of all four seasons on plants outside, and indoors.

Winter.

We can see this as the season for most plants to already be in dormancy. For some trees, and bushes, this won’t always be the case. Some may be in a slow down, and some may have their leaves become a duller color, due to having less sunlight, and rain (water).

Spring.

Once plants come out of Winter, they begin to transition to their normal routines. Sometime after that, they will begin to bloom as the weather get warmer.

Summer.

For lots of plants, the flowering begins, and stays this way during the Summer months. Since they get much more sunlight during this period, it’s great for flowers to be produced, along with any fruit, which will more likely be seen in the Fall.

Autumn or Fall.

This is when the weather gets colder, and for some trees and bushes, the leaves will being to change color, and start falling. Leaves aren’t the only things that Fall from the trees and bushes. You have this from fruits (berries, nuts, etc.) also, and they will be known for falling during these months.

Those will affect most outdoor plants, regardless of how big or how small they are.

Now, of course, being indoors, the plants that you own, can thrive without having to be exposed in these extreme conditions, like Winter and Summer. The exception would be the plants and their owners, living in a place where there’s always Winter, or always Summer.

The areas where you are more likely to have Winter all year, are within the most Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, just as the areas closer to, at, or below the equator, which is near or within the Southern Hemisphere. Notice that dormancy doesn’t really come for warm weather extremes, because this is all year round. Those trees and bushes adjust quite well to these surroundings.

With the plants you have indoors, the issue is making the place comfortable in either instance, both for you, and the plants you own. Just like with the environments you live in (see environment) you need to adjust your surroundings, and know where the plants should be, and keep them there. Make those plants as comfortable as you possibly can, and you’re good to go.

There are some places, where the annual season, is either like Spring or Fall, is ideal for plants, and there are only so many places on Earth that are this way throughout the year. For those like many reading this, if you can’t have your home in such an ideal setting, how about adjusting your home, where it can be such an ideal setting.

Most of these steps, can be viewed in journals such as temperature/humidity, and lighting, as a potential guide to helping make this work for your plants, and for you. After all, you breathe out what your plants breathe in, just as your plants breathe out what you breathe in.

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Dormancy.

It can be confusing to those that haven’t seen this, and even worse for those that don’t understand what dormancy is. It’s similar to what we know as hibernation, but for plants.
We know this about certain plants, when the colder months arrive, or when they experience that cold snap, and slow down on their growth. This can also result from less sunlight, which occurs during those months.

Most of the time, when looking at certain trees, bushes, and plants, we do know that some will lose their leaves, and there are some that won’t. In many instances, for the ones that don’t, may be seen as the types that don’t go dormant. It doesn’t mean that’s the case, across the board.

As far as house plants, I do have a variety of plants that go through a dormancy period. Much of why this is, often comes with the weather changes, and for some, environmental changes.

A good variety of carnivorous plants go through dormancy periods, but when you purchase them, depending on the vendor or outlet, will be indicated whether or not they should or will go through some kind of dormancy. Other plants will go through dormancy, but it’s not often indicated, nor discussed whether it happens. It may be recommended, depending on how or if you bring it up.

For the most part, if you know the types of plant you have, such as a tropical plant, it should more than likely go into a dormancy period, if it’s in a cold weather environment. It’s even more the case, when there isn’t any natural light sources nearby, to create the photosynthesis known for plants to thrive.

Is there a way to counter dormancy in plants? Yes, and all these steps need to be done to be successful in countering dormancy.

First, get some grow lights. Artificial lighting such as these grow lights, will bring the light sources needed for plants to create that photosynthesis, and it does help on days with less sunlight. It will also help if you have plants that may be near a window or an area that doesn’t get direct or even indirect sunlight.

Second, keep the plant in a warmer area. If you notice the plant is slowing down in some way, check to see if it’s cold in that spot. If it’s near a window, and cold breezes become more frequent, shut the window, or move the plant somewhere else, where it’s warmer. Oh, by the way, make certain that the area you place the plant, isn’t too close to a heat source, like a radiator, so that it doesn’t cook your plant, and dry it out.

Third, keep watering the plant as you normally would. Keep things routine, and you can see continued growth.

Can this work for all plants? No, but there are some that are successful in a process similar to what I just described. Some plants actually need dormancy, so do your research on which ones are said to require dormancy.

As long as the plants feel any indication of cold weather coming on, and less light, they will slow down. They won’t die, but they will appear to be dying. They are not, they are just going into dormancy. As long as you have the tools and information to understand why it happens, and how it can be avoided if this is the path you choose, then you shouldn’t have a problem.

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Lighting.

When it comes to plants, they need the essentials, like water, and sunlight. In many cases, you can substitute sunlight with artificial lighting, to aid in plant growth.

You would be surprised of the types of artificial lighting you can choose from, to maintain, and to sustain plant growth. Many know of the handful of grow lights they have in the form of LED lighting, in a few different colors, often white, red, and blue. You have others that may just be white, with something else, that isn’t visible, nor optional to change. Some of them are quite simple, and I’ll get to all of those in a bit.

First light that I want to discuss are the lights often used before grow lights became available to most everyday users. They were called grow lights also, but they were of the bulb variety, not LED based. They were similar to the fluorescent lights we were forced to transition to in the early 21st century. I was first introduced to these types of lighting through AeroGarden, and this was something my mother had to grow some herbs and small vegetables. The lamp was multi-functional and the bulb was a part of this setup. It was good, because it had a built-in timer, that keeps the plants fully immersed in this artificial light, for around 12 hours. I used this for many plants to grow, but when they literally started reaching the lights, I had to move them. For the smaller ones, that didn’t have this issue, this stayed with them, until they couldn’t be maintained any longer.
They still have fluorescent grow light bulbs made available, but the likelihood of finding a good setup, with a timer may be the biggest challenge. Since then, the grow lights have been in a variety of differing types, not just the LEDs, but other types of bulbs. I have been using only a subset of grow lights, and most have been the LED types, that are promoted more times than not.

Let’s look at the smaller grow lights, the strips that only have one setting. Some of these, tend to be adaptable to USB outlets, to save energy off the bat. Some of these are quite inexpensive, some running around less than $10 on average. Many you can get at Amazon, and I’ve received a good set. There are some you can get from hardware stores, like Home Depot, and True Value. They will carry a variety, but the cost may be much more than you would expect. It is an investment, so be aware, you can start off cheap, but just know, sometimes the cheap ones can work nicely and for the long term, but it’s not a guarantee. When it’s time to upgrade, you can get some that can run as high as $200 and higher, while some can be around $50 or $60 each.

For the ones I received from Amazon, I received a few that worked out quite nicely. The first one was a three-head lamp with a clip rather than a stand. Actually, I ordered two of them, primarily to clip on or near the edge of the window sill. Each have timers, but they also had the USB connections with adapters. The adapters often will wear down, because unlike what most adapters are used for, they are short-term. That can be a problem, because long term use can make them overheat, and I’ve had one that just could no longer be used. It was burned out, in other words. That’s one thing you need to be aware of, when you get these types of LED lights, especially if they are semi-heavy duty. These cost me, somewhere near $20 total. These had timers, and intensity settings. It could also alternate from using either one, two, or all three heads at the same time. It’s flexible, both in the physical sense, and in other ways also. The issue for me, I detailed previously with the potential to overwhelm the adapters, where they can and will overheat, and potentially shut down. At times I’ve had this happen with one of them, and had to put the other on pause, and have it on standby, just in case. These I often used with, “the tank”.

The others I got from Amazon, and these were around $6.50 each, and I got three of them. These were single setting grow lights, where you plug them into an adapter, since they are USB compatible. They have an on/off switch, and that’s it. It’s bright enough to do the necessary, to give plants some needed light, where they often won’t get it, in certain areas.
These also have plant stakes that are removable, and there are ways that it can be used to be as an overhead setting. Here’s what I did:

When I got the option to get a curtain rod, because these are slim and light enough, I hung these, along with others much bigger, to get this advantage. I tied most of them with paracords, with certain types of knots, while also, using wire bag ties. This gives enough light exposure, where some plants, mostly small and single plants, will get what they need.
I’ve done similar with other grow lights, for the plants that cannot be near a window that exposes the plants to full and direct sunlight. The stronger, and better grow lights, I purchased for near $40 and $45 each.

The first one, which was about $40, costing about $38 and change, I hung from a curtain rod, and it covers most plants. It has a programmable remote control, where you can set it to several settings. Most settings are for seeding, vegetation growth, and flowering. It’s a full-spectrum LED lamp, and as far as I know, it’s not the type that shuts off automatically. That’s a manual on/off variety.

I’ve had many plants grow and even produce flowers, and this is added to the proper watering.

The one that was $45, nearing $50 with tax, I recently got, didn’t have a remote, but it had manual switches, to change the settings of the lighting. Each switch, was for each colored light. One for white, one for red, and one for blue. The types of combinations can be set from each light, either one, two, or all three, can be set, and also, the light has that manual on/off switch.

This one also resulted in most of my plants growing more, and producing flowers, or at least beginning growing flower stalks. Most of them being sundews of course.

For most of my carnivorous plants, that can deal with moderate humidity, these work quite well. So far, my VFTs, sundews, and sarrecenias, have done quite well, despite some light stress issues for some (the sarracenias especially) that lead to the leaves turning red. Some plants, the cape sundews especially, will develop dew much faster under these lights, and some like the spoon-leaved sundews will change from green to red. Not all will, some are temperamental like that, but most (if not all), will eventually develop dew quicker.
Now, the grow lights, are good to aid in giving light to plants, on dull days, or days with short sun exposure, and that’s an option I use for a few plants right now. They get both, but mostly how I have it now, the lights are on for much longer. The one with the manual individual light settings, I’ll keep on for a while, rarely shutting it off.

Most of these I will keep on for some time, not always 24 hours a day, but keep in mind, for most grow lights, they are low power, and you may not see a big hike in your electric bill. If you have a lot of them, and most of them do not run higher than 27 watts, so it will still be beneficial if you want to conserve energy. However, if you have a lot of them, it can still add up, and give you that unwelcome surprise in you electric bill, so be aware of that.

For some that have the option to use USB adapters, you can opt for using USB power banks to power these grow lights. However, they do drain these power banks quite fast. If they aren’t adjustable, they will drain faster than you would imagine. Some may only last about 30 minutes, others may last an hour or two, at best. If the grow light has programmable options, like changing the intensity, you may have the grow lights last for several hours to a day or even two. That’s likely to happen when the intensity is at its lowest. You may have to be present for these, because you won’t know when the power bank runs out of power, and the grow lights will power down, when you aren’t around.

There is an interesting hack that may work for some power banks, where you can charge the power bank, and power items at the same time. I’ve done this with a few grow lights in the beginning. I can still do that, for the USB types, but often you have to be present just to see what happens. Depending on the power banks you get, they may continue to work well, whereas others may not and could wear down, and not be seen as useful for this result.
Also, not all power banks work well with grow lights, and some will shut down after a few minutes, or worse, you’ll see and experience the fluctuation in the lighting emitted from the grow lights, and it will be tough for you to get used to it. This is why I say it’s an option, and not a preferred choice.

For the grow lights, it’s a matter of preference, but also convenience and usefulness. So you can do your own research, and do some trial-and-error to see what works for you.

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My Experiences With Plants.

My Newest Hobby.

I’m just getting started on trying to enter into a hobby that’s helping me learn a lot. Since my mom’s passing, I remember one of her hobbies was planting every now and again. Whenever she got a plant, I helped her repot them, and even water them from time to time. Most of the time, I would watch her do it, and if she needed something, I would be there to aid her fixing those plants.

Some plants needed more watering than others, while others needed much less, obviously. I do know most plants are different, but all of them need the basics to survive: Sunlight, and water. Having a proper place to grow, also helps.

Before her passing, my mom saw another type of plant, where she never really looked into growing or maintaining, mostly because she’s never heard of them, nor seen them before. This was my introduction to carnivorous plants, and that first one was a nepenthes pitcher plant.

With these plants, and others that are often not looked at all that much, I will go into making this a priority, to have as a learning experience, and to also gain some inner peace while caring for them. I do know that for most this will be hit and miss, because caring for certain plants requires more attention compared to others, while other plants can just be left to grow with little to no help from me. I’ll just see what happens along the way.