this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
11 points (92.3% liked)

Gardening

3509 readers
6 users here now

Your Ultimate Gardening Guide.

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
scarabic
sabbah
ManamaKhan
Spacebar
Bitswap
11
Grow Light Question (self.gardening)
submitted 1 year ago by Erasmus to c/gardening
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Greetings all. I hope this is the appropriate place to post this if not please let me know.

Me and the Mrs. Have a few plants that we are wanting to move indoors this fall that we’re needing more than the usual window light.

We had tried sprouting a few avocados to see what would happen and now have three small trees in pots out near our garden that are growing pretty well. Our porch is not enclosed so the next thought was our garage (it can get too cold outside where we are at).

We were looking at some lighting recommendations. Amazon seems to have almost too much and I was not sure what would be best for the trees when it came to color, etc. I didn’t know if they had to have A LOT of light (I have seen some people say 5 hrs some say 12) and if it mattered as to the type or style of the grow lights.

top 2 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] mycathas9lives 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Did you ever get a grow light?

[–] Erasmus 3 points 8 months ago

Sorta. I finally gave up searching and just got one of these that you can find online and in HD stores:

https://imgur.com/gallery/ZCGrQSw

It seems to work but I had to do some experimenting first about location and the like.

I initially set it up just a few feet from the plants like what I read both with the light and online. The plants grew like mad but I also noticed the leaves began looking like they were burnt.

I ended up moving the light to about 10 or so feet away and turning it so it was not quite direct on them. I put it on a timer for just four hours and left the overhead light on during daylight hours for regular light (I have them in the garage now during winter months).

The leaves on my avocado trees now look like a wet glossy sheen. So something seems to be working.

I’ve barely fertilized them - maybe once every three or four weeks or I will give them some citrus plant fertilizer but otherwise they seem to be growing well.

In another couple weeks I will move them back outside.