Grow Lights

A good succulent grow-light setup is measured, not guessed. Start at the fixture maker’s recommended hanging height, put the light on a timer for about 14 hours, check the center and edges of the shelf, and judge the next two weeks of new growth. If the plant keeps stretching, improve intensity or coverage. If new bleaching appears, back the light off and acclimate more slowly. There is no safe universal LED distance. Two fixtures mounted 8 inches above a plant can deliver very different amounts of light, and the edges of the same fixture can be much dimmer than its center. The useful question is not simply, “How many inches?” It is: How much useful light reaches this plant, for how long, and how is the plant responding? ...

You bought a potted basil from the grocery store, set it on your kitchen windowsill, and two weeks later it had collapsed into a pile of yellowed stems. Sound familiar? Building an indoor herb garden is one of the most useful things you can do with a spare corner of your kitchen, but most people start with herbs that need more light than their space can provide, or in containers that never let the roots dry out properly. ...