Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Date:
🌿 Bring the Jungle Inside: Winter Survival Guide Part 1: Lighting ❄️
Smokey: "Winter lighting must be precise. I need this light exactly at 14
inches."
Sunshine: "Sure. I am holding this… little number thing."
Smokey: "It reads humidity. Your main job is to look cute."
🌞 LIGHT, TEMPERATURE, PLACEMENT
Winter indoors is a different kind of battlefield. Dark rooms. Dry air. Cold windows. Random drafts. Weak light. Sad plants. We've been talking about keeping your tropicals alive outdoors previously. But some of you have no choice this time of year. You have to bring the jungle inside.
If that is you, then this is your plant survival guide.
☀️ LIGHT: THE WINTER LIFELINE
Light advice here comes straight from our in-house expert, Michael Dubinovsky, a high-tech lighting engineer with over 30 years of hands-on experience. If he says brightness beats hours, trust him.
Here is the truth: Indoor light in winter is 10 to 50 times weaker than outdoors. Short days. Low-angle sun. Windows filtering half the useful light. It all adds up.
Tropicals need 10 to 12 hours of real brightness. Winter sun cannot do that on its own. Not even in a big window. So we help them.
Use bright LED shop lights or utility lights. 5000K to 6500K CCT. High lumen output. Skip decorative bulbs. Skip purple grow fancy toy lights. If you want a single plant light, even a clamp lamp is fine if you screw in a bright daylight LED bulb.
Panels work best for plant clusters. Bars for shelves. Bulbs for single plants. And grouping plants under one bright panel always beats spreading them out.
Distance matters: keep LEDs about 12 to 18 inches above the leaves. Too close: leaf burn. Too far: stretching, weak stems.
Leaves reaching up? Light is too high or too weak. Leaves curling down? Light is too close.
If you want a reality check, download any smartphone lux meter app. Most indoor corners are 50 to 200 lux without supplemental light. Tropicals want much more
And a quick tip about windows: winter sun comes in sideways. A spot that looks bright at noon can go dull by 2 PM. Don't count of window light
Bright light or long hours
People try to fix weak light by running it for 16 or 18 hours. That does not work. Plants care more about light intensity. A few hours of strong light beats all-day dim light. If the light is weak, adding more hours will not change anything except your electric bill.
Simple rule: Short duration but bright is always better than long duration but weak. - by Michael, Top Tropicals lighting expert
No need for fancy horticultural panels
You do not need purple grow lights. You do not need special horticultural fixtures. You do not need expensive panels unless you want real winter growth.
For winter plant holding till spring, the inexpensive solution works great:
- Bright LED daylight bulbs (5000K to 6500K) from hardware store
- High lumen output
- Inexpensive clamp lamps
- Aim directly at the plant from 12 to 18 inches
This setup keeps tropicals happy until spring without buying anything fancy. Save the money for soil, pots, or your next plant.
Indoor plant lighting safety note:
- Use timers. Keep cords dry. Do not overload outlets.
- Do not hang lights over humidifiers.
- And do not put fixtures on piles of books to raise them. People do this.
✔️ WINTER INDOOR FAQ: TEMPERATURE AND PLACEMENT
Q: I am in Home Depot. Which light do I buy?
A: LED shop light, daylight color (5000K to 6500K), high lumens. Skip fancy plant bulbs.
Q: Can I use clamp lamps or floor lamps for plants?
A: Yes. Clamp lamps with a bright daylight LED bulb work great for winter holding.
Q: Do I need special horticultural grow lights?
A: No. A bright LED daylight bulb works fine for winter. Save the fancy lights for real growth projects.
Q: How far should the light be from the plant?
A: About 12 to 18 inches above the leaves. Too close burns. Too far stretches.
Q: Can I run weak lights for 18 hours to compensate?
A: No. Weak light plus long hours still equals a weak plant. Brightness matters more than hours.
Q: How do I know if a spot is bright enough?
A: Use a free phone lux app. Most indoor corners are much too dim for tropicals.
Q: I have a huge window. Why do I still need LEDs?
A: Indoor winter light is weak, short, and filtered by glass. Plants want intensity, not just a big window.
Q: My window faces north. Now what?
A: North windows are decorative only. Use supplemental lighting or move the plant.
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