Lighting - Growing Vegetable Plants Indoors in New York

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toddbaker Auburn, NY Feb 13, 2010

Very curious about what kind of light is best for growing vegetable plants indoors in CNY winters. I read an article that stated light from several areas of the visible and non-visible light spectrum are important for good plant health. Can this various light be obtained from artificial lights sources, and if so, which light source is best?

My second thought was perhaps I can "recycle" natural light coming from the sun. I don't know if all needed light from the sun passes through a glass window. But I thought if I were to surround my plants with a reflective material (ie mirror or mylar) the "good" light would be reflected onto the plant. Do all the "good" visible and non-visible light bounce off a reflective material?

Do you have a list of vegetable plants that will produce while indoors throughout the year?

What guidelines should be used for intensity and number of light hours for these plants?

Thank you,
Todd

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Doug9345 Durhamville, NY(Zone 5b) Feb 13, 2010

As far as I know plants require primarily visible light which passes through window glass. Window glass does block UV light.

I've used compact fluorescents for a single plant or a small group. Generally, at the home level, fluorescents are used because they are relatively cheap to buy and operate. The consensus is that cool white work as well as any other and they have the advantage of being the cheapest to buy. Any artificial light is not going to be anywhere near as bright as outdoors is.

While a mirror is reflective to an extremely wide band of electromanetic energy I don't think it is necessary. I'd use a white surface to bounce light back onto a plant. I think it will do a better job. I have a white sheet of printer paper propped on one side of my spider plant to give it a little more light and to light it evenly from both sides. It is recovering well from the sever drought it suffered this summer.

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