If you use light stands tell us when you prefer to have the lights on.
Do you use the lights during the daylight hours (like 6am-6pm)
or
the evening (like 6pm-6am) hours????
Or tell us how you provide light for your indoor plant collection.
This is just for fun ~ no right or wrong answers....
Enjoy,
Msc
Just for FunTaking a Poll....
Hi, I turn mine on at 5 am ,thats when i get up every morning, turn them off at 3pm. But days that the sun is really shineing bright i don,t turn the ones on in the liveing room at all.
I don,t really like the lights,i like the bright sunshine
I have them on a timer because I often sleep in. They go from 6am-6pm. I used to reset the timer so it coincided with daylight hours outside but I guess I just got lazy this Spring. lol I absolutely love the lights. Our old house has narrow windows and not too much light gets in. And the kitchen receives absolutely no sunlight. I can't imagine I'd be able to aquire too many plants at all without the lights.
I have timers but have never hooked them up to the gro-light stands. I simply turn them on each morning at 8:00 and turn them off at 9:00 at night.....a little bit earlier or a little bit later....try to get in 13 hours of gro-light on them....
I don't have any lights (yet!). I really do want some. My husband says if we have plants with grow lights in our house we're going to get raided for growing marijuana, lol. He doesn't get the whole plant thing and thinks I'm crazy.
I grow all of my plants in my south facing dining room windows and in my south facing kitchen window. The kitchen window has glass shelves and I can put quite a few plants there. So far that is working out but I know in the winter it will be too cold.
I also have an aquarium with little pots inside and that's where my leaves are. I turn that on every morning from 7 to 10 and than at nite from 6 to 10.
Sue
I have my lights on a timer set for 7 am to 7 pm. I am like Susan - I like my "violet time" after work!
I also have plants in the dining room that just get natural light.
I used to turn mine on in the morning (6:30am) but I think my AVs were getting too much light because they now have tight centers. I have now started to just turn them on at 2:00pm when I get home and then off arounf 9 or 10 at night. I haven't been doing this long enough to see any difference.
Mine go on at 7 am and off at 9 pm. Automatic timers.
I put my lights on about 7-8 am until 9-10pm. I should have mine on an automatic timer too. Thanks SAllyD great idea.
Patti
This message was edited May 20, 2007 10:59 AM
I've been thinking about putting mine on timers, but so far haven't gotten around to it. So, they get turned on between 7:30-8:00 a.m. and stay on until about 11:00 at night, usually. They get approximately 14 hours of light. We are leaving for vacation tomorrow and I don't know what I will find when I return. Lights will NOT be on while I'm gone and NO watering! I will water everything well today and again when I get home next Thursday! So .... we'll see what happens. We have a house sitter, but she's still taking college classes this summer and works part time as a Flight Instructor at the University too. Her studies are important, so I do not want her stressing out over my plants. I just told her everything will be fine until I return! I love plants of all kinds, but life is too short for me to worry about it. I will be disappointed if some don't do well without light, I think since the lights are not going to be on, they will just get a little rest too!
Well ... I better get busy .... still rushing around trying to get packed!
Have a great vacation Lin .
Patti
Mine are on timers, and I keep trying different things... When it's especially hot or especially cold outside, I do run the lights at night rather than during the day, as I figure that helps even out the temperature swings for the plants. Currently, my lights are on during the day for only about 8 hours. I've run them for as much as 16 hours a day in winter... I guess I'm still experimenting, trying to find the "exactly right" approach!
Most of mine are on timers too but I keep changing the settings...guess I'll settle down & decide when to have them on eventually.
thanks for everyones input.
MsC
A friend helped me today and we put timers on everything in the house, including the warming pot that has oil in a container to keep the house smelling fresh........put them in two rooms and then we put timers on all the gro-light stands....set them to come on at 8 in the morning and go off at 9 at night.
I have mine on a timer. Right now it turns on in the afternoon and off late at night. But I really haven't figured out a perfect way to do it. I'd heard the recommendation that it's good to have them on at night in the summer (to keep the temperature down during the hotest part of the day), on at night in the winter (to keep the temperature up at night), so that only leaves a few weeks in the spring and fall when they can have day during the day. Plus I don't like to shift the timing of the lights all at once, so subtract another week to shift the timers. And then on top of all that? I've heard that it's better to have them on during the day so that the plants can be really dark at night so that they can do better with photosynthesis. (During the day with the lights off, some light still comes into the room from the shaded windows.) Anyway, I always seem to be messing with that timer, and never super happy with it. :-)
I know what you mean... I have a thermometer on my light stands and even on nice days it's in the 80's under those lights. I can even feel the heat when I walk by the stand.
I think I've decided to leave mine on from noonish through the evening hours.
I just can't stand looking at the stand during the day with no lights on it.
MsC