If you’re thinking sunlight, you’re right. Natural light is best for plants for any part of the plant’s life cycle. But what can you offer indoor plants?
In Unit 9 we learned how light contains different colors (wavelengths), and it’s important to understand which wavelengths your indoor plant prefers.
Plants make their food through photosynthesis: the chlorophyll transforms carbon dioxide into food. Three things influence the growth of the plant: the intensity of the light, the time the plant is exposed to light, and the color of the light.
When plants grow in sunlight, they get full intensity and the full spectrum of all wavelengths. However, plants only really use the red and blue wavelengths. Blue light helps the leaves and stems grow (which means more area for photosynthesis) and seedlings start, so fluorescent lights are a good choice, since they are high in blue wavelengths.
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