Best Grow Lights for Indoor Plants (2026): Floor, Bulb, Clip, Shelf and Hanging Picks

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For most indoor plants, our first pick is LBW's Grow Light with Stand, an LED head on a gooseneck and a tripod, so it stands beside a plant or a small group anywhere in a room and switches itself on and off on a 4, 8 or 12 hour timer. The Spruce named an LBW tripod light its best overall and kept its houseplants under one through an Iowa winter, and Better Homes and Gardens named it its best floor light. To turn a lamp you already own into a grow light, the GE Grow LED BR30 bulb screws into a standard socket, and Bob Vila tested it twice. For one pot that also gets some window light, the SANSI Pot Clip-On clamps to the rim.

The other three picks cover a ring of light for one small plant, a bar for shelves and cabinets, and a pendant for a big floor plant. Below, the lights sit side by side in one table, a second table gives the light each group of plants needs from university extension services, and a third works out how many hours on a timer reach those levels.

Jump to: Lights side by side | Light by plant group | Hours on a timer | Electricity per month | How far from the plant | Signs of too little light | Window or grow light

Start here: which grow light for your indoor plants

Take the first line that fits you (the decision chart below asks the same questions in the same order):

• You want to use a lamp or clamp light you already own: GE Grow LED BR30 bulb (pick 2).
• One small plant in a pot that you want a ring of light over: LORDEM halo grow light (pick 4).
• One small plant in a pot that also gets some window light: SANSI Pot Clip-On (pick 3), clipped to the rim.
• A plant shelf, a bookcase or the underside of a kitchen cabinet: Soltech Grove (pick 5).
• One large floor plant, with a ceiling you can hang a light from: Soltech Aspect Gen 2 (pick 6).
• Anything else, a plant or a small group anywhere in the room: LBW Grow Light with Stand (pick 1).

Starting seeds in trays rather than keeping houseplants going? Our grow lights for seedlings guide covers shop lights and shelves for seed starting.

Grow lights for indoor plants, by job

1. LBW Grow Light with Stand: best overall

The LBW is one LED head on a gooseneck, on a tripod that LBW lists as extending from 15 to 63 inches, so it can stand on the floor beside a tall plant or on a table over short ones. By the listing, the head carries 48 LEDs: 12 red and 4 blue, plus 16 warm white and 16 cold white. The timer runs 4, 8 or 12 hours and repeats each day from the hour you set it, and the brightness has six levels from 10 to 100 percent. LBW's listing for this version gives no wattage.

Why it is the pick: four testers put an LBW tripod light at or near the top of their lists. The Spruce's best overall, in the June 2025 version of its guide, was an LBW with a timer and six brightness settings; after growing seeds under it, its tester moved basil, spider plants, ivy and other houseplants under it for an Iowa winter, and plants that had been slowing down for the winter began to "thrive again." Better Homes and Gardens named the LBW its best floor light, describing the same 15 to 63 inch tripod and a 4, 8 or 12 hour timer on the single-head models, and found it very bright but not disruptive once the light was tilted down. Bob Vila calls an LBW its best grow light with a stand: set on the floor and aimed at a 24-inch plant stand holding three plants in 6-inch pots, it felt well balanced, and "The plants thrived and grew well through the test period." Real Simple's top pick is an LBW tripod light too.

Good to know: LBW sells this light in several versions, and the testers did not all use the one linked here. The Spruce, Bob Vila and Real Simple describe a 15 to 48 inch tripod, and Real Simple's could not be dimmed; the version linked here is the one LBW lists with the timer, the six brightness levels and the taller tripod that Better Homes and Gardens describes. Bob Vila and Real Simple both give 30 watts for the LBW they used. Bob Vila also found the power cord hangs loose from the lamp, where it can be a trip hazard, and fixed it to the tripod with a cable tie. It is not built to blend in: The Spruce calls it neither subtle nor particularly stylish, and Bob Vila notes its semi-industrial look.

Where it loses: one head lights one plant or a small cluster. Southern Living found it too small to light many plants together, and in its four-week test growing basil, tomatoes and spinach from seed there was no significant difference between plants under the LBW and its control group, though it still suggests the light for houseplants that need extra light in winter. For a shelf of plants, pick 5 covers more width; for a plant taller than the tripod, pick 6 hangs from the ceiling.

2. GE Grow LED BR30 bulb: best for a lamp you already own

GE's grow bulb in the BR30 floodlight shape screws into a standard E26 medium-base socket, which turns a desk lamp, clamp light or plug-in pendant you already own into a grow light. The version linked here is GE's Seeds and Greens bulb with what GE calls a balanced spectrum. By GE's own page it draws 9 watts, gives 16 PPF (micromoles of plant-usable light per second) and 500 lumens, is not dimmable, and should sit 6 to 9 inches from the plant and run 18 hours a day. GE says it looks white to the eye, and the pack linked here holds two bulbs.

Why it is the pick: two hands-on tests stand behind the exact bulb linked here. Bob Vila put it in a clamp light 9 inches above two potted plants, on a mechanical timer set to 18 hours a day as GE instructs, and reports "The plants flourished." In a later roundup Bob Vila hung GE's Seeds and Greens bulb in a work light over pots of lemon balm seeds, which sprouted in about 10 days; about 18 inches up it lit a circle about 2 feet across. Better Homes and Gardens named a GE grow bulb its best bulb and found thicker stems and more substantial leaves on the plants under it, though it called its seedling height results inconclusive. The Spruce tested GE's red-spectrum BR30 bulb in several of its own lamps, and a coleus it brought indoors to overwinter did well under it.

Good to know: the bulb has no timer of its own, so plug the lamp into a plug-in timer, as Bob Vila did. Bob Vila found it very bright and hard to look at directly, and suggests an adjustable-arm lamp you can point at the plant and away from your eyes. The Spruce and Better Homes and Gardens both heard a high-pitched hum from the bulb when it was on, and The Spruce says its red-spectrum bulb needs replacing within a few months, depending on use, where GE's listing gives up to 25,000 hours. GE's 18 hours a day is longer than the 12 to 14 hours the University of Minnesota Extension gives foliage houseplants; University of Missouri Extension uses 16 to 18 hours only for plants that get no outdoor light.

Where it loses: one bulb lights a small area, and Bob Vila notes that more than one bulb may be needed. You also need the fixture, and the bulb cannot be dimmed.

3. SANSI Pot Clip-On: best clip-on light for one potted plant

SANSI's pot clip light clamps to the rim of a pot and holds a small LED over the plant on a gooseneck. By SANSI's listing it draws 5 watts on low 5 volt power, which a laptop or power bank can supply, gives 35.78 micromoles per square meter per second at 6 inches, and has a built-in timer that keeps it on for 3, 6 or 12 hours of each day and off for the rest. It dims in four steps from 25 to 100 percent, and its light is a 4000K white.

Why it is the pick: it needs no stand, no shelf and no lamp. Wired's Louryn Strampe used SANSI's pot clip-on lights while living in a dark basement with little room for plants, and writes that "These lights helped my Monstera stay alive over winter with almost no natural light." They clip straight onto the pot, so they take no extra space, and the cord runs just over 6 feet, which helps in tight corners.

Good to know: Wired found "the clips work best on thin pots," and suggests mounting the light on a stake, or even a chopstick, instead. By SANSI's own figure, 12 hours at 6 inches adds up to about 1.5 moles of light a day (our arithmetic, in the hours table), which is below the 3 to 6 that Iowa State University Extension gives foliage houseplants in low light. So think of it as extra light for a plant near a window rather than the only light a plant gets.

Where it loses: it lights one small plant, and its longest timer setting is 12 hours. For a larger plant, pick 1 or pick 6.

4. LORDEM halo grow light: best halo light for one small plant on display

LORDEM's grow light is a ring of LEDs on a telescoping stake that you push into the soil, so the light sits over the plant like a halo. By the listing, its timer runs 4, 8 or 12 hours and repeats daily without being reset, it has four brightness levels from 25 to 100 percent, and the stake extends so the ring can rise with the plant. The model Bob Vila tested gives 10 watts from 48 white LEDs and covers about half a square foot, about the top of a 10-inch-diameter pot.

Why it is the pick: it is the tidy way to light one plant that sits where you can see it. Bob Vila named it its best grow light for a single plant. Pushed into a 6-inch pot on a living room shelf and run on the 12-hour timer at full brightness, the plant "grew well and seemed to thrive," with good color, dense leaves and no yellowing or dropped leaves. Bob Vila linked a two-pack; the light linked here is the same LORDEM model sold singly.

Good to know: Bob Vila had to pull the light out and put it back each time it carried the plant to the sink to water. It also found the stake does not stand securely in small pots and treats a 6-inch pot as about the smallest to use, so the pot does not tip.

Where it loses: one ring lights one plant, and LORDEM publishes no figure for how much light reaches the leaves, so it has no row in the hours table and we cannot say how many hours it needs; Bob Vila's test plant sat in a 6-inch pot on a living room shelf. Bob Vila notes that the light looks dim, though its results were positive.

5. Soltech Grove: best for plant shelves and under cabinets

The Grove is Soltech's 18-inch LED bar for a shelf, a bookcase or the underside of a kitchen cabinet. Soltech gives it 11 watts, 17 PPF and 976 lumens of warm white 3000K light. It clicks onto magnetic brackets that turn 360 degrees, sticks up with adhesive or screws in, and you tap the bar to turn it on and hold it to dim. Soltech's mounting guide: 1 to 12 inches over medium-light plants (pothos, philodendrons, herbs), lighting a strip roughly 16 to 22 inches wide, and 12 to 24 inches over low-light plants (snake plants, ZZ plants, ferns), lighting roughly 22 to 28 inches. By the listing, an outlet timer comes with US and Canada orders, and Soltech's connector kit runs up to four Groves from one outlet.

Why it is the pick: it has the most tester results behind it on a shelf. In Southern Living's four-week test, which grew basil, tomatoes and spinach from seed, every plant under it was "double or almost double the size" of its control by week four, and seeds under it sprouted several days earlier. The Spruce named it its best mounted light; its tester has used one under a bookshelf for over a year, and after six months saw new growth on houseplants that had struggled before. Popular Mechanics names the Grove its best overall grow light, and Bob Vila its best for shelves.

Good to know: the included adhesive is the weak spot. The Spruce's Grove would not stay on a slightly textured wall and fell several times, still working, until it switched to removable Command Strips; Southern Living also found the included strips did not stick very well. The 6-foot cord may need an extension cord to reach an outlet, as Southern Living's did. Bob Vila notes it has no built-in timer and relies on the plug-in timer in the box.

Where it loses: it is fixed in place, so The Spruce does not suggest it if you will need to move the light as plants grow, and Southern Living found its light bright enough to be distracting. For large or high-light plants such as fiddle leaf figs and succulents, Soltech itself points to the Aspect (pick 6).

6. Soltech Aspect Gen 2: best hanging light for a large plant

The Aspect is Soltech's pendant grow light: a 3000K warm white LED in an aluminum body, on an 18-foot fabric cord with a swag hook and three fairleads to run the cord along a wall or ceiling, and a dimmer on the cord. The second generation linked here draws 36 watts for 50 PPF and 3,000 lumens, and dims from 10 to 100 percent, by Soltech's page. Soltech's listing gives the heights: for cacti, succulents and citrus, 12 to 24 inches above them; for a fiddle leaf fig or a bird of paradise, 24 to 36; for snake plants, ZZ plants and pothos, as high as 72.

Why it is the pick: it is the light for one big plant that needs light from above, and The Spruce lived with an earlier Aspect for over a year. House Plant Journal measured the Gen 2 at full power, in a review Soltech paid for, at 683 micromoles per square meter per second 12 inches below it, 167 at 24 inches and 46 at 48 inches. The earlier Aspect has a long test record: The Spruce, which named it its best hanging light, saw its houseplants flourish under it, including a Meyer lemon tree brought indoors for the winter that went on to fruit. Better Homes and Gardens, growing from seed, got a tomato to 8 inches under it against 2.5 inches in natural light, Popular Mechanics kept a succulent under one for 15 hours a day about 12 inches above the soil, and Real Simple calls it "the most well-designed grow light we've tested."

Good to know: Soltech's own store includes an outlet timer with US and Canada orders, but its Amazon listing says no timer comes in the box, so plan on a plug-in timer or smart plug. You need a hook in the ceiling; The Spruce hung the larger Aspect in about 10 minutes and Better Homes and Gardens in about 20. The earlier models could not be dimmed, as The Spruce and Better Homes and Gardens both note; the Gen 2's dimmer on the cord is the change.

Where it loses: Popular Mechanics found an incredibly bright spotlighting effect, and House Plant Journal's readings fall off quickly with height (see the hours table), so it suits a plant or a group right below it more than a long shelf, though The Spruce found it gave many of its plants ample light at once. The Spruce found it very bright, and Real Simple suggests a low-traffic area or a room corner. For a shelf of small plants, pick 5.

How we chose these

We compared the grow lights in Amazon's catalog that suit houseplants by what their makers and listings say: the kind of fixture, power draw, timer, dimming, where it mounts, and any published figure for the light that reaches the leaves. Then we read the reviews by testers who kept plants under them: Wired, two roundups at Bob Vila (LED grow lights and grow lights), Popular Mechanics and House Plant Journal. The Spruce, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple and Southern Living would not load for us, so we read archived copies of their guides (The Spruce and Southern Living from June 2025, Better Homes and Gardens updated June 30, 2025, Real Simple updated November 3, 2024) and say which version where it matters. House Plant Journal's Soltech and LetPot reviews were paid partnerships, as it discloses; we use them only for its light measurements. The Spruce, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple and Southern Living all ran their main tests by growing basil, tomatoes and spinach from seed, so we say where a result comes from a seed test.

Our floor, for the picks and for the notes under Also considered: in stock on Amazon and sold new by Amazon or the seller named on the listing, when we checked on October 28, 2026. Each pick met it. Specs come from the maker pages and listings, named where they appear. Growing advice comes from land-grant extension services at Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa State, Maryland, Florida and Colorado State, each named where it appears.

Also considered: lights that missed the list and why

LetPot 100W Grow Light. Wired's most versatile light: a broad 2 by 3 foot head that hangs from the ceiling or swivels on its stand. Wired measured it at about 299 micromoles per square meter per second at 18 inches. House Plant Journal, in a review LetPot paid for, measured 550 at 12 inches and 170 at 24 inches. It met our floor, but at 100 watts by LetPot's page it is more light and more fixture than most houseplant corners need, and Wired found its stand easy to knock over and suggests hanging it in a home with pets or small children.

SANSI grow bulbs. Southern Living's best bulb, a 24 watt SANSI, produced the most noticeable growth in its test: against the control groups, two plants doubled in size and one tripled, and Real Simple also names a SANSI bulb its best bulb. SANSI sells the bulb in several wattages (Real Simple lists 10, 15, 24 and 36), and the testers did not all use the same one; Better Homes and Gardens tested one and found the GE bulb gave similarly positive results. Pick 2 is the GE bulb in the exact version Bob Vila tested. Southern Living also found the SANSI bulb too bright to keep in your everyday line of sight.

Leoter 4-head clip light. Better Homes and Gardens' best overall and Southern Living's best clip-on: four gooseneck heads on a clamp, with a 3, 9 or 12 hour timer. It met our floor, but Southern Living saw no beneficial difference between plants under it and its control group, even on the 12-hour mode, and Real Simple notes its purplish glow.

Vego Grow Light. Wired's best light for small plants: a 15-inch bar that holds to a magnetic mount under a cabinet or shelf, with five modes, each with its own schedule (16 hours on and 8 off in most, 22 on and 2 off in the Fruits mode, by Vego's page). Wired measured 83 micromoles per square meter per second at 18 inches in the Fruits mode and found the light strong enough only for small plants. Pick 5 has more tester results on houseplant shelves.

VALIKIY hanging grow light. Bob Vila's best design: a warm 3000K pendant that it hung over an indoor fig. The plug-in timer that came with the one Bob Vila tested did not work, though Bob Vila did not fault the light itself, and Bob Vila notes it has no on and off switch. Pick 6 has the longer record: The Spruce used an Aspect for over a year and Real Simple's testers for six months.

The lights side by side: type, power, timer and placement

The makers describe their lights in different terms, so here is what each maker page or listing gives, side by side, with the source noted where it is a tester's.

What it shows: only the LBW, the SANSI clip and the LORDEM halo carry a timer in the light itself; the GE bulb and the Aspect need a plug-in timer, and the Grove comes with one. Of the three lights whose makers give a PPF, the Aspect's 50 is about three times the Grove's 17 and the GE bulb's 16, and the SANSI clip draws the least power at 5 watts. Only SANSI (the 35.78 at 6 inches) and Soltech (for the Aspect) publish a figure for the light at the leaf, so the hours table below adds House Plant Journal's measurements of the Aspect.

How much light do indoor plants need? A table by plant group

Extension services sort houseplants into low, medium and high light, and give grow light distances and hours for each group. The University of Minnesota Extension gives all of them on one page; Iowa State University Extension adds the daily light integral (DLI), the total light a plant gets in a day, in moles per square meter.

What it shows: the foliage plants most people keep indoors want the light 12 to 24 inches away for 12 to 14 hours, while flowering plants, cacti and succulents want it closer and on for longer, and herbs want it closer. The University of Missouri Extension gives similar bands (50 to 250 foot-candles for low-light plants, 250 to 1,000 for medium, at least 1,000 for high) and adds a caution: plants that need high light "generally are less satisfactory for growing under artificial lights in the home," and most cacti and succulents can only be kept going under lights for limited periods, with high intensities and the plants close to the source. Iowa State says succulents indoors "need ten or more hours of bright, indirect light," with six to eight as the minimum for most. For herbs, Iowa State's indoor herb guide puts the lights 6 to 12 inches from the leaves, on a timer for 12 to 16 hours, and our best indoor herb garden guide compares countertop gardens that bring their own light.

Hours on a timer: light at the leaf, computed

Hours and distance work together. Iowa State University Extension gives the formula: DLI equals the light at the leaf (PPFD, measured as micromoles of light per square meter each second) times the hours the light is on times 0.0036. The table applies it to the light-at-the-leaf figures that a maker or a tester has published for these lights (our arithmetic), at 12 hours a day, and works out the hours needed to reach 6, the top of Iowa State's low-light band and the bottom of its medium band. Iowa State gives home growers a range of 10 hours up to a 16 hour maximum, so anything over 16 is marked.

What it shows: at 24 inches, both the Aspect and the LetPot panel reach Iowa State's medium band in about 10 hours, the band its table gives medium-light foliage houseplants. Doubling the distance from 12 to 24 inches cut House Plant Journal's Aspect reading to about a quarter (167 against 683), and at 4 feet it falls below the low-light band even at 12 hours, so hang it low for a sun-lover. Soltech's own heights run up to 72 inches over a snake plant or pothos, but its figure at 6 feet works out to about 0.7 (table above), under Iowa State's low-light band of 3 to 6, so treat 72 inches as the farthest you would hang it, over a plant that also gets window light. The SANSI clip's own figure stays under the low-light band at its longest setting, which is why we suggest it as extra light next to a window. The LBW, the GE bulb, the LORDEM halo and the Grove have no row because their makers publish no light-at-the-leaf figure; House Plant Journal itself works out a DLI of about 7.8 for a plant at 180 micromoles for 12 hours, the same method.

What does a grow light use? Electricity per month

Every light here runs for many hours a day, so electricity is the running cost to plan for. The table multiplies each light's listed watts by 12 hours a day for 30 days (our arithmetic). Multiply the kilowatt-hours by the rate on your electric bill.

What it shows: the small lights use very little, and the Aspect the most, about seven times the SANSI clip. Soltech's own figure for the Grove, about 4 kilowatt-hours a month at 12 hours a day, matches the arithmetic. Run the GE bulb for GE's 18 hours and it comes to about 4.9 kilowatt-hours a month.

How far should a grow light be from plants?

Closer means brighter, and the drop with distance is steep. The University of Missouri Extension says most plants do best with their tips 6 to 12 inches below the light, and that intensity falls quickly with every added inch. The University of Minnesota Extension gives 12 to 24 inches for foliage houseplants and 6 to 12 inches for flowering houseplants and for lettuce and herbs grown in water, and the makers' ranges overlap with those: GE says 6 to 9 inches for its bulb and Soltech 1 to 24 inches for the Grove depending on the plant. Soltech's heights for the Aspect run from 12 to 72 inches, but the light falls off quickly with height (see the hours table), and 72 inches is well past the 6 to 24 inches the extension services give.

• Raise the light as the plant grows. Missouri says to use a light you can raise and lower, so the gap to the plant stays about the same as it grows, or to lift the plants on stands or shelves when the light is fixed.
• Space the plants. Missouri suggests leaving room for light between plants and setting them so no plant shades another.
• Light the lower leaves of a tall plant. For a tall plant, Missouri suggests adding a light around the base aimed at the lower leaves, or tubes set upright beside it.
• Watch for scorch. Minnesota says too much light can leave leaves scorched and bleached.

Is your plant getting enough light? Signs to watch

The University of Minnesota Extension lists the signs of too little light: stems that stretch long and thin toward the light, long gaps between leaves on the stem, leaves that fade from green toward yellow or white, older leaves dropping, variegated leaves turning solid green, and flowering plants that fail to set buds. The University of Missouri Extension adds smaller-than-normal leaves and pale stems. The University of Maryland Extension notes that plants lit from one side lean toward it, and that in brighter light the same plant grows more compact and better branched, with leaves of normal size. Iowa State suggests rotating plants to prevent lopsided growth.

Stronger light also changes watering. Minnesota says plants in high light can dry out faster and should be checked more often, while plants in lower light use less water, and House Plant Journal says the same of a plant moved under a grow light. Feel the soil before you water.

Window or grow light: when a houseplant needs one

A window may be enough. Colorado State University Extension sorts window spots this way. High light: up to two feet from a south window in October to March, or up to two feet from an east or west window in any month. Medium light: up to two feet from north glass in April to September, or two to six feet back from an east or west window. Low light: up to two feet from north glass in October to March. The University of Missouri Extension notes that beyond about 10 feet from a typical window, even low-light plants are usually short of light. The University of Florida's IFAS Extension puts numbers on it: outdoors at noon the light can top 4,000 foot-candles even in winter, while a north-facing window may never reach 400.

So a grow light earns its place in a north room, in the middle of a room, in a basement, or anywhere in winter for a plant that wants bright light. Missouri suggests running lights 16 to 18 hours a day for plants that get no outdoor light, or 12 to 14 when they get some, and using them during the hours the plants get window light.

Related guides

Plants in brighter light dry out faster, and our best watering can guide includes a long-spout can for houseplants and crowded shelves. When a houseplant outgrows its pot, our best potting soil guide compares bagged mixes for pots, houseplants and cacti. For herbs on the counter, see the indoor herb garden guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best grow light for indoor plants?

For most homes, the LBW Grow Light with Stand: a gooseneck LED head on a tripod with a 4, 8 or 12 hour timer, The Spruce's best overall in its June 2025 guide and Better Homes and Gardens' best floor light. To use a lamp or clamp light you already own, the GE Grow LED BR30 bulb; for a ring of light over one small potted plant, the LORDEM halo; for one small potted plant that also gets window light, the SANSI Pot Clip-On; for a shelf or cabinet, the Soltech Grove; and for one large floor plant under a ceiling you can hang a light from, the Soltech Aspect pendant.

How many hours a day should a grow light be on for houseplants?

The University of Minnesota Extension gives 12 to 14 hours for foliage houseplants and 14 to 16 for flowering houseplants. Iowa State University Extension says 12 to 14 is generally best, with 10 hours as the minimum and 16 as the maximum for home growers, and the University of Missouri Extension suggests 16 to 18 hours only for plants that get no outdoor light. Use a timer so the hours stay the same each day.

How far should a grow light be from indoor plants?

The University of Minnesota Extension says 12 to 24 inches for foliage houseplants and 6 to 12 inches for flowering houseplants. Follow the maker too: GE says 6 to 9 inches for its grow bulb, and Soltech says to hang its Aspect 12 to 24 inches over succulents and up to 72 inches over low-light plants such as snake plants. At 6 feet Soltech's own figure works out to about 0.7 mol a day at 12 hours (our arithmetic), under Iowa State's low-light band of 3 to 6.

Do indoor plants need a grow light?

Not if a window gives enough light. Colorado State University Extension counts a spot up to two feet from a south window as high light in October to March, and the University of Missouri Extension says even low-light plants are usually short of light beyond about 10 feet from a typical window. Stretched stems, small pale leaves and dropping older leaves are the signs the University of Minnesota Extension gives for too little light.

Can I use a regular LED bulb as a grow light?

It can. Iowa State University Extension says a standard fixture sold as full spectrum or daylight, in the middle of the Kelvin range, carries a share of the red and blue light plants use, and the University of Florida's IFAS Extension says lights labeled cool white work well. Iowa State adds that fixtures made as grow lights provide the wavelengths plants need, and a grow bulb such as GE's states its output in PPF.

What is DLI, and how much does a houseplant need?

Daily light integral is the total plant-usable light a plant gets in a day. Iowa State University Extension calculates it as the light at the leaf times the hours on times 0.0036, and gives 3 to 6 for low-light foliage houseplants, 6 to 10 for medium light, and 12 to 16 for high-light plants such as succulents and flowering houseplants.

Can succulents and cacti grow under a grow light?

Yes, with a bright light kept close. The University of Minnesota Extension suggests lights 6 to 12 inches above cacti and succulents for 14 to 16 hours a day, and Soltech says to hang its Aspect 12 to 24 inches over them. The University of Missouri Extension cautions that most "are not satisfactory for growing under artificial lights," though lights can keep them going for limited periods.

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