Houseplant day of honor – more light for “green roommates”
Created: 01/10/2023 11:19 am
By: Nina Dudek
Anyone who loves their plants should pay special attention to them on the Houseplant Appreciation Day.
© khosrork/PantherMedia
January 10 is Houseplant Appreciation Day.
A good reason to spoil ficus or palm trees with an extra portion of light in the dark season.
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They come from the tropics, the desert or from the sun-drenched Mediterranean climate - houseplants.
Most of the greenery that stretches out its leaves towards the rare winter sun in German households on the windowsill or in the conservatory likes it warm and bright. The dark months between October and March are particularly difficult for typical representatives such as the golden fruit palm, the window leaf or the flamingo flower .
Sometimes indoor plants even get cold feet!
That's why plant lovers created the "Day of Honor for Houseplants" on January 10th.
A tongue-in-cheek appeal to all hobby gardeners to pamper their green roommates.
After all, some plants even put you in a good mood.
In winter, pampering still means: Just don't fertilize too much, because with a few exceptions, houseplants only need few nutrients in winter.
Plant lamp: the powerful solution in winter
In the dark winter, light therapy helps many people against a bad mood, it is similar with plants.
Thanks to a light spectrum similar to daylight, special plant lamps turn dark corners into comfortable sunbeds.
Plant light has a specific wavelength with a specific color spectrum, the composition of which is based on daylight.
With a high proportion of blue and red and a corresponding intensity, plant lamps ensure good growth conditions even in the months with little light.
How to recognize lack of light
Whether your indoor plants are suffering from a lack of light can be recognized quite quickly based on certain characteristics.
Above all, soft, conspicuously long shoots with small, light green leaves indicate too little light.
In addition, the plants then become particularly susceptible to diseases and pests.
What should I look out for when buying a plant lamp?
The first thing to do is to clarify where the plant light should stand or hang.
If it is a storage room or the hobby room, appearance and light color are irrelevant.
But who wants purple colored light in the living room that looks like in a flower shop?
In this case, a good compromise between a pleasant look and good growth lighting for the plant is required.
A look at the packaging of the illuminant helps here: the imprint 1A, 1B or the temperature specification 5,000 Kelvin are similar to natural daylight and offer a usable light spectrum.
Which bulbs for plant lights are there?
LED, neon tube, energy-saving lamp ... If you look around in the lighting department in the store, you not only have the choice between different light colors and intensities.
The type of light source can also be freely selected for domestic use.
LEDs | energy-saving, good for spot lighting for single plants |
|---|---|
energy saving lamp | energy-saving, high luminous efficacy, bundled light for individual plants |
sodium lamps | can completely replace daylight, orange light spectrum, get very hot |
metal halide lamps | needs time to light up, high heat development, optimal color spectrum, high luminous efficacy |
Valuable tips for dealing with plant lamps
So that you can create "native" conditions for your indoor plants, such as in the tropics or in the southern hemisphere, the daylight lamp should imitate the day as optimally as possible.
There are a few small tricks to ensure that the “artificial tropical day” with 12 to 14 hours of daylight works.
Switching the lamp on and off with a timer every 12 hours is simple and reliable
Make sure that small plants are not overshadowed by large ones
Free-hanging luminaires with ceiling mounting do not take up any floor space and make optimal use of the light
Optimal distance between lamp and plant 30 to 50 cm
Keep your distance from lamps that generate heat
Plant lamps for hanging or sticking
Luminaires hanging from the ceiling do not take up any floor space and best imitate the sun through the direction of the light.
Similar criteria are met by models that can be placed directly in the planter or pot.
The shade of this plant light is made from 100% sustainable plant fibres.
©Amazon
The Umbrella plant lamp with full spectrum light is suitable for smaller indoor plants and herbs.
The LED light is operated via USB cable, a timer ensures a natural daylight simulation with 16 hours of sun and 8 hours of "night".
Price around €20
Order from Amazon
Paulmann LED pendant light "Neordic Fanja" © baur
Stay flexible with this stylish pendant light in urban jungle style.
Because the lamp works both with “normal” light sources and with special plant lamps.
The length of the pendulum can be shortened once.
Price around €77.99
Order from baur
Plant lights are also ideal for growing seeds or plants with a long growing season such as aubergines and peppers.
With a plant lamp, you can start sowing as early as January.
Editor's tip
Plant lamp Pergart white including 14 W special lamp © toom
This hanging plant light with energy-saving lamp scores with the full spectrum of light for healthy growth.
The lampshade reflects the light with a reflective layer and additionally increases the luminosity.
Price around €59.90
Order from toom
Plant lamps with stand
If you want to stay flexible and don't feel like drilling holes in the ceiling, a plant light with a base is a good choice.
These models can be quickly stowed away when not in use - or even "misused" as a reading lamp.
Northpoint plant lamp including timer © OTTO
What looks like an elegant reading lamp is actually a grow light with a whitish spectrum of grow light.
The LED lamp works energy-efficiently, the adjustable height can be adapted to different plants.
Including an integrated timer function (18 hours on, 6 hours off), for €29.90
Order from OTTO
The Rosnek plant lamp is available with 3 or 4 lights.
© OTTO
The four goosenecks of this full-spectrum lamp can be flexibly bent, and the tripod can be adjusted from 38 to 120 cm.
The controller ensures easy switching on and off as well as changing the brightness setting - no manual adjustment necessary.
€62.99 instead of €109.00 at OTTO
Clip-on grow light with timer © Amazon
Super practical: This plant light can be easily clipped on.
Whether it's a table, window sill or the back of a chair - it sticks everywhere and spreads its full-spectrum light.
Each of the three lamp necks has 144 individual lamps.
Depending on your needs, the lighting duration can be set to 3, 6 or 12 hours.
€29.99 instead of €31.99 at Amazon
