The difference in illumination in summer and winter is so great that plants do not have enough natural light if there is no decrease in temperature and transition to the resting phase. If in summer the plants had to be shaded from the hot midday sun with a tulle curtain, then with the onset of autumn it is necessary to rearrange the plants as close to the light as possible, those plants that stood near the window should be moved to the windowsill, those that stood in the center of the room should be placed closer to the window. Moreover, if in summer only plants that tolerate the sun could be on the windowsill of the southern window, then in winter almost all plants can be placed on the windowsill of the same southern window, since the autumn and winter sun does not often indulge in its appearance. Shading will be needed only on especially sunny days.
How do you know that plants don't have enough light?
Some confuse signs of lack of light and mistake them for those when the plant suffers from overdrying of an earthen coma or excessive watering, but looking closely here you can figure it out. First of all, with a lack of light, shoots begin to stretch, new leaves are smaller than old ones and their color is not so bright and saturated. In variegated plant forms, the color of the leaves from lack of light becomes more solid or completely green. The lower leaves begin to dry out and fall, the apical buds do not develop. If it is a flowering plant, then the flowers gradually fall off, flowering ceases or small, not beautiful flowers form. The most common picture is when the plant stops growing altogether, new shoots do not form, and old leaves begin to dry out and die out a little. Of course, there are plants that are in a state of dormancy in winter, while they also do not form new shoots, but old leaves should not die in large numbers. Rearranging plants closer to the light is not always possible, and not all plants will fit on the windowsill.
Fluorescent lights for plants
Most people get by with artificial lighting of premises, i.e. lighting chandeliers, lamps, sconces, etc. But not all plants receive such light, in addition, incandescent lamps emit heat that harms plants if they are close. Therefore, if your plants do not have enough light, use, for example, fluorescent lamps. The lighting from them is as close as possible to natural light and they emit almost no heat. In addition, fluorescent lamps consume 4 times less energy than incandescent lamps.
Now there are a variety of fluorescent lamps on sale, so you only need to buy and hang up. The distance that is indicated for the placement of plants - 30-60 cm for deciduous and 15-30 for decorative and flowering - is very arbitrary. This means that if there are many lamps and it is very light throughout the room - just like on a clear day in summer, then the plants do not need to be placed so close to the lamps. But if you have one or two lamps, they are clearly not enough for the entire room, and the plants are placed as close as possible to the lamps, at the above distance. If the plant is located on one side of the lamp, then periodically it must be turned so that the crown remains uniform. If there is not enough lighting even for those plants that stand on the windowsill, then you can hang daylight lamps from both sides in the window niche.
The use of one fluorescent lamp at 20 W, at a distance of 30 cm from an ornamental deciduous plant, for example, cissus or ficus benjamin of medium size, is quite enough to make up for the lack of natural light in autumn and winter.
The duration of artificial lighting directly depends on the natural. It is usually a few hours in the morning or a few hours in the evening. I.e. daylight lamps will be on in your morning before you have to leave for work, and in the evening until the time when you go to bed. But in total, this time should be about 6-8 hours. On especially cloudy days until 12 o'clock. If the day is especially sunny, 3-4 hours of artificial lighting is enough. In order for plants to bloom in autumn and winter, for example, senpoli, they need about 12-14 hours of good continuous lighting.
The length of daylight hours will depend on the quality of flowering and the number of flowers. It should only be borne in mind that most plants need a dormant period and prolonged forced flowering in winter depletes plants (with the exception of winter-flowering plants). There is such a thing - light culture is plants grown partially or completely under artificial lighting.
If a large plant, for example, monster stands on the floor in the corner of the room, lighting on one side will not be enough or it will not be uniform, if the lamp is suspended from the ceiling, it may be far from the plant. In this case, one lamp can be placed on each of the walls, and the plant can be separated from them by a distance of 40-60 cm, then the lighting will be more uniform and sufficient.
Growing plants under artificial light
What to do if there are no windows in the room at all. Many plants can be grown under artificial lighting, but at the same time, firstly, you need to use only daylight lamps and, secondly, correctly observe other care modes - temperature and water. In addition, such premises should be regularly ventilated. The difference between such plant breeding is that artificial lighting should be as close as possible to natural - continuously about 12-14 hours in spring - summer, 7-9 hours in winter. It is desirable that not only one plant (s) be illuminated, but the entire room. Such conditions most often happen in offices and work rooms, where many fluorescent lamps are suspended from the ceiling and the room is well lit.
Basically, plants that do not require direct sunlight are suitable for growing in artificial lighting only. I.e. these are plants suitable for cultivation on the eastern, western and northern windows. For placement in a room where there is no natural light, you can use nephrolepis fern, tradescantia, bordered dracena, ficus elastica (rubber-bearing), Sprengeri asparagus, scindapsus, philodendron, pandanus, peperomia, monstera, etc. From flowering plants, Chinese rosan, gloxinia, pelargonia, an Uzambar violet. They are mostly hardy and not whimsical plants.
