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rachelle22_gw

I want more inside plants but.......

Rachelle22
9 years ago

I would love to get more indoor plants but I dont get much indirect sunlight in my house. Does anyone have any ideas on good houseplants that can survive without much light????

Comments (5)

  • dbarron
    9 years ago

    Well at least you phrased it right...survive. Almost none like little to no light. They may survive, but they won't thrive probably.
    Some of the easiest to torture successfully are pothos, chinese evergreen, spathiphyllum, and perhaps a young norfolk island pine.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    you can add a bank of fluorescent lights .... and move your plants under them often.. subject to who need more light.. more often ...

    at one time... i had at least 50 african violets... on a home made light stand with 3 lights ... on 3 levels ... in livonia ...

    then i used that light stand to have a couple hundred hosta seedlings on it ...

    and another time i rooted conifers under them ...

    you can build a light stand much cheaper than buying one .. the trays are usually the issue..back when i built mine.. english gardens wanted like 300 dollars for a stand .... i bought the trays from them for like 30 ... and spent 30 more on 2 x 4 ...

    obviously ... i choose a squat plant ... rather than large tall plants ...

    ken

  • dbarron
    9 years ago

    Yes, given Ken's suggestion, if you can get them under full spectrum lights left on at least 12 hours a day, but less than 16 hours, your options expand dramatically into flowering plants like AVs, streptocarpus, even cacti.
    Do some research on lighting levels and heights before you go down that path though. You can sunburn the plants with the lights (believe it or not).

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    you wont need 'special' spectrum lights... common.. cheap 4 foot shop lights are fine ...

    but do try to find a shop light fixture .. with a large... wide ... reflector ...

    the real key ... is how far the lights are from the plant... we are talking a couple inches.. so you need plants that are all about the same size.. under any one given light ... which is why you might end up collecting one type of plant ...

    and get a timer.. 16 hours on.. with one one off flash [about 15 mins] in the middle of the 8 off... is SUPPOSED to confuse the plants into thinking the lights are on 24 hours... or so the theory goes ...

    since the fixtures generate some heat... i ran them at night.. in MI ... any heat is a plus... lol ...

    the most important thing... is to sterilize your potting media... to avoid indoor pests .. in winter ... see link

    ken

    Here is a link that might be useful: link

  • paul_
    9 years ago

    Another solution -- albeit one with which lights will be mandatory -- if you have the space is a large terrarium. This is one of mine:

    {{gwi:101407}}

    The hard part is finding plants that will either remain small or grow very slowly so as not to outgrow the tank -- assuming you don't want to prune regularly or switch out plants often. Many of the plants billed by vendors as "great for terrariums" get too large too fast, IME.