Tiny Light Packs Big Punch

By Vicki Parsons

Scientists have known for years that plants need different spectrums of light than humans to thrive. In fact, the difference between various light sources and which most effectively promote what types of growth is right at the top of the learning curve for most newbie hydroponic growers.

As a Florida resident who has always had at least one greenhouse, I’ve avoided most of that by counting on the sun. The cost of purchasing and operating a 400-watt light hasn’t been particularly appealing when I can grow almost anything outdoors, not necessarily anything at anytime, but certainly something year-round.

A new kind of light, however, holds great promise for hobbyist growers like me who don’t want or need large spaces dedicated to indoor growing. It’s a very small light, so light-weight in fact that it hangs from monofilament line. It operates on less than ten watts of power, so it generates nearly no heat.

It’s biggest drawback – and you knew there would be one – is it’s upfront cost of more than $250, but it if continues to function as promised for an anticipated life of 20,000 to 100,000 hours, I’ll consider it to be a great investment.

The light is called a SolarOasis Ruby Grow Light and it uses high-tech light emitting diodes or LEDs, the same energy-efficient technology found in everything from electronic clocks to jumbo TV screens. Originally developed for NASA as part of the space program, the LED’s use only those colors of lights which plants need for vigorous growth and health.

“The lamps we use in our homes generate of lot of light in the green and yellow part of the visible light spectrum because the human eye is very sensitive to those colors,” according to Amanda Sylvie, owner of Lone Star Orchids. “Plants, on the other hand, prefer light of other colors, colors people don’t see very well. So while old-fashioned grow lights will let you grow plants indoors, they waste a lot of energy making light plants can’t use efficiently.”

NASA’s experiments compared the performance and productivity of spinach, radish and lettuce grown under traditional lights, including high-pressure sodium and cool-white fluorescents, and concluded that the LEDs would be “particularly suited” for use on spacecraft or other planetary surfaces.

As you might expect from a product originally created to grow veggies in outer space, it’s a pretty cool looking light. It glows with a purplish-pink color that definitely attracts attention. It’s hanging in a greenhouse window in my kitchen that’s so shaded by a nearby oak we couldn’t grow anything but philodendron. A flat of sun-loving neem seedlings is thriving in a spot that would have been absolutely useless without supplemental light. I’m still experimenting on them, watching to see if they’ll grow faster or be healthier in artificially long days, but I’m truly amazed at how healthy they are in what looks like such a tiny amount of supplemental light.

I’m also looking forward to bringing my long-neglected orchids inside for the winter – maybe they’ll actually bloom this year? — and then growing a couple crops of microgreens next spring after it gets too hot outside for heat-sensitive crops. And then next summer, I’m looking at this little light and the deep hole of an empty fireplace and wondering what I could grow there. GG

An award-winning journalist with more than 20 years experience as a business, environmental and garden writer, Vicki Parsons is also a fifth-generation farmer who owns Neem Tree Farms in Brandon, Fla.