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Bonsai trees are among those beautiful plants which are widely grown indoors with a great success rate. Grow light for bonsai helps your plant decide when to secrete protective substances. The importance of lighting to your bonsai trees cannot be stressed enough.
Bonsai require direct sunlight to produce their food. They will be affected by a lack of direct sunlight, resulting in poor foliage and other issues. They want to be exposed to 5-6 hours of sunlight per day, whether inside or out.
If you want to keep your outdoor Bonsai tree indoors, make sure indoor bonsai grow light is given for at least 6 hours per day. Some Bonsai trees prefer specifically to be grown indoors and require very little light to thrive. After all, despite their small size, these gorgeous plants and living masterpieces follow the basic growth patterns of trees found in the wild, and as everyone already knows, plants need light and water to complete the crucial process of photosynthesis.
Bonsai Grow Lights - A Quick Overview
Light, together with water and carbon dioxide, is one of the three essential ingredients that plants use to transform energy into food during the photosynthetic process. The same is the case with indoor bonsai grow light. The light wavelengths known as Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) are used by bonsai trees. During the vegetation phase, the bonsai plant needs blue spectrum light, whereas, during the bearing phase, it requires red spectrum light. With this in mind, it's absolutely essential not to ignore the importance of light in assisting your bonsai tree in unlocking the potential hidden within its powerful genes and choosing the best grow light for bonsai.
Learning how to use artificial indoor bonsai grow light can also help bonsai lovers in growing bonsai outdoor. There is no need to get afraid of doing wrong to your tree as far as you can understand our plant and respond to the signals it sends you.
Selecting and utilizing grow light for your bonsai tree will make the vast disparity among struggling, unhappy bonsai trees, and a healthy, cheerful and vibrant bonsai tree. Regardless of whether or not bonsai owners have prior experience with indoor lighting systems, every bonsai practitioner can learn how to use artificial light to grow bonsai trees with great success.
Selecting the most advantageous lighting system is a purely personal decision that a bonsai practitioner must make. Looking for a Bonsai grow light? In Green Bonsai you will find the best grow light for bonsai trees, including Desktop grow lights and more. Several lighting systems can work perfectly as indoor bonsai grow light. Commonly there are three categories of best grow light for bonsai:
- Fluorescent lights
- HID lights
- LED lights
Ascertain that the light emits a lux range of 2000 to 4000. For the best results, use numerous low-wattage bulbs instead of a few high-wattage bulbs. Rather than focusing on the watts, focus on the lumens of the artificial lights you choose.
Fluorescent lights
- Fluorescent lights are ideal for growing foliage, leaves, and seedlings. Fluorescent lights can be used as indoor bonsai grow light
- Place this light 2 to 4 inches away from bonsai for 16 to 18 hours per day. 8-10 inches should your leaves burn.
- Also keep at 6500 Kelvin to generate generous foliage growth and 5000 Kelvin at other times of the year. Instead of blasting the bonsai tree with one bulb, go for 2 to 3 bulbs.
- The bonsai species suitable for fluorescent light include Chinese elm, Ficus, Fukien tea, bonsai species that do not flower or bear fruit.
|
Pros |
Cons |
| They have a fantastic spectrum of light. | Not ideal for flowering. |
| Relatively inexpensive | Small output as survival rate will be less as compared with other types of light. |
| Not a lot of heat | Not ideal for fruiting bonsai |
| Great for small spaces | Outdated traditional fluorescent light is rare to find as they are replaced with LED lights |
| Larger-sized bonsai don’t benefit |
LED lights
- LED lights are great for reducing the need for pesticides and are cheaper to run. LED lights can be used as indoor bonsai grow light.
- Place them 10 inches apart For 50-watt bulbs for16 to 18 hours a day.
- If the bulbs are weaker, get closer; if the bulbs are stronger, get further away.
- A minimum of 30 watts bulb should be used in these lights.
- When developing fruit and flowers, the lights should be set to red, and when growing foliage and propagating, the lights should be set to blue.
- LED lights are among the best grow lights for bonsai as all bonsai species benefit from them.
| Pros | Cons |
| Longer life | Smaller coverage |
| Healthier plants | Expense |
| Energy-efficient | Light pollution |
| Full-spectrum | Change color with age |
HID lights
- HID lights are the closest natural sunlight in resemblance. HID lights can be used as indoor bonsai grow light.
- Place them 20 to 30 inches away from the bonsai for 12 hours per day.
- Use the lowest wattage HID light possible to help minimize the intensity and brightness of HID lights; 150 watt HID lights are often the lowest available.
- The Bonsai species Best for HID light is Citrus bonsai.
- HID lights are great at providing adding warmth but have a higher chance of burning the trees when compared to fluorescent or LED lights.
| Pros | Cons |
| Unrivaled light penetration | They get very hot |
| Can be used outdoors | High operating costs |
| Great at promoting leafy growth | No ability to adjust |
| Cheaper cost | Take time to heat up |
| Hard to find the right size | |
| Burnout |
Now after reading all the information it will be easy for you to select the best grow light for bonsai of your choice and needs, just make sure that the light is adjustable, Full-spectrum, and a light source that has a higher lumen number as it will make it a lot easier for you to manage the growth of your tree. Go ahead and purchase indoor bonsai grow light of your choice.