How intuitively (and simply) gage how much *light your plants actually need* based on natural environmental factors instead of bRiGht InDIRecT ligGhT kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aaeGhbSSxNzFqas.htmlsi=5urUeetDgr8ZondF -super helpful information in conjunction with this video & more hilarity 💚

3 months ago I gave up on fussing over expensive houseplants in the cold dark depressing Pacific Northwest and moved to Costa Rica. I weep every time I see the $$$$ plants I struggled to cultivate in the PNW growing wild like weeds along the roadsides. The house I’m renting here has a variegated Monstera deliciosa the size of 3 UPS trucks. Every day I discover new plants: various velvety Philodendrons, Monstera adansonii, giant carnivorous flowers, random orchids, tilandsias, and epiphytic cacti growing wild on every tree. The vines all grow a meter every day. It’s too much. I’m turning feral and delirious and ungovernable! My house and patio are filled with amazing plants that I didn’t pay a cent for. You have a standing invitation to come visit.

You’re my favorite plant influencer. No bullshit elitism, legit info, funny, can’t be bought by big light. Thanks Nick.

Ugh the information, time spent to create this, quality video, non-elitist plantitude, and realistic accessible recommendations for the rest of us plant lovers is why I love you and your channel. Thank you Nick! 🖤

I've been using regular LED shop lights for my plants for many many years- I get great growth- beautiful blooms- and even vegetables! I've grown green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and of course all the more common green leafies.... they all grew great! I've gotten laughed at, berated, name called and even thrown out of plant groups on face book for trying to share this information. I'm so glad that you're doing this video!

Thank you for saying red/blue lights are ugly. I feel like I've been gaslit by the plant community. Why have the plants if you're not going to display them nicely? I don't get it.

All other plantubers: “Buy this $900 light from Mother that I got for free!” Nick: “Just get some LED bulbs from Home Depot and you’re good.” Another super informative video ❤

Great advice! To many people getting caught up in "expensive" and "premium" plant care products when it doesn't have to be that way. Very nice video!

You are hilarious - and clever! I am rethinking lighting instead of overthinking it. I am not a snob WRT plastic tents. IKEA cabinates are a phase. Our great-grandparents grew plants with fresh water, manure (aged) and sunlight; no humidifiers, soil additives, etc. and they had amazing houseplants. Your vibe is what I needed as I am new (1 year) in this plant journey, but I am 70 years old. If I am a successful plant parent some of my plants may outlive me! I love that.

I’m a gardener with an indoor grow setup for years and got into houseplants later when COVID hit. My remote at home office is now in my grow room. Can definitely attest to what you say, especially the pink light being hard on the eyes/brain all day. Turning the room light helps. A little. The things I do for my plants. Pink is great for veggies & carnivorous plants but houseplants definitely grow so much better in real light or fluorescent. Love your videos by the way. Your “whatever” tongue in cheek attitude is awesome.

This is the exact same conclusion I came to about lights. White light is preferable for residences where people will be exposed to it. The reduction in energy cost is only of use in major grow operations, where it becomes much more significant. So much information about lights and it just over complicates things for the lay person just trying to grown some nice plants to enjoy

You're absolutely correct about grow lights. They make sense for high production. If you aren't eating or smoking your plants, a nice display light that supports growth makes sense.

I love watching plant influencers on KZfaq during my morning routine and just discovered you from recommended. I love everything about you!! You’re sharing so much amazing knowledge and keeping me completely invested and I can feel my brain retaining the information. Gonna go binge your whole channel now 🥹

I've been growing plants under lights since 1972, but I learned somethings from you today. When I started, the bulb most used was the pinkish fluorescent tubes. I hated them for the same reason that you do. They distort all the colors so badly that it is hard to tell if your plants are healthy. About a year or so later, they came out with wide spectrum tubes, which were white, but very expensive. I found out that I could get the same result by combining one Cool White Deluxe tube and one Warm white Deluxe tube. (Deluxe tube had extra blue phosphors,) At the time and for many years, I used this combination in fluorescent shop lights, which I could buy for about ten dollars. I learned how to make many different shelving units, usually the individual shelves were four feet long and two feet deep. Each shelf would be lit with two shop lights. Each shop light would hold two 40-watt tubes, one cool white and one warm white. There was one big draw back to the system. Four 40-watt tubes burned 160watts of power, but you could grow just about anything under them. A three-shelf system like yours would burn 480 watts. It was expensive, but since I wanted to have my plants, I paid it. Sometime around 2004, natural daylight tubes became available. That was about the time that I learned about the Kelvin scale. Up until then the Kelvin scale was there, but it was usually ignored. You had warm white, cool white, and daylight. warm white was around 2700 K, cool white was around 5500K, daylight was around 6500. Natural daylight was 5000K and was the closest to the light coming in a south facing window. It was the best all-round color if you wanted both rapid growth, flowers, and edible fruit. The trouble was that natural daylight was only one company's name for that type of tube. Other companies used different labels, then they also started using different labels for their other colors. To be sure of what you had, you needed to look at the fine print on the back of the package and read the Kelvin rating. So, what is the kelvin rating. Basically, it compares the light of the tube to the color of a bar of steel as it is heated past the glowing point. as you heat a bar of steel, at 900 degrees it emits a red glow. as the bar gets hotter the color moves into a predominantly orange glow. Hotter still and the glow becomes yellowish, then yellowish white, then white, them blueish white. I use 5000K because I am interested in cacti and flowering plants. for a person like you who is interested in mostly foliage species and Hoyas, you would do better with 6000k or above. When I place a Hoya carnosa directly under my lights, it turned yellow and refused to grow. I had to move it back about five feet from the lighted area before it got back the natural green color and began to show its typical silver streaks. With the introduction of LED lighting, the Kelvin rating became even more important, as did all of the information on the back of the package. When LED lighting was introduced, its main competition was the old incandescent bulb, so all the labelling was a comparison to incandescent lights because most of the country related the amount of light emitted by a bulb to the wattage. When the label says 100 watts daylight, it really means that it produces as much light as a 100-watt incandescent bulb with the color of a daylight fluorescent tube. If you look at the fine print though, you will see that it only draws 18 watts of power from the plug. Since we pay for electricity by the watt, that is a huge saving. When I discovered that, I changed every light in my apartment to LED. The initial investment was high, but the lights last so long that I have not had to change a light bulb since. When, before, I had to change my fluorescent tubes about every year because they deteriorated that fast, the extra initial cost was repaid in less than two years. Because China has been producing such reasonably priced LED growth lights in configuration's that can be installed anywhere an electric cord can reach, the whole hobby has totally changed. If I had a basement, I could grow hundreds of thousands of cacti down there, and in the back corners, where the light is not so bright, run a Hoya nursery.

For the last 2 years I've been using white 4000K LED lightbulbs (3 of them, about 5000 lumen total), in a "normal" fixture in my living room. My plants are a) totally fine and b) growing towards the fixture/middle of the room, and not towards the window, which is much more aesthetic. One thing you can look into is CRI of the lightbulb, which basically translates into how wide is the spectrum emitted. Most lightbulbs are around 90 CRI, but those that are 95 CRI and above have emission spectrum that correlates a lot better with absorption spectrum of chroroplyll(s). The price is very similar, but you may have to do a bit of digging to find which ones have higher CRI, because well, retailers don't care

Thanks for the info. I appreciate that you pointed out that you tested over 6 months to give tested information. And, yeah, I like how you roll too. Well done! I'm currently shopping to prepare to bring in my happy plants from outside. Every winter they get as sad as me. I'm hoping the lighting will help all of us out.

Loving the content. It's always good to have some well researched input into why windowless office plants live long, healthy lives. Although I still have a grow bulb because it replaced a SAD lamp for seasonal depression....

What can I say. Excellent display, excellent setup, excellent information, excellent thumbnail, excellent plants. Nick you are doing an awesome job with the content, loving it!!

Thank you Nick! Out here doing the most for the people 🙌🏻 I believe I speak for all of us in saying we appreciate all the time and effort you must put into each of your videos. Add in a little dry humor... You the best!

Thanks for clearing up the growlite mystery - we have offices without windows (hospital basement) where amazingly plants are flourishing. Now I know why

yes, thank you for showing the results. a lot of gardening/plant videos show the setup, but not the results 1 or 3 or even 6 months later. it's hard to know what worked or not, when videos just show the initial stages. i'm the same way about pots. I care less about how the pot looks, than I do about how the plant looks I'll use styrofoam cups, plastic cups, ice cream tubs, 3 or 5-gallon buckets, etc to get more plants into containers, so that I have more plants!

I just asked myself today where is Nick and bam here's a new video

How fun that you were able to germinate the string of heart seeds and grow it into a plant! I, too, enjoy growing plants from seed. Back in January I started a bunch of African Violets from seeds. They have been blooming for several weeks, living under my LED shop lights on a metal shelf set up similar to yours.

I just found your channel and I love this setup you made! I've grown under "daylight" shop bulbs for so long and have had most everything grow and flower, never had any issues with plants not getting sufficient light. I grow all kinds of tropical plants and love orchids!

That was awesome. A lot of videos only have the “sizzle”, but I always feel like wanting more substance, and this definitely delivered SUBSTANCE. Thanks

This might be your best cover image for a video yet. It looks model-worthy and you can still see the humor. Living for it can't lie.

What a neat video, I’m so tired of the IKEA Milsbo cabinets and the same boring $200 plants. Your set up is very user friendly and much more affordable to us poorer folk. Loved seeing the nice variety of plants you have in it too. Thank you for the video, and just being you! 🤗🌿💡🌱

Yes! Thank you. I have been living by this premise for a while now. I have a similar set up, smaller but cost was around 150/160 and it works amazing. It’s refreshing watching others with realistic setups.

I have the same shelf in black! I do two 4 ft lights per shelf and paid about the same for my lights! It’s cool that we basically have the same setup. I’ve also incorporated pulleys into 3 of the 4 shelves, so that I can raise or lower the lights as needed. I mainly start seeds and keep my succulent collection on the shelf, so I don’t have the plastic cover. Nice touch for houseplant happiness!

I absolutely can't wait to quote this video to people who don't care about houseplants let alone grow lights then feel awkward about it. Love the vids as usual

Great video. Very informative. I can attest to Hyper Tough under counter lights from Walmart working great for my plant. I have used them for 3 years now and have the best growth from my plants. They cost less than $10 each and are far better than the actual grow lights I have.

I kinda hated myself because I stopped watching your videos, then I understood I needed to grow to come back and love your essence more. You make me laugh, relax and also pay attention at the same time, and of course I feel special and included because you make plant jokes and I get them yaaaay ❤️💚 thank yooouuu you are wonderful 🧡

I used to have fancy bar lights for my aquarium. Temporarily moved to a small apartment, built in the seventies. The living room had a little alcove built for (I presume) the large TV sets of the time. I decided that would be a great spot for my 55g tank, so I used some 2x4 to make a shelf and threw it in there. The alcove had track lighting in the ceiling, which seemed... Pointless, given that it was in a closet. But I had a bunch of hue bulbs left over after the move, so I decided to use those in the track lighting instead of the "aquarium" lights I had before. To my surprise, the plants inside the tank grew quite well with the hue bulbs. I'd even say the plants grew BETTER. I also created my own custom routines specifically for the fish tank, where the color and intensity varried throughout the day. Color temp started at 1600 in the morning, fading to a 6500k "blue" light after about 2 hours, then fading back down from 6500 to 1100 for the last two hours before turning off.

I'm obsessed by your sarcasm and the quality of the content equally.

Once again you've done an awesome job explaining the science behind lights. Your plant saves are great I am always picking up the Charlie Brown plants that need a home, at least it's plants and not more cats. Thank you!

Perfect balance of really down to earth useful information and cheeky humor 😍

I am enjoying your videos and tips! Thanks for being real about plants and not over boosting things just for content :)

I have a vivarium with just a basic batten LED light and it works great! My orchid has flowered and I've had to remove a few plants that got too big. Thank you for actually talking about this.

Nick i am gobsmacked at how many plants you have. It all looks so lovely. Thank you for another amazing video.

Thanks so much, Nick! I've immensely enjoyed this video! I am also Latina and live in the NE, which means I feel you on these brutal winters (though I am older than you so can tell you they've gotten much worse in the past 20 yrs). Anyway, this set up and the ideas you've given us will help me with my outdoor garden, because I'll be able to more effectively use my space to start plants from seed before the last frost and thus more efficiently grow food crops for next summer. In the late summer/fall, I'll be able to better care for my poor succulents (I have many windows, but most get only medium light), and to overwinter both decorative and food plants. This video is genius and you are awesome. Thanks again! 💖

Nick Alexander, here’s a BIG thumbs up and hat lift! Thank you.

The Quality!!! I know that you don’t upload videos a lot, but every time they come out, it’s always very informative and I know that you put so much time and effort for doing this! At first I watched your videos because it’s fun . But fun mixed with quality information? AHH MAZING!!! Who cares about quantity, what we really need is quality! ❤️❤️❤️ 👍👍👍 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you for confirming what I suspected about 'grow lights' but more importantly, thank you for sneaky Violet content.

Always appreciate your ethics in teaching us the most frugal & effective ways to care for our chlorophyllicious friends. Also the humor is right up my alley.

First video I've seen of yours and I love your teaching style. Love the comedy, the attitude, the knowledge and the lack of energy. And i mean this. I hate when people try to oversell their videos by being over excited and too damn much. You are giving GOAT 🐐! I subscribed. Thanks

I love how true your approach is! The way you talk and that you truly enjoy plants as they are! No bd aesthetics just real nature! You got a new sub 🙌

I learned SO MUCH. Mainly, the spendy grow lights I just bought were not necessary. You have an awesome, dry sense of humor. Very entertaining and informative video, thanks!

Been looking for a more economical way to keep my plants happy thru Michigan's winter. Thank you! You just saved me at least $500! And love your sense of humor. Videos are so good! 😁

I’m crying at some of the things you said, genuinely enjoyed watching this video. Thanks for all the knowledge.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks for confirming my suspicion that full-spectrum grow lights were not necessary for keeping houseplants alive in the winter. Good to see your whole collection too. Those hoyas did well.

This is great, you're the only plant channel I trust at this point thank you for the no bs plant care info. Your hoyas!!! Amazing. Can't wait for Australia to get more variety :--)

i have seen alot of how to grow and garden videos over the years, and yours is FANTASTIC. Thanks for being awesome!

Just discovered you. Most fun I had in forever watching info being given without any sense of self-importance. Loving you.

This is the most entertaining yet informative video on plants I watched in a long time. And I kept watching because of that! I choked on my tea at your nonchalance about the hoya just flying away should the bamboo sticks make their way out of the pot. :D Thank you!

Great video, thank you for making this. Fun fact: the color temp info is a big reason why you sometimes see people with extremely blue headlights. They think the highest number is the brightest light.

I just found your channel and I am hella thankful that I did. You look like a genuine person that shows the reality of plant collectors.

Alwas nice to find some reasonable content creators talking facts and use their reach to spread proper information. Thanks mate, you rule.

Amazing video. Great and helpful info, not too fast paced (which makes absorbing the info easier), and some fun humor

I love all the science! It’s sexy! 🤓 I’m too poor to purchase fancy lights so Amazon lights it is. My plants love them! Huge leaves and fast growth. Thank you for releasing something that is affordable and you waited to make sure it works. I appreciate all the efforts. 🌱

First video I have watched of yours; it came up as a selection on my aquascaping feed and I really enjoyed it. I appreciate your genuine intent of helping others to enjoy the hobby in an affordable manner and observed some cross-over for us wet-thumbs, cheap lights, woohoo! My wife is the houseplant keeper in our relationship and she will love your videos, she is big-time plant rescuer, as well... every rescue is a story, she loves to tell. One plant that we have in our house that everyone enjoys is the sensitive plant (moves when you touch it and has flowers that look like thneeds from The Lorax) that I expect you are familiar with, but I didn't see in your collection (however, it is the first video I have watched of yours). I sell a lot of shrimp, fish, snails and aquatic plants and have many people over to our house... my wife usually gets in on the action and tries to lure my aquatic peeps into houseplant keeping, she is remarkably successful with her sensitive plant give-aways. If you've never kept this plant I highly recommend it, the movement is cool, but when you thee a thneed, it just feels like the world is a better place!

Nick! Great video very cool and helpful. I needed more knowledge on lights and have looked at several videos which none were so clear for beginners as myself..so keep these coming! Love your plants and your presentation

THE KING HAS UPLOADED

Great video Nick. I'm getting back into plants after about a decade. I'm now in a state with winters, so lights are important

Thank you for this video! I was just looking into lamps but came upon this and I hope it keeps the few tropical plants I have alive.

This guy is entertaining and enjoyable no matter what he’s talking about, it seems.

Thank you for explaining this stuff to me. I'm a reptile keeper, more than a plant keeper. I've never had great luck keeping plants before now. But my recent venture into bioactive enclosures has made learning how to keep plants alive a necessity. Pothos is saving my life over here in my humid enclosures, and succulents/cacti in my arid enclosures. Hopefully watching your vids can help me figure out how to keep more interesting plants alive!

You might have just saved my sanity and a lot of plants. Living in the darkest home I’ve ever known has been so depressing after I couldn’t escape into the garden every day (disabilities). Even an orchid died (I suspect it might have been suicide, caused by my company). I’m going to try again x 😘💐

I watched this and then spent a bunch of time looking at all my lighting options and then just bought the ones you did. For the price and wattage, 5200 lumens is tough to beat. Thank you!

thanks so much for your in-depth explanation, i got so much from this video - especially because i'm looking to go into flowering and fruiting plants and i was really unsure about why people don't keep those kind of plants in this community, y'know? but now i see it is mainly aesthetic (when it comes to using grow lights) and your light spectrum breakdown really opened my eyes to using more red light. i'm excited to try maybe a combination of white and RB lights, thanks so much again 💞

I love the level of science you include. Thanks for an educational presentation

Great video! One thing I need to point out though is that Lumens is a pretty inaccurate scale for measuring lamp brightness / efficiency when it comes to growing plants, since the measurement was created based on 'perceived brightness', i.e. how bright the human eye sees it. However because our eyes see some parts of the spectrum better than others, this distorts our perception (even if the light is completely white). For plants, the value you want to be looking at is the PPF (Photosynthetic Photon Flux). This is simply put a measurement of the amount of photons (within the usable spectrum for plants) that a lamp emits per second. It is muuuch more accurate than Lumens and lets you get a real grasp on the efficiency of the lamp and predict how many Watts you'll have to put in and how much growth you get out of it. Now, I doubt that any lightbulb at Home Depot will have a PPF rating, and that the purpose of this video is to show budget solutions for hobbyists, but since it is a standard in the grow light industry to publish those ratings (or you can find creators on KZfaq that buy lamps, measure them and publish their PPF(D) values), it shouldn't be that hard to find some for a reasonable price online. Anyways, worth checking out. Keep up the good content!

Hi Nick... Great to see you I am ready to take notes. Hope life is treating you well!

Was searching for grow light videos and found your channel. And I'm glad I did. I love the way you present it and edit the video. Subscribed.

I know what the science says, but through over a decade of growing chillies and other edible greens indoors, my best results have been from cool white light. I've even had side by side grows with cool white, warm white, and blurple light, and the one that actually works for fruiting is cool white. It is also best for leafy green growth. My theory is that plants don't care too much about a lot of red, and love blue. This applies throughout whole the life-cycle. Of course, cool white will have some red, and warm white will have some blue.

I was thinking of you yesterday bc I saw a sad pubicalyx at Home Depot. SO glad purple lighting isn’t necessary! Thanks for the research supported information!

wow Professor Nick, so insightful, helpful factual, and efficient. Amazing knowledge, thank you for sharing. So happy to see how your channel has grown!

I luv your calm, collective, and efficient explanations. You're voice is so soothing.

I love the outtakes in the end! 🤣 Thanks for another great and informative video

1000% quality, dry humor content 👏 every 👏 time 😎💡 I came to the same conclusion. I use white LED lights to grow my plants and combat SAD in the existential, mood-crushing northern hemisphere winters

Cannot been here without saying that I love the humour and the research behind your videos, much love ❤️❤️

I watched some of your content 2 years ago, and this was recommended to me today! So happy to see you again! This was helpful and a lot of fun to watch :)

I also noticed this for my plants. The only problem is with succulents, this really need strong lights but if you don't mind them stretching out than you also can use normal light

I’d love to see a video on how you cut back your plants to encourage variegation. (Or discourage it) it’s something I still do not understand and I’m scared to just start cutting, even after reading a bunch on how to do it.

Just found your video and am thankful! Great info. Again, thanks! After I binge, I’ll look forward to your newest informative vids.

Thanks Nick for your clear and informative straight talk about light spectrum, the differences in light products and options ... so informative and useful!

Fluorescent tubes do get warm, but this can be good! Also old-school horticulturists had small tungsten lamps too as they thought some infrared improved things, but this hasn’t been tested recently.

Very illuminating video! I’ve been wanting to do indoor growing for a while but I was in the dark when it came to how I should set it up! Thanks for bringing light to this topic.

Hey Nick - I love your style: reliable and useful info shared with a sharp and witty sense of humour (which is sorely lacking in most other gardening/plant channels). Fantastic!

Really great video. I knew I didn’t need “grow lights” but could never figure out what kind I needed. I have gone through several experimenting and always failed. Thank you thank you

One minute in and I am already howlering LOL This video is about to be informative and entertaining!

Nick, I love your videos. I tuned in to watch a rerun of you and, low and behold a new one! My son thinks I’m in love with you because every time he comes in I’m watching you on the TV screen 🤣 actually I’m old enough to be your grandmother 👵🏻 you are adorable though!

Thank you Nick for the video. I got 2 for my plants for overwintering my houseplants on a porch without much light. Things are going great. This was a very helpful video. I did not know I could do this.

wow what a great video and channel :) really appreciate you "testing it out"!

Thank you Nick for all the work you put into this detailed light video. I could not agree more about making sure your using the wavelengths needed. I can’t tell you how many people think a light bulb will keep a plant healthy 🙄 can’t wait to see your next video 💚😎💚

I have this same shelf set so I will definitely be replicating this set up. I’ve been trying to think of a way to set it up for a while now. I also have a Amazon Lily from a friend that separated her and it has to be by far my favorite plant and yes it does seem to be very rare in America. Loved the video and the plant tour.

This makes me happy to see. I'd love to grow but I have a small space and little access to light from the sun. But, I can make shelving(s) and hang some lights. This is giving me ideas/hope (if I do it right). Also, thank you for the very calming video

Thanks for all the info and your humor 😊

Thank you Nick, I m so tired that the plant community has been so out of hand in so many ways. Like sol tech lights.

How strange I JUST YESTERDAY got grow lights we love that😭

Your sass is LIFE! Thank you for this video- you saved me so much money!!