Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers|Hardcover (2024)

Leslie F. Halleck is a dedicated horticulturist with a master's in horticulture from Michigan State University. She is a Certified Professional Horticulturist (CPH) via The American Society for Horticulture Science, with more than 25 years of green industry experience in research, greenhouse production, public gardens, garden center retail, landscape and design services, and gardening communications. Her work has been published in many scientific, industry, and consumer horticulture publications such as Fine Gardening, Greenhouse Management Magazine, and more. She currently runs Halleck Horticultural, LLC, a company that provides consulting services to green industry businesses, as well as horticultural consulting.

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Preface Being obsessed with plants by the time I was 18 years old didn’t exactly make me popular at parties. As my original plant friend, Carolyn, will tell you, the two of us could clear a room quickly once the surrounding college partygoers heard us talking about our cactus or cross-pollination. We just couldn’t help ourselves, and we’re still at it today. However, my status at The University of North Texas as one of only two students (at the time) concentrating in botany, my curious reputation as a gardener, and my college job as a garden-center employee made my phone ring a bit more frequently than my social status warranted. If only I had known I could have made some cash telling anonymous callers how to stop killing their closet so-called tomato plants. But I was never interested in what was actually growing in their closets. I was content to be knee-deep in my outdoor ornamental and vegetable garden, not to mention obsessed with an increasingly large collection of houseplants. But I’m glad those closet gardeners called, because it was the start of my horticultural consulting career—and, as it turns out, this book. I spent my first two years of university life at UNT as an art major before I switched to biology and botany. As such, aesthetic considerations are infused into all my pursuits, even the scientific ones. The fusion of art and horticulture is natural. Growing plants and food indoors doesn’t have to be utilitarian; it can be a beautiful practice that blends into our living space and lifestyles. own attractive plant lighting. As a graduate student at Michigan State University, my research focused on greenhouse production and flowering of perennial plants. Therefore, you will also encounter some science and math, which may seem a bit confounding at first. If you don’t need this information, feel free to skip it. If you have intensive indoor gardening goals, however, the more in-depth how-tos on measuring and calculating your indoor lighting needs will likely form the basis of your long-term success. As it turns out, writing this book feels like I’m coming full circle to bring the closet garden to light. I hope this book encourages your interest in, and creates new possibilities for, growing plants where you once thought you could not. Perhaps you’re on a mission to grow more of your own food or medicinals, even if all you have is a kitchen counter, a guest room corner, or a small closet. You may want to extend your vegetable-gardening season by getting a jump-start on propagation or growing indoors off-season. Having control over your own food source is a powerful feeling. It’s good to eat fresh, hyperlocal, and clean. Or maybe, like me all those years ago, you have caught the plant-collecting bug and there just aren’t enough windowsills left in your home to feed your growing plant family. In any case, you’ve come to the right place.

Table of Contents

Preface 6

Introduction 9

Light

Why Plants Need Light 12

How Plants Respond to Light 18

Measuring Light 36

Grow Lamps 52

Growing Conditions

Managing Your Environment 88

Common Pests and Diseases 108

Propagation and Plant Care 120

Plants

Edible Plants 152

Ornamental Plants 198

Conclusion 228

Resources 230

References and Bibliography 233

Photography and Illustration Credits 235

Acknowledgments 236

Index 237