Grow Light for Fiddle Leaf Fig

Fiddle Leaf Figs enjoy several hours of daily direct sunshine or brilliant indirect sunlight. Your fig may grow slowly, start leaning toward windows, or lose leaves if it doesn’t receive enough light. Grow lights are a simple remedy when your indoor plant isn’t receiving enough light.

It is crucial to understand the optimal light levels of fiddle leaf figs and when they have been exposed to too much or too little light. While fairly durable, these plants react strongly and fast to changes in light levels and can thrive if you adjust their light exposure and placement in your home.

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What are Grow Lights?

Indoor plants receive full-spectrum sunlight from grow lamps, similar to what they would receive from the sun if they were outside. You can use fluorescent lights, but we advise LED grow lights for your fiddle leaf fig since they consume less energy and will lower your energy costs and environmental impact.

Because they are designed for seed beginning or indoor winter gardening, grow lights are often relatively modest. Due to their large size, FLFs may not fit under more compact grow lights. Additionally, standard grow lights are employed for indoor plants even though they appear as if they belong in the DMV hallway.

Native to West Africa, fiddle-leaf figs grow in dense stands with other shrubs under more extensive tree canopies in lowland tropical rainforests. This indicates that they are accustomed to vying for many diffused ambient lights, with sporadic bursts of direct sunshine.

In our households, a similar circumstance exists. Although they can handle a broader range of lighting settings, these houseplants do best (in terms of health and development rate) when they have access to a lot of light, both direct and indirect.

Just know that FLFs will absorb as much of it as you can because indirect light will be the most prevalent indoor lighting source. Although six hours a day is a fantastic start, kids will always value it more.

They will gladly accept a few hours of direct sunshine each day if offered. If your fig is put next to or close to a window, it can endure an hour or two of direct sunshine during the morning or afternoon and, with correct acclimatization, much more.

Therefore, by gradually extending your plant’s exposure duration over a few days or weeks, you may teach it to tolerate more extended periods of direct sunlight. This eliminates the risk of sunburn for the plant when it is put in a location with excessive exposure.

It’s critical to keep an eye out for signs that your plant may be experiencing low light damage. Since environmental elements like light may significantly impact fig production, it’s critical to spot and address any problems as soon as possible to maintain your plant’s health.

Ensuring plants get adequate sunshine may be challenging, especially for indoor plants. Every home is unique, and many lack windows in locations ideal for supporting plant growth. Additionally, even if your plant is in a beautiful location beside a window, you will need some additional light sources once winter arrives.

Photosynthesis is required for the plant to develop as optimally as possible. Sunlight is necessary for this procedure, and as we previously discussed, plants grown inside occasionally don’t receive enough of it.

Most plants need at least six hours of sunlight each day, which can be difficult to achieve indoors unless you’re prepared to move your plant around frequently.

Best Indoor Grow Lights for Fiddle Leaf Fig Plants

Undoubtedly, LED lights are the most widely utilized indoor lighting for plants. They provide several advantages, including reduced energy expenses, low heat production, and full-spectrum lighting. They are available in various styles, colors, and wattages and may even be customized to provide a precise light spectrum to the plant’s needs.

LED Lights

The most widely utilized indoor lighting for plants is LED lighting. They produce full-spectrum illumination while being extraordinarily energy-efficient and producing little heat. A light that spans the electromagnetic spectrum, including infrared and near-ultraviolet light, is referred to as full-spectrum lighting.

Plants require full spectrum illumination to live, which the sun gives. Finding the proper lighting for your plants is crucial for this reason.

Compact Fluorescent Light

Small to medium indoor plants benefit significantly from compact fluorescent lighting. You can pick one appropriate for your plant’s needs because they are available in a range of wattages. Phalaenopsis orchids and carnivorous plants are typically illuminated with compact fluorescent lamps.

Halides

Since they can cover a vast surface area and have a maximum power of 1000 watts, halides are typically utilized for bigger plants. You won’t require a halide lamp for the typical demands of indoor plants. You may get smaller halides but lack a greenhouse or more significant space if you wish to utilize them.

Incandescent Light

These lights are utilized with a certain kind of plant. About 90% more heat is produced by incandescent lights than 10% more light. These lights are ideal for low-light-requiring plants, including ferns, vines, and dracaenas.

Plants that do not grow in warm and hot climates should not be exposed to incandescent lighting.

Fluorescent Light

These lights—typically long fluorescent tubes—are appropriate for plants with low or moderate light requirements. They are frequently employed for indoor vegetable cultivation as well.

Compared to incandescent lights, fluorescent lights are far more energy-efficient, and the smaller the tube, the more efficient it is. Since they employ both cold and warm light, fluorescent lights are helpful if you want to simulate an outside growth rate.

Precautions for Fiddle Leaf Fig

If you were wondering, light is what your fiddle leaf fig craves! Like most indoor plants, your FLF thrives and grows in sun-filled areas. A flowering plant belonging to the fig and maple families is the fiddle leaf fig or ficus lyrata.

One of today’s “it” plants, it is well known for its dark evergreen foliage, broad leaves, and aesthetically pleasing appearance. These beautiful plants may be found in affluent houses and on the covers of publications.

Never use a grow light with a higher wattage than the fixture specifies. A risk of fire may result from this. For instance, only use a 60-watt grow light if your fixture asks for a 60-watt bulb. Without this, your bulb will use more energy than the fixture is designed to handle and might become unsafe.

Signs the Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant is Not Getting Enough Light

The growth that has substantially slowed down or ceased altogether indicates that your fig needs more sunshine. When light is scarce, the plant’s ability to carry out crucial activities like photosynthesis, which produces and uses nutrients, is likewise constrained. As a result, growth starts to slacken or cease.

Alternately, you could discover that even while your Fiddle Leaf appears to be developing new growth, it is spindly or barren. Another obvious indication that your plant is genuinely searching for additional light sources is the production of lean, weak growth that reaches various directions. Your plant can’t maintain this procedure since it requires a lot of energy to generate this kind of growth.

Your Fiddle Leaf may start to shed its leaves under the most extreme low light situations, usually over extended periods, usually beginning at the bottom and working its way up the plant. Your plant is responding to inadequate environmental inputs by sacrificing some components to survive.

Fiddle Leaf Figs can experience an excess of light as well. That would seem unusual considering that, after adequate acclimatization, they can tolerate several hours of direct sunlight daily. However, it’s frequently a matter of getting too much sun too quickly, and the effects of such intense sun exposure might include sunburn.

As you might expect, burnt leaves can seriously harm a plant’s general health and impair its capacity for photosynthetic activity. Sunburn frequently results in permanent damage, and the plant must use a lot of energy to heal its leaves. For the sake of your fig’s long-term health, it is typically advisable to trim off sunburned leaves.