There are many different species and cultivars of citrus, all with wonderfully fragrant flowers. If you’re lucky enough to live in a warm, frost-free climate, you can grow citrus outdoors. But in cold climates or even mild areas that experience a handful of winter frosts, grow citrus trees in containers and cover or bring indoors during cold snaps. Or, you can grow citrus indoors year-round if you provide supplemental light from bright grow lamps.

Making flowers and fruit takes a lot of energy, and citrus will need a lot of light to do so indoors. Large CFL grow lamps, or HID lighting is ideal for citrus plants. If you have a very bright southern window, you could combine LED spotlights to provide enough light. In order to receive fruit from indoor citrus, it helps to hand-pollinate flowers if your citrus plants are blooming indoors.

If you are longing to bring your citrus trees indoors for winter, or grow them indoors year-round, I have a special citrus section in my book Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers !!

When plants stretch or grow toward the sun, also known as tropism, they are reaching for more blue light. When sun-loving plants grow in too much shade, their growth slows down and their internode length elongates.

The plants stretch to avoid the shade so they can compete with surrounding plants and reach more light.

Gardening Under Lights Book

I converted an unused closet into a small grow room for young vegetative transplants, leafy herbs, houseplants, and out of bloom orchids. The 250-watt CFL works well in this small space to maintain these types of plants.

I don’t grow heavy-flowering or fruiting plants, such as tomatoes or squash, to fruiting maturity using CFLs, but I often use a 250-watt CFL for growing plants in a vegetative stage, as well as for young tomato or pepper transplants, leafy greens, leafy herbs, foliage house plants, and maintaining orchids and other tropicals when out of bloom.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Some plants, such as salvias, are very easy to propagate from stem cuttings. Keep in mind, the overall health and nutrient levels of the mother plant will have a big impact on the success of your cuttings. Be sure to start with a vigorous, healthy mother plant that has characteristics you want to replicate.

Cuttings tend to root better and take off faster if the mother plant has high levels of carbohydrates and less nitrogen. Stop fertilizing your mother plant with nitrogen about a week before you take cuttings.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Grouping your indoor edibles by temperature preferences is important - especially if you're growing inside grow tents. Remember that cool-season crops, such as lettuce, greens, dill, and peas, may not withstand the heat build-up inside an enclosed grow space or grow tent unless it is artificially cooled.

Your heat-loving plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, and cannabis, can handle tighter spaces with warmer HID lighting.

Gardening Under Lights Book!

Grow lighting can be used for large set ups or for individual houseplants. If you need lighting for single plants in your home or office, simply use a mobile, easy to install spotlight LED.

There are many types of spotlight LED grow lights. Full spectrum lights will emit a white colored light. Dual band, or mixed band, LEDs typically emit a pink-colored light.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Don’t overdo it when selecting the size of your new container. Replant a 2-inch seedling plug or cutting into a 4-inch diameter pot. If you plant a very small seedling in a much bigger container, it may drown in too much water held by larger soil volume or it could dry out as water moves away from the root ball to the edges of the container.

Always choose growing containers that have drainage holes in the bottom, or porous fabric grow pots that allow water and air to permeate.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Fluorescent fixtures are relatively small, and you can mount them to all sorts of structures. If you have only a small space on the kitchen counter under the cabinets, you can mount an individual fluorescent fixture for one T5 tube right there. This is a perfect spot for a few leafy kitchen herbs, such as basil or chives.

I designed these custom kitchen grow shelves to keep fresh herbs handy in my kitchen. I had an electrician run the lamp wires into the wall to connect to power and mounted a light switch to turn them off and on.

Gardening Under Lights Book