Plants need only a small percentage of their light delivered in the blue spectrum to be able to grow and function well. Red light, despite its longer wavelength and lower energy value, is more efficient at driving photosynthesis than blue light. While red light may deliver less energy, the plant uses much more of it efficiently to fuel photosynthesis and produce sugars.

The spectrum of light an outdoor garden receives will vary according to geographical location. Sunlight that reaches areas north of the Fortieth Parallel contains more blue light, while sunlight at the equator delivers more red. The atmosphere absorbs light at different levels in each area.

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Soggy seed trays can drown your small seedlings. Capillary mats keep adequate and consistent moisture at the root level for your seedlings without drowning them.

Set these mats, which resemble felt, in the bottom of a solid seed tray, and place seed plugs or seed pots on top. Add just enough water to saturate the mat. Capillary mats are also handy for growing microgreens.

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Echeveria are some of the most popular succulents to grow. Plants need bright light or they will quickly stretch and go into decline. You can vegetatively propagate plants from leaves and stem cuttings.

The variety, 'Pink Frills' has lovely rosettes with a pink hue. To maintain healthy plants indoors year-round or in winter, provide supplemental light from grow lamps for 12-hours a day.

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Fluorescent lamps are popular with home gardeners for grow lighting. You can expect a fluorescent tube to give you about 20,000 hours of light for growing. That’s roughly three years if you’re using the lamp to light plants for 16 hours a day every day of the year.

You can use HO T5 fluorescent tube lamps in just about any fixture that holds traditional fluorescent tubes, so they are an easy and affordable solution for most home growers.

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More than a few people (and reviewers) have made comments that there is cannabis information in my new book, "Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers", and they find that a bit scandalous or negative. So, I figured I’ll address why I included it. Well, I included it because my publisher asked me to include it.

Yes, I do teach you about the basics of growing cannabis.

But first and foremost, I’m a professional horticulturist. It’s my job to study the “how” of growing plants -all sorts of plants- both outdoors and indoors. In turn, I then teach other people how to do it. I’ve never taken heroine, but I can tell you how to grow the beautiful poppies from which opium is created. Because I’m a horticulturist. As humans, we use a lot of plants for a lot of different purposes. Where would we be without food plants… medicinal plants…or plants we use for textiles? People and plants are co-evolved species as far as I’m concerned. Plants are not to be feared, but rather respected.

I love using LEC/CMH lamps for growing peppers and tomatoes indoors in winter.

I wrote this book so that all people interested in growing all sorts of plants indoors, would have access to a resource that met their needs – a resource that wasn’t solely focused on cannabis. Most of the indoor growing books out there are related to cannabis growing, and many are too anecdotal for my taste. If you want to grow tomatoes, or lettuce, or citrus indoors, you should have a book that gives you useful information specific to those crops – you shouldn’t have to slink around the bookstore with a cannabis-only growing book so you can figure out grow lighting.

However, growing cannabis is becoming more mainstream – so it seemed we’d be neglecting a key target consumer if I skipped cannabis altogether. Most of the indoor growing retail market – in terms of grow lights and environmental gear – is geared towards the cannabis growers. I also want to make sure that everyone else knows how to use the same gear to grow all the other wonderful plants they desire to keep indoors.

I'll teach you how to germinate seeds successfully and grow microgreens.

Frankly, I don’t find talking about how to grow Cannabis sativa any more scandalous than teaching you how to grow wine grapes or hops. Given all the tangible medicinal and textile uses and benefits of cannabis, I don’t see how learning a bit more about the plant itself should make anyone blush. But if it does make you blush (and that's OK), know that it’s tucked into the herb section and you’re welcome to skip it! If you're into growing cannabis (and it's legal for you to do so), then you can also rely on "Gardening Under Lights".

The beauty of my book is that its all-inclusive. All the science you’ll need, whether you want to grow tomatoes or cannabis indoors, is there for you to use. The information I provide on light science, grow lighting, environmental control, propagation, and pests and diseases can be used by anyone, growing just about anything, indoors. 😊

It is key to maintain proper moisture levels for your seedlings. The growing media should always be damp to the touch, similar to a wrung-out sponge. Humidity domes can help media from drying out too much.

Do not overwater seeds that haven’t yet germinated, as they can rot. Use a plant mister bottle to keep the soil surface moist until seeds germinate, then begin adding a little water to the seed tray so the growing media can absorb it as seedlings mature.

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Cannabis grows wild in both temperate and tropical areas around the world. It is used as a medicinal and recreational herb for its active compound, THC. Cannabis has been intensively selected, bred, and cultivated, and many varieties and cultivars vary widely from the original species and naturally occurring ecotypes.

Unfertilized female plants are much more potent than fertilized plants. You can purchase feminized seed to ensure more female plants. If you’re trying to hybridize and generate new F1 seed, you need male plants to fertilize the female flowers. About 50 percent of your new seed will be male.

New BOOK! Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers

Some fluorescent grow lamps are available with spectrums weighted to specific color ranges, such as red or blue. But some lamps take it a step further, emitting different types of UV light.

UV light can influence different functions in a plant, and can influence things such as flavor and antioxidants. If you're using grow lamps that emit UV light, be sure to use the same protection for your eyes and skin when working around them as you would in bright sunlight.

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