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Gardening is a very popular hobby especially among homeowners, which means the over-thirties to be honest. A pretty garden definitely does make a house look better. However, bedding plants and fruit trees can be quite expensive, consequently a lot of gardeners want or already have some form of greenhouse so that they can propagate plants themselves and grow more exotic flowers and fruits.

It really depends on the kind of greenhouse you have and where you live, but many greenhouses can be ‘adjusted’ to grow most kinds of plants from around the world. Global warming has helped in this respect too. In most places, you can grow grapes from France or orchids from Thailand where as a rule such plants would die outside.

Therefore, having a greenhouse is a bit like keeping a tropical fish tank. The gardener has brought those plants to a part of the planet where they cannot support themselves. They should not be there, so it is up to the gardener to create the circumstances in which those plants can thrive. This has mostly to do with aeration, temperature control, humidity and lighting.

Lighting is especially important in the winter in the temperate zones, because the period of sunlight can be as low as two or three hours and the quality of light can be very bad. Just because it is bright enough for you to see where you are going does not mean that it is light enough for a plant to nourish itself.

Light in the tropics is always strong for most of the day and there is perhaps only an hour difference between daylight hours in the summer and the winter. Usually there are about twelve hours of light and twelve hours of darkness.

Clearly, this means that is likely that you will need to provide some sort of artificial lighting if you have a green house. I have never seen a greenhouse in the tropics.

Which kind of greenhouse light you buy, really depends on the kind of plants you propose growing. If you want tropical orchids, for example, you will need a high level of humidity, which means that your light will have to be water-resistant or even waterproof.

Another aspect to bear in mind is the photo period – the length of time you will have to provide light. This could be as much as twelve hours at a time in the winter, so you will need a light that can cope with that without becoming over heated

Different lights produce different wavelengths of light, that is light from different parts of the spectrum. These different wavelengths of light yield different results, so you will need to know what you want to achieve before you can buy a greenhouse light. Spectrum colours are good for promoting the growth of orchids, but you will have to do some research, once you know what you want to grow.

Finally, if the greenhouse light is to be used for many hours a day, look out for an energy efficient light. It may be more expensive, but it will pay for itself. Cheaper lights often waste energy by generating heat, but more heat is not always a good thing. It is far better to control the temperature independently.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several subjects, but is at present involved with researching wrought iron floor lamps. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Wrought Iron Light