Solar light for plants?

9 years ago

This came up on my facebook feed. It's malnly to redirect sunlight into rooms without sun exposure. But the Indiegogo site claims... "

We love growing plants indoors but we don’t always have the natural light available for them to thrive in certain areas of our house. That herb garden you’ve always wanted doesn’t have to be out of reach."
If you look at the animated gif near the bottom of the page you see how it rotates to follow the sun yet keeps the reflected light aimed in the same spot you set it all day. I feel like that reflected light would be super hot! What do you think? Do you think this could be used to shine on indoor plants through a window in the winter? I have no doubt it would illuminate the room. The youtube video shows how much brighter the room is. But, do you think it would burn the leaves? Cool product either way.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/caia-a-robot-that-fills-your-home-with-sunshine-solar#/

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Comments (4)

Photo Synthesis
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I don't think that it's designed to shine on to houseplants. I think it's to shine the sunlight into whatever room that you want it to; increasing the natural ambient light that that room receives. Which can still benefit your plants. For plants that can grow in full sun, I'm sure they can handle having it shine directly onto them with no problems. Just so long as those plants are already acclimated to such bright sunlight. I don't think the reflected sunlight would be any worse than when sunlight shines thru the window.

I have an eastern window that most of my plants are gathered around during the winter months. This would come in handy for increasing the amount of light my plants receive throughout the day. Thanks for sharing. :)
Elena
9 years ago
Nah... I don't think it would be efficient enough for the plants. I've been trying to find solar light fixture that I could use in my plant room, but couldn't find any. I thought it should be plenty of those for greenhouses, but no luck so far.
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User
9 years ago
I like it! It's going to drive my cat crazy lol Not for plants though. And, I'll have to see reviews, I can't find any yet. For the discount price of over $200, it better be good and it better be durable. That's a lot of haworthias I could get instead.

Elena, do you mean solar-powered plant lights? Greenhouses typically depend on the sun for light, hence the transparent roofs. So greenhouses do not need them. The demand will most likely come from households. Most of the products you will find generate only enough light for walkways at night. Definitely not enough to keep plants alive indoors.

What I did consider at some point was one of Tesla's battery packs with which I can heat up a small greenhouse. They are connected to solar panels which we are planning to install anyway. Still too expensive, though. So it's better to just use the solar panels to offset the cost of indoor plant lights during winter. And of course, not get plants that have to be in a greenhouse in winter. I'm trying to reduce my footprint.
Elena
9 years ago
Yeah I've been dreaming about solar panels for a while now, but we're not planning to live in this two story house for too long. My backyard only getting 2-3 hours of sun during winter, so my greenhouse would need supplemental light and heating, lol. So for now my poor hubby just have to tolerate high electric bill... In Siberia they use supplemental heating and light in their greenhouses because daylight is too short, and their adeniums (and veggies) growing three times bigger than mine in CA! I'm thinking maybe I can find a greenhouse and rent a space... This winter feels endless.