Level Up Your Leafy Friends With the Best Grow Lights for Thriving Plants (2024)

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It doesn't matter if you're caring for a ZZ plant or a cactus: plants need sunlight to survive. If you're living in an apartment devoid of sunlight or don't have an outdoor space to garden, grow lights can help. These nifty devices can supplement sunshine for your plant collection by encouraging growth in dimly lit areas and better utilize your living space. You can also use them to start seed trays, provide strong sunlight replacement for succulents and cacti, and are powerful enough to use in your closet or basem*nt.

Though many are purely functional and prioritize tech over design, newer options can accent your décor and style. Plus, they're reliable and use LEDs, which, according to plant expert Erik Runkle, Ph.D., and Professor of Horticulture at Michigan State University, have longer lifespans, low heat, and are more energy-efficient than fluorescent bulbs. We found the best grow lights to satisfy your green thumb by researching the field, consulting experts, and doing some hands-on testing.

The Best Grow Lights for Plants

• Best Overall: Soltech The Grove
• Best Multi-Pack: Barrina T8 Plant Grow Light (4-Pack)
• Best Pendant: Soltech The Aspect
• Best Herb Garden: Rise Gardens Personal Indoor Garden
• Best Panel: AeroGarden 45W LED Grow Panel

What To Consider

Why Use Grow Lights?

Grow lights may be a no-brainer for those who live under cloudy skies for part of the year, but if you've got a green thumb and reside in a sunny environment, you may still benefit from using one. Plantfluencer and blogger Houseplant Guru, Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, tells us that even in brightly sunlit homes, grow lights can help plants grow symmetrically and foster more robust blooming, especially flowering plants. Fully covering your plants with grow lights mimics the sunshine without the worry of obstructions or shadows, promoting photosynthesis, the process in which plants use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.

Grow lights also better utilize living space. Steinkopf states, “If your windows are [already] full of plants, grow lights give you more room to grow. You can [use them] in your basem*nt, an unused room, or even a closet.” She highly recommends them as a great way to germinate seeds and grow vegetables indoors, especially during the cloudier seasons.

Erik Runkle, Ph.D., says grow lights are also helpful for “growing low-light plants throughout the year, such as phalaenopsis orchids, ferns, and African violets.” He also advises sticking with grow lights that are UL listed, and ideally, ones that are damp proof, as they can tolerate high humidity and dust.

Efficiency

The efficiency of your grow lights depends on the type of plant underneath them and whether the light offers a full spectrum or a ranged color spectrum to support different growth stages.

Positioning and Timing

According to PBS, you'll want to position grow lights around 12 to 30 inches away from your plant's soil, moving it closer if it needs bright and direct sunlight and further for low light and indirect sunlight. Correctly positioning your grow lights is essential, as too much light can scorch leaves, and less will prevent your plants from producing chlorophyll, which can turn leaves from green to yellow. If you're using a hanging light, it's best to position it directly over the plant. For panels and fixed angled lights, rotate your plants daily so the light can equally hit each section.

Plants need rest, as does your energy usage, so it's unwise to leave your grow light on all day—after all, the sun isn't up for that long, either. Use one for roughly 8 to 15 hours daily, with the lower end reserved for low-light plants and the higher for tropical plants, cacti, and culinary herbs. Some grow lights feature timers so you can schedule the cadence of your artificial sun's rays, but if yours doesn't, they're inexpensive and readily available on Amazon.

As for the needs of your specific plants? Look for online guides. If you seek guidance on how much light your indoor plant may need, Soltech and Bloomscape have helpful beginner's guides to houseplants.

Light Spectrum

Grow lights often advertise their light spectrums, which indicate the waves of the light emitted from its bulbs. Light wavelengths are measured in nanometers, abbreviated as nm, and sometimes shown on packaging as spectrographs. Any grow light with a wavelength between the 400 and 700 nm range is considered optimum for most plants. These are full-spectrum lights, and we only recommend using them.

Narrow spectrum lights are noted for serious gardeners and plant nerds who need to support different stages of development. Blue-light spectrum (450 to 490 nm) grow lights are used for early-stage growth and cultivating compact, stocky plants for ground coverage. Red-light spectrum (600 to 700 nm) is ideal for the flowering and fruit stages.

White light encompasses all colors in the spectrum, which is why full-spectrum lights help grow plants indoors. Although light outside the visible spectrum doesn’t contribute to photosynthesis, it’s still beneficial. Ultraviolet light can affect flower scent and leaf color, and far-red light (700 to 750 nm) can increase leaf size and cause plants to “stretch” tall and thin.

Runkle says if you want to ensure you’re delivering sufficiently high-intensity light, you can measure it using a quantum sensor. This sensor can accurately read a light's photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD, and more on that below). “Look for packaging information on the amount of emitted light (measured in lumens or, ideally, micromoles per second (expressed as μmol×s–1). The higher the value, the more light emitted by the fixture; thus, the fewer you need to deliver a desired intensity.”

PPF

Photosynthetic photon flux, or PPF, measures the number of photons (particles of light) available to drive plant photosynthesis. PPF is a standard unit used to measure the efficacy of grow lights for indoor horticulture. This is often (but not always) indicated on a grow light's packaging or description. Aim for higher PPF levels when possible, as this will deliver more photons that a plant can use for growth. A measurement in which PPF is sometimes expressed as is in PPFD.

Wattage and Lumens

Wattage and lumens are listed on a grow light, though neither gives a complete picture of how adequate a grow light is. The higher a light's wattage, the more powerful the light. That light's glow strength is measured in lumens, abbreviated as “lm,” which translates into how much light the human eye perceives. Wattage and lumens don't translate to a plant's ability to absorb light, which makes it grow, but they're two specs worth considering for personal comfort levels and living spaces.

Styles

A spread-style hanging panel to mount or suspend under a shelf is a solid option for the most growth coverage. These are excellent for bundled plants and herbs that need to share space. You can also buy a stand with a light panel with adjustable height and light angles, ideal for kitchen gardens or taller plants. Those with a more design-savvy approach can choose from stylish hanging pendants or standalone light bulbs (called grow bulbs) to screw into existing fixtures without sacrificing personal style.

Connectivity

Many grow lights string together like Christmas lights—a bonus if you need more coverage. This provides ample lighting without requiring multiple outlets and is excellent for mounting on shelving. A maximum number of lights can typically be safely connected—two to six among the grow lights we cover.

How We Selected

With a century-long legacy of researching and testing various gear, gadgets, and appliances, Popular Mechanics has established itself as a trusted source for finding reliable products. The (home) garden variety is no exception. To find the best grow lights for indoor gardens and houseplants, we researched the field, consulted experts, and applied a combination of scientific knowledge and hands-on experience. We asked plantfluencer and author Lisa Eldred Steinkopf and Erik Runkle, Ph.D., and professor in Horticulture at Michigan State University, for grow light buying advice, and conducted extensive research to identify the most reliable products within the field. The grow lights in this guide were chosen based on style, durability, user feedback, efficiency, and use case. We also considered affordability and ease of use to cater to various indoor gardening needs.

For the latest update to this guide, I tested three grow lights over a month: Soltech's Aspect pendant, Rise Garden's Indoor Personal Garden starter kit, and AeroGarden's Grow Light Panel. For testing, I placed each light in our office basem*nt and gave them four plants to feed artificial sunlight, including one pothos, an aloe plant, a succulent, and a nameless tropical plant (I think it was a variant of calathea...?) that was in poor shape, and, for transparency's sake, died because I forgot to water it for an entire week (oops). The goal was to see if each plant would survive in an otherwise dark basem*nt. Sure enough, only one plant died—though it wasn't any light's fault.

I kept the Aspect pendant light spotlighting the succulent on a timer for 15 hours a day, roughly 12 inches above its soil, because I knew it could handle the constant heat. The pothos and the aloe plant were underneath the AeroGarden Grow Light Panel, standing over them for 8 hours at least four days a week. Because we're on a hybrid work schedule, I was worried they'd have died via lack of sunlight on days I wasn't in the office. Luckily, the pothos and aloe plants are robust and thrive with intermittent sunlight.

For the Rise Garden starter kit, I followed the packaging instructions and let four seed pods sit in water for a week. After they sprouted, I placed each pod in the main housing compartment and let their roots sit in water. From there, I monitored them weekly to see how they each vegetable and herb fared. Surprisingly, each vastly grew despite never turning the garden light off.

Matt Crisara, resident plant daddy and test editor, separately tested the Rosseau Plant Care's White Pendant Grow Light at home, which we've included below. It's another stylish pendant option that Crisara used over a week and compared to his beloved Aspect from Soltech.