do plants need to sleep?

[Phillip Sherman]

Good one. Wink

[Cereoid-UR12-]

Most plants need a daily period of darkness to do well.

They do not sleep in the way animals do but part of their metabolism occurs at night.

Put your light on a 24 hour timer set for short day comparable to that outdoors.

Plants do not dream.

[SugarChile]

I know that when starting seedlings indoors, it is recommended that they get a certain amount of dark hours. I don't have the science to back it up, surely someone out there has a reference?

On the other hand, I have some houseplants that live under a 24/7 light, and they have been thriving for years. They are sanseverias, though, and do fine under all types of conditions.

In your situation, I would set your lights on a timer if at all possible. If not possible, consider it an experiment and report back on how they do. They are also tough plants, and might be perfectly ok that way for a few months.

Cheers, Sue

[Phillip Sherman]

Apparently you haven't been following the thread on winterizing water hyacinths. It's illegal to possess these obnoxious weeds.

[Michael Shaffer]

Hi, I have a few water hyacinths that I'm keeping inside for the winter, is it ok to leave the lights on 24/7?

[Michael Shaffer]

[Michael Shaffer]

[Andrew Ostrander]

This info is from

How many hours a day should I burn my lights? A: There is no one best way to light plants: It depends on the type of plant, the kind of plant (species), and exactly what you want the plant to do.

The typical rule of thumb for flowering plants is to run a 16 to 18 hour light cycle then 6 to 8 hours of dark time, during the vegetative stage. Then at the Bloom stage, switch to 12 on/12 off. It is also typical to run a Metal Halide during the Vegetative stage then switch to a High Pressure Sodium Light during the Bloom stage.

Q: What happens if the lights burn 24 hours a day? A: The plants will grow. After about 16 or 18 hours in most plants, though, growth levels off. So if you turn off the lights for a few hours, you can save some electricity and not really affect growth. Plants often use dark time to build up Florins which are hormones plants use to bloom. This is why the light is often cut back during Bloom stage.