Hello!

I’ve got these plants currently, in an office with an LED light that’s about 24in above the desktop, or about 12-18 inches above the plants (depending on the plant). I have a little mister for humidity.

I’d like to add maybe a spider plant (had great success with those in the past no matter what light they got???) and maybe one or two more, and wanted to see what recommendations y’all might have (I know pothos is a big one). I’m specifically looking for something with colorful or irridescent leaves. I see some great begonias and Persian shields and wonder if the light is good for them. I know some say those are both easy plants but I had a bad experience with Persian shield previously.

What would you consider this light? I can’t imagine it’s comparable to the sun at all so I’m guessing bright Indirect with how close it is to the plants?

I loooove and I’ve only had succulents before, with the exception of spider plants and a tradescantia, that I had to give away before moving. I don’t know if succs would like this light so I’m holding off on those for the office.

Thanks!

  • nettle@mander.xyzEnglish
    2·
    6 hours ago

    Is the LED light a grow light? If not that’s fine, most normal white LEDs are just as good or often better than cheap grow lights so don’t bother switch.

    Its really hard to tell from a photo how bright the light is, but my guess is its medium indirect light, high indirect is still really bright.

    I would recommend a maidenhair fern, their leaves look amazing, especially with light shining through and they can handle pretty much any level of indirect light.

    Another recommendation would be a hoya, there are lots of varietys some have flashy leaves, and they are easy to look after.

    Then if you want a challenge: jewel orchids; these orchids have beautiful iridescent leaves and tend to like high humidity, and low to medium indirect light, unfortunately they are an absolute pain to grow.

    I also love mounted elkhorn ferns if you want a splash of weird. Very easy to care for.

    I have had surprisingly good results with succulents in low light conditions, they grow very slow but seem to usually do fine.

    • Eve@discuss.onlineOPEnglish
      2·
      6 hours ago

      Thanks for the recs! Theres a lot to look into with those.

      The light is just a regular LED. Honestly, visually to my eyes it seems almost as bright as the grow light I have at home. But I know visually the brightness can be deceiving.

      Jewel orchids especially are super pretty. But I have trouble with even the generic grocery store flower section ones 😅

      • nettle@mander.xyzEnglish
        2·
        4 hours ago

        Eyes can sometimes be less deiceving than marketing material.

        my auntie, who has one many awards with her rare orchids, still cant figure out some jewel orchids. My own baby jewel orchid was looking beautiful before it got demolished by spidermites (at the time I thought they were just spiders until it was to late). Next time I’m going to try grow them in a bioactive terrarium hopefully they will be happier.

        I’d love to see how your setup turns out and what plants you choose to plant, please post an update when you get them.

        • Eve@discuss.onlineOPEnglish
          2·
          4 hours ago

          Good luck! Terrariums are their own art form and mystery, and so pretty. If like an update on that whenever you set it up! I bet it’ll be an interesting one.