Monday, February 15, 2010

Growing Plants Indoors with OttLite!

Do you feel like a budding gardener? Have you always felt like you have had the green thumb, but never had the opportunity to pursue your talent? Then it’s time to try indoor gardening!

The OttLite lamp is for crafters, readers and students alike. However, there are many other uses for this great product, most notably indoor gardening. Amazingly, the OttLite brand began because of the founders desire for indoor gardening.

The Walt Disney Corporation contacted our founder, Dr. John Nash Ott to film the growth of a pumpkin for a very important and memorable scene in the film Cinderella. After several attempts Dr. Ott discovered that if the light was set to a particular wave length, the light quality would be as close to daylight as possible. With this light setup, Dr. Ott's pumpkin made it into to full maturity, Disney got their inspiration for the coach in Cinderella and the legend of OttLite was born! Click the video below to watch Dr. Ott's contribution to the film.


I myself live in an apartment, which makes it difficult to have a garden without using my OttLite. How else can you grow plants indoors?

Initially I was confused as to where the lamps should be placed for the best results possible. I scoured the internet for information, but to no avail. That is partially why I have decided to write this article, to help those of you who are as lost as I was on the subject of indoor gardening.

What about the heat?


OttLite's Plant Bulb is fluorescent based and operates at much lower temperatures than a standard compact flourescent or incandescent bulb. Therefore it is not harmful for the plants to be close to the lamp, as it radiates much less heat. This makes it optimal for a small room or office where heat could have negative effects on the plants or the environment in general.

What about the light and its optimal positioning?

The first step in determining your lighting set up is to know how much light your plant needs. This is most easily found from the tag included with the plant from the nursery. Next, it's time to determine what environment the plant normally grows in, including the duration of light, soil type, nutrients and moisture needs.

Here are some guidelines for when you decide to purchase your OttLite Plant Light setup:

-The OttLite 20w screw in, swirl type bulb (20EDG2R) in a standard shade should be placed 1” to 3” away to achieve noontime sunlight intensity.

-At this distance the spread of the light is about 6”, which is ok for small plants. If the plant will be lit for 10 or more hours then the light can be placed further away at 12”.
-The OttLite 40w 48” linear tube (OTL4012P) in a basic white reflector fixture can be placed between 1 and 6 inches from from a bed of plants (since the light spread is so large) that need partial to full sun.
-A timer should be employed to aid in adjusting the total amount of light being delivered.
-The OttLite 13w Plant lamp (OTL13BPB) should be placed as close as 1” for full sun plants.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amiable brief and this mail helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you on your information.

Anonymous said...

What a great resource!

Anonymous said...

Hm hm.. that's very interessting but to be honest i have a hard time figuring it... wonder what others have to say..