Top Grow Lights for Indoor Gardening

Green indoor plants on a white shelf with antique pictures above them
Photo Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman
  • Top grow lights for indoor gardening:
    • Best Overall: GE BR30 LED Grow Light Bulb
    • Best for Wall Mounting: Feit Electric Dual Full LED Plant Grow Tube Light
    • Best for Aesthetic Design: Grow Light Frame Shelf
    • Best for Capacity: Spider Farmer LED Grow Light

Whether you’re incorporating biophilic design or improving your lake home’s air quality, grow lights can ensure indoor gardening success. They also provide convenience since you do not have to position all your plants by windows. As Jeremy Yamaguchi, CEO of Lawn Love, explains, “Grow lights can be used to supplement natural light or to provide plants with the light they need to thrive when natural light is not available.” Plus, since these lights come in different shapes and boast unique features, you can choose the one that best fits your lake home and lifestyle. So, if you are ready to activate your green thumb, check out these top grow lights for indoor gardening!

Best Overall: GE BR30 LED Grow Light Bulb

LED vs regular light bulbs over a plant.
Photo Courtesy of Amazon.com

Compared to a standard grow light, the GE Grow Light LED avoids harsh tones and provides pleasant natural lighting. Plus, it’s a full spectrum light, meaning that it’ll maximize your plant growth. As Emma Loker—expert gardener at DIY Garden—explains, “The best grow lights emit a full spectrum of lights, as this helps plants through multiple lifestyle stages.”

Dwayne Kula—President of LED Lighting Supply—recommends this light bulb because of its energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quick results, and soft ambiance. Kula advises using the light for at least five hours each day to see results. He also adds that one of the benefits of the GE Grow Light LED is that “it doesn’t get hot even after many hours of operation.”

Kerry Sherin—Consumer Advocate at Ownerly—advises checking the life span of your bulb to know when you might need to replace it in the future. In the case of the GE Grow Light LED, the bulb boasts up to 25,000 hours (or three years) of usage, so you won’t have to worry about replacing this quality product for a while.

Best for Wall Mounting: Feit Electric Dual Full LED Plant Grow Tube Light

Curly green plant resting under rows of LED light panels.
Photo Courtesy of Amazon.com

Although the Feit Electric Dual Light is a bit more expensive than the GE BR30 Light, its unique design allows you to mount the lights. These two-foot panels come assembled with full spectrum bulbs and boast a lightweight design that makes them easy to hang or seamlessly flush to the wall.

One two-foot Feit Electric Dual Light costs around $50. However, as Sherin points out, this is on the low end of the grow light cost spectrum. Sherin advises, “Generally speaking, you should expect to spend anywhere from $25-$200 for a basic setup with one or two bulbs.” Considering that the Feit Electric Dual Light emits full spectrum wavelengths, avoids high temperatures, and is easy to mount, it’s hard to beat its $50 price point.

Best for Aesthetic Design: Grow Light Frame Shelf

Plants sitting inside a blue frame
Photo Courtesy of Uncommon Goods

What if instead of hanging plant pictures on the wall, you framed the real ones? Forget packing all your plants on your crowded window sill; nestle them in this picturesque frame and place them anywhere in your home. With full-spectrum LED bulbs, the Grow Light Frame Shelf will maximize your plants’ growth whether you have ample or minimal natural light.

Additionally, the frame comes with an app that allows you to set timers and adjust the light intensity. As founder of Happy DIY Home and master gardener Jen Stark explains, “Timers make your grow lights easier to use as you can set them on a cycle and allow them to run without any further input from you.” Although the Grow Light Frame is on the pricier side, its design and technological features make it a worthy investment.

Best for Capacity: Spider Farmer LED Grow Light

Many plants sitting under a large grow light.
Photo Courtesy of Pepper Geek

If you are looking to grow multiple plants at once, the Spider Farmer LED Grow Light is the ideal choice. Spider offers multiple panel sizes, and the one pictured above is the SF600. This light has tremendous output, utilizing 384 LED bulbs. Yet, it has a low heat emission and a long lifespan, lasting up to 50,000 hours. Even with this capacity, the Spider Grow Light’s sleek design takes up minimal space. As Stace Krljanovic—advisor at Patio Productions—elucidates, “If you have an especially large space, there are larger bulbs available that can help give you more room coverage without taking up too much space (or money).” The Spider Grow Light accomplishes both of these tasks, spanning a little over three feet and costing around $130.

So, if you want top grow lights for indoor gardening, you can’t go wrong with any of these highly-rated choices. Simply choose the one that best compliments your lifestyle, and get to growing!

FAQs

Plus, it’s a full spectrum light, meaning that it’ll maximize your plant growth. As Emma Loker—expert gardener at DIY Garden—explains, “The best grow lights emit a full spectrum of lights, as this helps plants through multiple lifestyle stages.”

Sherin advises, “Generally speaking, you should expect to spend anywhere from $25-$200 for a basic setup with one or two bulbs.”

As founder of Happy DIY Home and master gardener Jen Stark explains, “Timers make your grow lights easier to use as you can set them on a cycle and allow them to run without any further input from you.”

As Stace Krljanovic—advisor at Patio Productions—elucidates, “If you have an especially large space, there are larger bulbs available that can help give you more room coverage without taking up too much space (or money).” The Spider Grow Light accomplishes both of these tasks, spanning a little over three feet and costing around $130.

Best Indoor Herb Garden Sets

On the Lake Homes Realty blog, we’ve written a lot about the joys of gardening and cooking, and the place where these two popular lake house hobbies intersect is indoor herb gardening. There’s a ton of perks to this easy hobby. Not only are indoor herb kits organic and fresh, but they’re also a great money saver. Especially during the winter season, they’re an excellent placeholder for the outdoor gardening you’re saving for spring. Check out some of the best indoor herb garden sets for the current season.

If You’re On the Go

Click and Grow Smart Garden 3 – Amazon.com

The Click and Grow Smart Garden was named one of the best self-tending indoor herb garden sets by The Spruce magazine. With energy-efficient LED lights to grow your plant of choice, this garden is easy to set up. Just drop in the plant pods, fill the water reservoir, and plug in the kit. Besides its ease of use, another perk of this Smart Garden is its versatility. You can grow anything and everything from strawberries to basil to chili peppers. The self-watering tank requires little to no effort, so you can spend more time enjoying the lake and less time watering your herbs. 

If Your Kids Want to Garden

Kid’s Indoor Herb Garden Grow Kit – Etsy

If you’re an avid gardener and want to include your kids in the process, this Kids Indoor Herb Garden Grow Kit from Etsy is perfect. This kid-friendly kit comes with herb seeds, soil, biodegradable pots, and a small shovel. Depending on what dishes your kids enjoy, you can choose to grow basil, cilantro, or parsley as garnishes. It functions as a dual opportunity to teach kids how to grow herbs and incorporate them into cooking projects.

If You Have a Small Kitchen

This Vertical Plant Stand is not one of your typical indoor herb garden sets. The product doesn’t come with seeds or soil. Instead, it’s a structure from which to start building your garden. This plant ladder comes with five pots, which allows you to grow several herbs together vertically. This setup is perfect if you have a small kitchen at your lake house. If you only want to produce a few plants, you could store pens, notebooks, or other supplies in the remaining holders. Both trendy and versatile, this plant stand is an excellent choice for your kitchen. 

If You’re on a Budget

Winter Indoor Garden Kit by Mr. Sprout – Amazon.com

This Winter Indoor Garden Kit is perfect for starting your own indoor herb gardening. Just $25, this set has everything you need to get started. In addition to peat pots, plant tags, and soil pellets, it comes with a grower’s guide manual that provides comprehensive instructions for your garden. Plus, it’s specified for the winter season. With wintertime herbs such as lemon basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, and jalapeno, you won’t eat a flavorless meal for months. 

 

If You Love Spicy Foods

Chef’n Microgreens Grower – Amazon.com

Calling all spicy food lovers! While herbs like rosemary will add a refreshing taste to your palette, some of us like foods with a little more kick. If this is you, you’ll want to check out herb garden sets with microgreens. This Chef’n Microgreens Grower will fit on a windowsill or countertop at your lake house and will allow you to grow fresh microgreens very quickly. Unlike herb sets, you have the option to buy the Spicy Mixed Microgreens pack, which includes broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, arugula, red acre cabbage, and southern giant mustard greens to add spice to your food. These miniature versions will also bloom faster than full-sized plants — a win-win for those who want delicious home-grown, healthy greens within a short amount of time.