Will security night light affect plants?

by j mayes
(calvert city,ky)

ive got a bed with nothing but pea gravel in it. i was thinking about turning this into a garden. im thinking the weed growth will be minium. but the bed sits by a security light that comes on at night. will the light mess with the flowering of the plants?

Comments for Will security night light affect plants?

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Sep 06, 2010

Night lighting affecting plants
by: Megan

Yes 24 hour light will be most confusing for plants. But there are lots of ifs and buts, such as temperature and if there is any dusk and dawn lower lighting. Light is essential for most plants to grow, so the more light, the more growth? Yes, often, and in places like Alaska where they have a few months of almost continuous light, they produce huge vegetables of some varieties that don't need a long growing season and high temps.

I don't have specific answer to your question that would cover all plants, and I suggest you give your garden a go. There would be lots of flowering plants and veggies that would love all the light, but my guess is that they would need to be annuals. Any perennial or bi-annual plants would need day/night and summer/winter day lengths to follow their normal cycles or growing, flowering, setting seed, dormancy or resting and then new growth again.

Let us know the results of your spotlight garden.

Mar 06, 2011

No
by: Andy

I think no. If you look at seedlings on a windowsill, lights in the house make no difference at all to which way they grow. If you put seedlings in a dark room with lights on they would fail. Naughty drug plant growers use specialised lamps to grow their plants. I would say that the light emitted by your light wouldn't even be recognised by a plant as light....

Nov 05, 2012

Plants require time of rest from light too
by: Mizan

Wether plants recognize security lights or not, only god knows but I did my own experiment. I replaced several different kind of plants from my planter next to a security light, over the cause of six years, the last being half a dozen chrysanthemums which all refused to flower except when I moved them away. Little did I know that flowering plants in particular require certain amount of darkness to set their biological clock into flowering. Commercial growers usually cover their moms for a few hours of darkness daily to force flowering. Amazing!

Jan 27, 2016

I think so
by: Anonymous

We live in a town home and have flower beds on top of a 5ft or so tall divider wall that separates us from the adjoining town home, which ends at the entryway of the house.

In that entryway I have put a small 5 watt energy efficient light bulb, that is used for security purposes and stays on all night.

Currently there are tulips growing in those flower beds, left in the dirt from last year, and I have noticed that the closer tulips to that entryway light the taller they grow, until they pretty much all level off eventually.

During the first year I have noticed this phenomenon which is repeating every year, so basically starting from the entryway where the light is our tulips vary so much that the ones in the first flower bed are about twice as tall as those in the furthest flower bed. But they clearly decrease in size the further they get from that night light so there is definitely some connection there. Oh and by the way, that small 5 watt light bulb is cool (white) light - if that makes any difference.

Jun 29, 2016

Probably
by: Botany Bill

Light from any source will be absorbed by plants. I'm not aware of plants needing a night period. After all, the moon provides light at night naturally. But it's the insects that I wonder about. They may alter their normal night activity and throw off the good bug - bad bug balance.

Mar 10, 2017

I found it affected a shade-loving plant
by: Anonymous

I have a fixed wall-top planter in a spot that never gets direct sunlight. It took me a long time to find anything that would grow well in it, but a trailing fushia and lamium (dead nettle) have worked. Then I got a security light on a sensor which shines directly onto it. It comes on frequently through the night due to cats, foxes, people passing and cars driving past.

The lamium, a plant which does well in shade, is now shrunken and stunted, with tiny leaves. However, I haven't noticed an effect either way on the fuscia, which can deal with some sun, or any other sun-tolerant plants nearby.

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