I have a small orange tree in gallon sized pot. I live in NJ so I have to bring it inside during the winter. I’d like to put some kind of lamp above it to emulate the sun. Does anyone know what kind of bulb I should be using? TIA!
–FCOD
Any of the “full spectrum” grow lights should be fine. If it’s small enough, you can put it outside on warm days. I grow 22 varieties of citrus (outside), and they are quite hardy. They can take slightly sub-freezing temperatures overnight. You want to make sure that there’s no possibility of a hard frost when it is budding, or you will loose all your flowers.
Light and Plants
It’s nearly impossible to get too much light on a sun loving plant indoors.
I use a bank of compact fluorescents, augmented with a 150 watt high pressure sodium ‘streetlamp.’
Choose the fluorescents to supply the blue end of the spectrum. You’ll want bulbs that look as ‘cold’ as possible. The sodium lamp supplies red/infrared light.
You need both red and blue to keep both of the plant’s photosystems running.
A high pressure sodium lamp is probably overkill for a simple setup. Combining bluish compact fluorescents with some incadescants should do the trick for you.