Where to start? Probably with the amount of light that African violets will thrive on. Winter sunlight is not enough. There is not enough, and a window is not always the best place.
Violets do best with at least twelve to sixteen hours of light a day. That’s far more than we can get through a window during the winter. It’s much easier to supply artificial light evenly for your violet. Normal tungsten bulbs are too hot. Violets prefer daytime temperatures below 78 degrees - and night temperatures above 60. Even the light from a single florescent desk lamp will work wonders if it’s placed just over the violet.
At present I’m trying a CFB placed about 14 inches above the single plant. It’s a warm daylight bulb with (approx) brightness of a 100 watt light bulb.
(It’s a Greenlite 23w/ELS 2700k bulb T2)
It runs cool enough so the plant is not being scorched. A timer turns the light on at 9:00 am, and off at 10:30 pm.
Next - Making watering and feeding easy!
