Cheapest lights you have purchased to successfully overwinter floating pond plants indoors for 6+ months?

[Phaewryn]

My pond coverage is finally at 100% and I am really happy with the way it is looking, however I'm in Vermont and it's the end of the season and it is all going to die very soon.

I'd like to attempt once again to try to overwinter some of this inside but so far none of the lighting that I have attempted to use has been successful at overwintering these floating plants.

I'm also about $13,000 in debt and I don't really have the money to buy quality lights so I'm here trying to find out what is the cheapest way that everyone has successfully managed to overwinter floating plants inside over the winter. I'm not opposed to real redneck solutions like aluminium clamp droplights with floodlight bulbs in them, just the bulbs need to be under $15.

Note: I'm in Vermont and winter means greater than 6 months inside.

Plants in question are frogbit, red root floaters, salvinia.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Do you have an aquarium that you can put some of it into?
I have overwintered two of the plants you mention successfully back when living way up north in the tundra. It is relatively easy in an aquarium. Keeping them going in a tub takes dedication. Not a 'plug and play' situation. Are you thinking of overwintering them in a tub of some kind?
Regarding lighting needed if you are using a container:
Try for a south or west window where sunlight will illuminate the tub. A shop light should work well in addition to window light. Air movement and nutrients are very important. You will have to watch the leaves closely for yellowing signs of stress or nutrient deficiency. In the spring, the plants have to be slowly acclimated to your pond. That is another topic if you are interested.
In the end, you will enjoy your plants in the pond a couple, perhaps three weeks earlier than if you just obtained new plants in the spring.

 

[Phaewryn]

Do you have an aquarium that you can put some of it into?
I have overwintered two of the plants you mention successfully back when living way up north in the tundra. It is relatively easy in an aquarium. Keeping them going in a tub takes dedication. Not a 'plug and play' situation. Are you thinking of overwintering them in a tub of some kind?
Regarding lighting needed if you are using a container:
Try for a south or west window where sunlight will illuminate the tub. A shop light should work well in addition to window light. Air movement and nutrients are very important. You will have to watch the leaves closely for yellowing signs of stress or nutrient deficiency. In the spring, the plants have to be slowly acclimated to your pond. That is another topic if you are interested.
In the end, you will enjoy your plants in the pond a couple, perhaps three weeks earlier than if you just obtained new plants in the spring.

I have an aquarium but it does not have a light so I need a recommendation for an effective light. The aquarium light I had previously died (led light bar) and wasn't strong enough to keep plants alive.

None of my windows get more than an hour of direct sunlight, and that's not helping the problem any: none face west. The south ones get an hour or two of filtered sun from about 10am to noon. I pretty much need to provide enough lighting to not need any sun. I live in a ravine, most of my windows abut a cliff.

 

[Stephen Noble]

I hesitate to move pond plants into an aquarium unless you are certain no 'hitch hikers' are attached. You can disinfect the plants. Plenty on this site and other sites on how to do that. How large is the aquarium and what's in it? You might be able to share a cheap light. A good shop light with wide spectrum plant bulbs might be enough light for your floaters in a tub. I have never only used artificial lighting for overwintering these plants. But I have successfully kept them in an aquarium with T5 plant and LED plant lights. The fish provided much of the nutrients but I still had to add supplements. Unless you really want to do this as a winter project, I would just compost the plants when nature takes its course. Given your situation, being in debt as mentioned, you will spend much more in energy and plant nutrients than returned for your investment. I would just obtain new starters in the spring for a few bucks.

 

[JRS]

As my T8 and T12 aquarium lights have died I have replaced them with a variety of cheap LED shop lights and grow lights depending on the the tank size.

This is a nice smaller light I have used: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Va...9?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1200&from=/search

In addition to light, humidity is essential to maintain a lot of plants over winter. Without a covered container the leaves often wither due to the low humidity. I do not bother anymore myself unless I can fit them into an aquarium with a lid.