Can I use house lighting to grow lettuce hydroponically?

Question

I need to know if I can use house lighting to grow lettuce hydroponically

Answer 1

Most LED lights in our homes are not designed as a FULL SPECTRUM light - Full Spectrum as in, mimicking the SUN (which plants naturally grow under):

"In terms of energy, sunlight at Earth's surface is around 52 to 55 percent infrared (above 700 nm), 42 to 43 percent visible (400 to 700 nm), and 3 to 5 percent ultraviolet (below 400 nm)."

Plants utilize wavelengths humans are not visually sensitive to, to us, a light is just a light, we can tell its color and brightness but underneath it all it's a whole different story.

Meaning most cheap LEDs/reading lights are designed with what we see in mind, and it also depends on the type of light that you have in your home, but a good rule of thumb is BLUE/RED light, but GREEN/infrared and UV have also shown to produce a response from plants.

So if you're thinking about growing lettuce, which is a crop so you probably want high yield, then you're better off investing in a full spectrum light so you'll end up giving the plant what it needs -> a better harvest.

Answer 2

By house lighting, I'm assuming you mean the existing lighting in your home. If so, that's typically going to be insufficient to grow hydroponically.

Hydroponics typically requires more targeted lighting such as an LED fixture or a fluorescent grow light. These lights are usually 1-2 ft above the plants you're growing.