AeroGardens are wonderful for indoor plant growth or in areas where the sunlight is inadequate throughout the year.
While it is effective for the growth of plants, the light on the Aerogarden is too bright for you, for your family, or for your pets.
While it is deemed safe for health and eyes, it is still distracting and annoying with its brightness.
There are some solutions to remedy an Aerogarden light too bright to make your home a more comfortable place for everyone.
Dimming the light can be achieved in part by using side panels, or silk covering for plants. You can also raise and lower the light hood.
What Does An Aerogarden Grow Light Do?
These grow lights assist plants to keep developing and undertaking their technical functions in the absence of sunlight or at night, at least to a certain level of effectiveness.
They provide daylight white light utilizing LED light technology. This is the best LED light to grow plants with.
An AeroGarden light is powerful but it doesn’t produce any of the glaring harshness which purple lights provide to plants.
Comment: The reason for this is an AeroGarden light may hurt your eyes, but they are rated with either a 12 or 45 Watt LED, and perfectly safe.
How Do I Dim the Lights on My AeroGarden?
There are a few solutions to dim or completely block out the bright lights from the AeroGarden on your plants.
The options can include:
- voice command
- via an app
- with a remote control
Using Alexa to Dim the Lights
The first step to using the Alexa with your AeroGarden is to pair it to the AeroGarden App. Once you do that, Alexa will respond to your verbal commands anytime you use the partnered name to your AeroGarden.
You may ask Alexa to turn the lights off or on and or dim them, anytime you want, without interfering with your light cycles for your preset programmed cycles.
Another type of remote voice control is the use of the Amazon Echo to manage your garden device to turn down an AeroGarden light that is too bright.
Using the AeroGarden App
There is an AeroGarden App that you can use to control your lights on your plants.
When you buy your AeroGarden, it doesn’t automatically download to your phone.
You can download the app by searching “AeroGarden” in the app store on your phone.
The advantage to the app is that you would connect to the AeroGarden Bounty WiFi to use the app.
The same WiFi features allow you to manage your garden settings and lighting, on any device, no matter the location or time. You can even dim lights (whenever you want).
Using a Remote Control to Dim Lights
There is an AeroGarden App you can utilize to manage the lights on your plants.
While the AeroGarden comes with an app, it is not automatically downloaded to your phone when you purchase a AeroGarden.
You have to download the app by searching by typing in “AeroGarden” in the app store from your phone.
The advantage of the app is that the AeroGarden Bounty WiFi will allow you to connect to your app.
This WiFi connecting will allow you to modify your garden settings for any mobile device, wherever you are, and whatever your doing so you can dim lights whenever you want.
What Are Other Ways to Make the Lights Less Bright?
There are some low-tech ways to lessen AeroGarden lights too bright.
Using Form Boards
One of the simplest ways to fix this issue is to use Tri-Fold Foam Poster Boards around the AeroGardens. You can apply the foam boards for the front or back and block the sides to reduce the brightness flooding the room, as well.
The boards can be purchased in either colored (black or white), but black has become the trending color to cover the AeroGarden lights, too bright.
The foam boards will need to be cut to size, depending on your AeroGarden’s size.
Some people will use binder clips to attach the fabric to the foam poster board so that the plants can be covered at night while keeping the light from spilling further away from the plants.
If your AeroGarden(s) is resting on a shelf, you may decide to make curtains attractive or simply straight panels so you can cover them and the shelf when you do not want light.
How to Lower Your Light Hood Manually
Another method of adjusting an AeroGarden light too bright is to move the light hood up and down.
In this case you may not be changing really the amount of light, but may change the glare a little.
Here’s the procedure to change the light hood height:
- With one hand wrap it around the light post bottom just above the Grow Deck.
- With the other hand grasp the top light post and push it up if you want to raise it and push it down if you want to lower it. The light post will move a notch at a time. Keep moving it until it is where you want it when your AeroGarden light is too bright.
Using a Silk Fabric Over Your Plants
This solution is similar to using fabric over the lights and plants but this version may be more advantageous to the plants.
You can use a dark silk fabric to drape over the entire AeroGarden and plants when you want to be able to sleep and want to block the ultra bright lights.
People use silk because it is not heavy so it won’t put weight on the plants and it is highly breathable.
You can uncover the plants, or leave off the silk at any time so you have total control over the amount of light they receive.
It is a very simple solution to the problem of bright LED lights coming from your AeroGarden.
Would Dimming my AeroGarden Lights Hurt My Plants?
Worried about dimming your AeroGarden? That won’t harm your plants.
Plants respond well to changes, and some people use both sunlight and the Aerogarden to provide sufficient light to their plants.
Don’t forget: Plants also need around 8 hours of darkness to strike the proper balance of daylight to darkness. Now that you know how to shut off, or dim, your AeroGarden your plants can thrive in balance!
Conclusion
The AeroGarden will make your plants happy and it will make you happy.
But once you start to get in the groove of managing your garden and the lights, it will ease your mind, and your family — especially if they need to share a room with the AeroGarden lights too bright.
There are a lot of cheap, practical ways to dim and reduce glare from the lights and your eyes will definitely appreciate the gesture.