Hi guys! Its our first post here. My girlfriend got a Smart Garden 3 few days ago as a present. We were really excited about getting our own plants growing at home. We unpacked it, got everything ready but… Unfortunately, we found a huge problem just after plugging it. Is this amount of light normal?
We have been moving the garden to different points of our home, but the result is always the same. Even during the hours with the highest level of natural light coming through the windows, we notice the Smart Garden. The light is so bright that today I was even getting a huge headache, so we finally decided to switch it off for the moment. We checked some videos and pictures of other people but never feel this incredible amount of light. What do you think? Is is normal? Is there a way to regulate the amount of light?
That was one of the first impressions for me too, but I just inserted one of the exctensions which made the amount of scattered light from the pot much less irritating and the plants sprouted nicely nonetheless. After some green is visible and You have removed the transparent plastic too then everything will get exponentially better.
I remember this at the beginning with our SG9. Here’s some helpful pointers:
The top is white, and you’ve got the lights about 2 inches from the base, so any light exiting the lamps has nowhere to go, except be reflected harshly back from that white surface. It’s literally the same principal as sticking a flashlight against your hand, versus pulling back a bit - the reflected light dims as the source light spreads by the square root of the distance. So, put in an extension - the light and then won’t reflect so harshly.
When populated with non-white plants that absorb some of the light, the appearance is further dimmed.
What we did is put ours on a smart plug. It’s on when all our lights are on and we’re probably cooking, but it’s off at 7pm just incase it’s movie time. It’s on late at night to help illuminate the way if anyone stumbles into the kitchen needing a late night snack or drink. You might find that simply putting it on a timer that runs when you are at work or in bed, and off whilst you are around, is a better option.
We embraced that light; Your photo shows a wide shadow around the base, but with even one extension, that area is more illuminated. I put small “parasite” pots in that light for a “free ride”, and they do well because of it.
Thank you both for the answers. We finally added one of the extensions and the difference is huge. And the plants seems to be growing the same. Thank you again!
