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Choosing a Grow Light

gasificada

gasificada

Basically, I am looking for the cheapest fluoro I can get away with to give my seedlings a little boost during the night hours. During the day, they have a nice little window sill to hang out on so I don't need top of the range lighting or anything like that. The trouble is, all the fluoros I have found really give me no information at all apart from wattage and terms like 'cool white', 'natural white', 'neutral white', etc. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for 'daylight' but the best I have found is 'cool daylight'. Only a few tell me the Kelvins and even less tell me the Lumens! I am under the impression that a higher number of both is better, is that correct?

Can anyone tell me if either of the following will do the job?

Number 1 (probably the most info I have found on a fluoro!):
18 W / 840
4,000 k (Cool White)
2400 lm (80 lm/W)
(and boasts 'True Color' whatever that means)

and Number 2 tells me nothing apart from:
Tri-Phosphorous 5,000 k
and has a graph on it similar to this but coloured (starting off purple, peaking on yellow, and ending on red). Of course, I read somewhere that I should be looking for something with alot of red, correct?

I dunno, this is frustrating me to no end! Any help would be greatly appreciated! (the more layman's terms, the better! :lol: )
 
This site will have just about everything you could need. They have full spectrum fluro and all the other varieties of lighting.

Sunlight Supply Co.

If you would like, I am currently working on a partnership with a Horticulture and Hydroponic dealer and warehouse, and I can check with them to see what they have tomorrow for ya. I can probably get it wholesale and discounted so youre not looking at ridiculous price for something quality.

You can also check out reptile lighting fluorescent bulbs. I have some extra ones with a built in ballast if you think that woud be what your looking for. Its an 18" setup.

Just do remember that your plants will need some darkness each day. Thats when they "breathe" and do a lot of their growing.
 
JSKaiser said:
This site will have just about everything you could need. They have full spectrum fluro and all the other varieties of lighting.

Sunlight Supply Co.

If you would like, I am currently working on a partnership with a Horticulture and Hydroponic dealer and warehouse, and I can check with them to see what they have tomorrow for ya. I can probably get it wholesale and discounted so youre not looking at ridiculous price for something quality.

You can also check out reptile lighting fluorescent bulbs. I have some extra ones with a built in ballast if you think that woud be what your looking for. Its an 18" setup.

Just do remember that your plants will need some darkness each day. Thats when they "breathe" and do a lot of their growing.
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Hooking me up with a great deal... now that's what I'm talking! ;) but unfortunately I'm gonna have to give that a miss... thanks heaps for the offer though!

When I say nothing fancy, I'm talking super el cheapo. This season I'm just looking for a fluoro that will be of some benefit but not necessarily a huge benefit. At the present moment, I can get my seedlings 6 hours of proper sunlight a day on the window sill and am probably looking at getting them under light for say another 8-10 hours a day. The grow space I am looking to cover is only very small (say 20" x 8"). Here is a datasheet for similar fluoros I am looking at (and can get VERY cheap): http://images.mercateo.com/pdf/SIL/10200820631718.pdf

If I have a fixture that will fit two of them, do you think they will be of some benefit?

Cheers!
 
I have two extra 18" fluros I used to use for seed starting, and an 18" full spectrum reptile light. I van send you one free if youll cover the shipping. They just sit in my closet at the moment. I have also had good results with CFLs as well and have some of them layin around if youd like. Just hit me with a pm.
 
That'd be awesome! But I'll tell you what, I'm gonna hit up a few hydro stores tomorrow to see what I can suss out... if my ventures prove fruitless, I might just take you up on that offer. I've decided to scrap the whole idea of using standard fluoros and just go for a proper grow fluoro.

Cheers! Much appreciated!
 
if you want cheap, get a shop light (or however many you need) ...each shop light will cover a long strip 4 feet long and 9 inches wide...two of them of course would cover 18"...I am running three shelves 24" wide and eight feet long...each shelf has 6 shoplights...not saying it is the most cost effective but I started with it and have to stick with it...for the newer stuff I have built, I have been using 42 watt CFLs...they are more for a directed or saturated area for winter plant growth...
 
AlabamaJack said:
if you want cheap, get a shop light (or however many you need) ...each shop light will cover a long strip 4 feet long and 9 inches wide...two of them of course would cover 18"...I am running three shelves 24" wide and eight feet long...each shelf has 6 shoplights...not saying it is the most cost effective but I started with it and have to stick with it...for the newer stuff I have built, I have been using 42 watt CFLs...they are more for a directed or saturated area for winter plant growth...
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A couple months back, if I had thought quick enough, I could have scored some of them shop lights for free (and a whole lot more!). The supermarket I work in had a refit on two of it's aisles including replacement of the light fixtures. I could have scored *everything* I needed... shop lights, shelf fixtures and brackets... even some kind of reflective material that was used as backing behind the cosmetics section! It all just got thrown into skips and taken away. I don't know *where* my mind was at the time but I sure do deeply regret not being on the ball quick enough....
 
Hit up some hydro stores today and this is what I ended up with...

IMG_3242.jpg


Double fixture with two Sylvania Gro-Lux fluoros. It may not be the fanciest or most effective piece around but the price was sure right!
 
You can always get cheap fixtures, but the price of electricity to run any light source will outstrip the cost of the fixture in less than a year.....keep this in mind.
 
willard3 said:
You can always get cheap fixtures, but the price of electricity to run any light source will outstrip the cost of the fixture in less than a year.....keep this in mind.
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Thanks for the tip and reminder. :)

If all goes to plan, I will only be using the light 6-8 hours a day for a month max. That's pretty much the reason I was only looking for a cheap light to begin with.

Just trying to get a little head start this season. ;)
 
You don't need to worry about expensive flouro tubes for growing. You'll actually get more lumens out of the regular stuff - What you do is shoplight - 4footers. then alternate warm and cool to help cover the spectrum. I use this method for all my seedlings, and get much nicer seedlings than any of my contacts that all spend big money on 'full spectrum' growlights. The guys beatring me out are my friends using big Metal Halyde systems.

Will it grow peppers - you bet your ass :

Well - I was going to be impressive and post a bookmark, but I can't find it.

ANYWAY - these things got huge AND - the guy didn't make his height adjustable. you'll want the ability to move your lights up and down with growth. The flourocents don't put off much heat, and they're most effective inches from the plants.

Simplist way to do this is chains.

So basically - building a big shelf with a bottom shelf, top, and then hooks at top to hold your shop lights - chains that can be adjusted as time goes on.

I'm also a big believer in Fans. keep things aerated to protect from fungal crap on the soil. BUT also - make your plants stronger.
 
Shop lights did it for me. If memories serves correct, I used a 2 slot 4 footer standard fixture with the least expensive lights I felt I could trust. GE brand and were labelled as Plant & Aquarium lights.

This coming seed starting season will include 2 fixtures with 1 Plant & Auarium light and 1 Sunlight light.

Keeping the lights nice n close will keep them from getting leggy. And it's helpful to brush your hand across them if you have limited airflow to get the plants to strengthen their stems. Otherwise they'll tip and be a pain when you go to harden them off and a slight breeze has them begging for mercy on their side.
 
I seem to remember somewhere that there had been a study on which flourescent bulb produced the best results when growing plants. And if my memory is correct the answer was cheapo 840 lights, that is 4000K or cool white standard flourescent bulbs. I used 6500K CFL's last year and had good results so I would suspect that using 6500K or 4000K flourescent tubes work pretty darn fine. Try to max out lm/W though as that is where your money trickle away.
 
Kuret said:
I seem to remember somewhere that there had been a study on which flourescent bulb produced the best results when growing plants.
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Is this the study you were talking about? I thought it was a pretty informative.


http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/fluorescent.html
 
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