lighting Indoor lighting

[stevedigs04]

Hello Everyone,

As this is my first year seriously growing peppers I want to try and get a setup inside for next season both to start plants in the winter an to keep plants alive from this year.


There are SO many options at lighting and I don't really understand alot of the science behind it (wattage, light emitted, power used ect). So I was hoping to get some detailed guidance on what would be the easiest (can get it at hardware store) and most effective/efficient setup.

Thanks!!

-Steve

 

[EZGrowing]

If you want to get fruit off of the plants in winter then you are going to need either HPS (High Pressure Sodium) or MH (Metal Halide) light bulbs. You can find some of those kind of bulbs at a hardware store but you are better off ordering them from a hydroponics store since they will have better lights. 

If you want to run those lights you need to dedicate some space to the light and you need to cool the room in which it is in. Just one 400w(att) light will heat up a 20x20 room to 90-100F if not ventilated. The lights also require ballasts to get them to work and specialized hoods. You are looking at around 300 bucks PER LIGHT and another 200-300 to vent each ROOM you have the lights in. You can run more than one light in each room but you have to increase the size of your ventilation fans and at a certain point you wont be able to cool it anymore. These lamps were originally called heat lamps and NASA uses them to create 1 MILLION degree temperatures to simulate atmosphere re-entry.
 
If you want to run florescence and just keep the plants alive or for starts it will be much less costly. You can put the lights on scaffolding and run 2-3 lights in the same vertical space. Obviously the height of your plants is limited so you could probably only run one light in the same vertical space if you had big plants. You probably wont have to vent your plants with florescence bulbs other than opening a window on hot days unless you stick the bulbs in a closet in which case you will need a small fan to at least push air out of the area. A good 4 foot floro setup is still going to cost around 250 to get. But you don't need to dedicate a room or ventilation etc. 
 
In all cases you should buy the best bulbs you can afford. Plants really eat light. When you "feed" them you are giving them essential building blocks but without light the plant wont usem. Light is where it's at. 

I hope this helps as a start.

I also noticed you are in London and I gave you a US system reply. Hope it's not too much of a bother for you. You actually might be able to get cheaper gear over there.