• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

my cheap diy led light box

Davetaylor

Davetaylor

my cheap diy led light box (wk6)

here's my light box got all the materials from the site i'm working on, except the lights which are some christmas lights! A string of 80 total cost a tenner and about half an hour to build it

led1hi7.jpg


led2qd1.jpg


It's all part of my 'start some seeds really early and try to keep them going through the winter for a head start experiment' i need a snappier title but you get the idea
 
i wasn't gonna use leds but was browsing for a light for the box. That when the christmas lights caught my eye. Then 80 blue leds bingo i could use them idea flew into my head
At this time of year i'm sure shops are dripping with all kinds of leds
 
Dave,

Great idea but I wonder if they are powerful enough to grow seedlings? Most of the strings I could find use only 3-4 watts for 70 bulbs. But then again, if you could fit three strands into a 12"x12" space you would have 210 bulbs using 9-12 watts power.

Mike
 
Davetaylor said:
here's my light box got all the materials from the site i'm working on, except the lights which are some christmas lights!
Click to expand...


Hey you should see some of the houses opposite me at christmas with their outside lights, I reckon I could just put my seedlings on my window sill and get free lighting with the amount they have.
 
rainbowberry said:
Hey you should see some of the houses opposite me at christmas with their outside lights, I reckon I could just put my seedlings on my window sill and get free lighting with the amount they have.
Click to expand...

:lol: we've got folk like that round our way too!
 
:lol: I have a Bunch of Icicle Lights (Blue) that would hang close to the plants :) you have gave me something to think about to do with them !
 
looks good, but isn't that all light a little close to one end of the light spectrum? I mean, shouldn't there be some red light mixed in to give the full spectrum?
 
macmanmatty said:
looks good, but isn't that all light a little close to one end of the light spectrum? I mean, shouldn't there be some red light mixed in to give the full spectrum?
Click to expand...

You want blue for vegative growth
Red end spectrum helps flowering and fruiting.
But as i'm only using the box for bringing on seeds and seedlings through the winter.
Blue is what i want on other parts of the spectrum in there getting wasted.

I may throw in some red at a later date if i comes across a cheap string of say 20 or 40
 
nothing has died yet, n
or are any of the 6 that were up before they went in getting really leggy.
And i noticed a fresh sprout this morning an aribibi gusano, this is the first that will be fully raised in the box.
I also threw in some jiffy pellets with little gem lettuce seeds in them just for something else to trail.
I hope this goes well as i'm sure we could all benefit if it does
 
can't help peeking into the box! And this is what it looks like now.
The one highlighted was the first one up, it was up about a week before the box was ready (box was ready sunday 2/11) and it is now got it's (tiny) 1st real leaves. (it and the one below it are 7 pot)
The one bottom centre is the only only to sprout in the box, all the rest were up before the box was ready

boxgt2.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top