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

This probably won't be fun to read..

BigCedar

BigCedar

I've spent literally my whole day(and its one of my few days of vacation from work AND I'm sick as shit) looking for T5 lights for my overwinter op.. I bought 12 T5 Highoutput bulbs(5000 lumens each which I was excited about). Ran me 100 bucks.. So then I needed some fixtures for them right? Yeah.. Only fixture for a T5 in this area is a 8ft 4 bulb holder(I took my wife and daughter to 4 stores..) I bought 2 of them to see if theyd work.. yep.. they don't even have a power cord plug in.. I'm sure I'm half retarded when it comes to bulbs but if there's not a plug in to an electrical socket that's just not for me.. I need them on a timer, in a plug in, and so forth this winter.. SO NOWWW... after researching for a couple hours I've decided to just bite the bullet and buy 3 4ft 4tube T5 fixtures from hydrofarm (same thing but from a different site for cheaper..) and I have to go for the 3rd time in 24hrs to home depot to return the POS fixtures I bought.. If this overwinter operation of mine fails I might have to sign up with the suicide hotline lol. JK.. but seriously?? why isn't there a chile overwinter store anywhere?? lol.. Thanks for reading if you did. It has been a longass not so productive day for me.
:cheers: everyone
Brandon
 
Brandon, I'm just curious, but if yuo don't mind, PM to me what you paid for those fixtures. I can piece together what you need. Won't look great, but it's exactly exactly like what I've hodgepodged together for little $. Lights, framework, timer.... K.I.S.S. works!


Or we can just talk at the picnic and figure it out how to get you set up.


feel free to rant, we've all felt the need to rant at one time or another~
 
Usually better off buying grow lights off the internet anyway. Hardware stores rarely carry anything good and if you're lucky enough to have a good hyrdo store around it's usually more expensive even after shipping anyway. I can't even find 4 ft. high output T5 bulbs anywhere locally. The only sell the regular ones that produce a weak yellow light that's not suitable for plant growth.
 
I can't believe people haven't got into the high wattage CFLs around here. I bought a bunch off eBay and they're fantastic. The ones I got were EZI PLUG GROLITE. 130w CFL
 
Hey BigCedar

Sorry man. Lucky your in the US of A and you got lights. Here in Africa we have power cuts and I have to light matches and hold them over the chillies. Burnt my fingers 1355 times this last winter :)

Have faith my friewnd, you will come right, but you could always pop a ButchT and let off some of that steam!

PeriPeri
 
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202193185/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

This is what I'm gin with, throwin the old ones away... Ya outta see one lit up, like starin at the sun...
 
Hey Brandon, no worries bro. I continue my search as well. I like the kit from HTG called the mothers keeper or something like that. http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Mother-Keeper-Complete-Grow-Tent-System.asp 300 bucks and has the lights and vents, etc. I can also just get the lights or bigger ones and use that as a template to build my own. May be worth looking into.
 
S.S.Tupperware said:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202193185/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

This is what I'm gin with, throwin the old ones away... Ya outta see one lit up, like starin at the sun...
Click to expand...

You need to overwinter in Orlando? we had like 12 days that woulda killed our plants last year, I just wrapped mine. The plants on the patio didn't need any wrap.
IMG_0140.jpg
Yes it does get cold in FL but we are No 1 producer of peppers in the US.
 
Prehensile said:
You need to overwinter in Orlando? we had like 12 days that woulda killed our plants last year, I just wrapped mine. The plants on the patio didn't need any wrap.
IMG_0140.jpg
Yes it does get cold in FL but we are No 1 producer of peppers in the US.
Click to expand...
Dude I hope that's a thermometer, cause if that's a speed radar thingy... your weeds are growing way too fast!
 
Bummer about your light and shopping troubles Brandon, hope you get things figured out and they go much smoother for you.

I've done the exact same thing trying to find a cheap way to keep a plant or two growing and producing pods over the winter months. You should see all of the florescent "gro" lights I have. I was afraid to go with the fancy grow lights due to my ignorance of them and thinking I had to buy cords and bulbs and ballast and all of the other hi tech things you need. I am happy to report that isn't true. There are all in one systems that you just hang up, plug in and turn it on and off as needed. That's my speed let me tell you. And the best thing is I got it for around $70. The same price one of the 150W CFL's go for and that's just for the bulb. You have to buy a fixture to put it in too.


11010490 said:
I can't believe people haven't got into the high wattage CFLs around here. I bought a bunch off eBay and they're fantastic. The ones I got were EZI PLUG GROLITE. 130w CFL
Click to expand...

Oh the folks around here are aware of them. I use them for seedlings. You're not going to have much success growing an actual pepper though you can grow some big plants. It's all about the lumens, not the wattage.

A single 150W CFL, with 120v will run around $70 and produce probably less than 3000 lumens. A single 150W high pressure sodium light kicks out around 16,000 lumens. That will grow a pepper or two.

Best of luck to you Brandon.
 
patrick said:
Bummer about your light and shopping troubles Brandon, hope you get things figured out and they go much smoother for you.

I've done the exact same thing trying to find a cheap way to keep a plant or two growing and producing pods over the winter months. You should see all of the florescent "gro" lights I have. I was afraid to go with the fancy grow lights due to my ignorance of them and thinking I had to buy cords and bulbs and ballast and all of the other hi tech things you need. I am happy to report that isn't true. There are all in one systems that you just hang up, plug in and turn it on and off as needed. That's my speed let me tell you. And the best thing is I got it for around $70. The same price one of the 150W CFL's go for and that's just for the bulb. You have to buy a fixture to put it in too.




Oh the folks around here are aware of them. I use them for seedlings. You're not going to have much success growing an actual pepper though you can grow some big plants. It's all about the lumens, not the wattage.

A single 150W CFL, with 120v will run around $70 and produce probably less than 3000 lumens. A single 150W high pressure sodium light kicks out around 16,000 lumens. That will grow a pepper or two.

Best of luck to you Brandon.
Click to expand...


Ahh, this old debate. Whilst HID is currently the most efficient lamp at converting W to lm, it produces a significant amount of heat. This heat means you have to place the lamp a fair bit away from the plant. Taking inverse-square law into consideration, there is a huge advantage in getting the light source as close to the plant as possible.
I replaced my 300w HID setup with CFL a year or so ago and have had great success.

Not sure where you're shopping but I got mine for AU$25 or AU$35 with socket. The base is just a B22 or E40, which I just grabbed from the electrical disty.
 
BigCedar said:
I bought 2 of them to see if theyd work.. yep.. they don't even have a power cord plug in.. I'm sure I'm half retarded when it comes to bulbs but if there's not a plug in to an electrical socket that's just not for me..
Click to expand...

I have never bought a ballast that had a cord. You can but you pay more and have to hunt for them. I just go to the electrical section and buy a cord. Now I just use one of the many I have accumulated over the years from TV's and Vacuums I have seen out for trash pick-up and stopped to cut them.

The wires are easy to hook up as long as you don't plug them in before you hook them up :rofl:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top