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lighting Indoor lighting (Kelvin issues)

Binx1982

Binx1982

Hi everyone (yup... I'm not experienced)
 
So... after an epic fail last year loosing all my Bhuts to a bacterial infection I decided to get up out of the ashes and try again.
 
Here in Wellington (NZ) we don't have a lot of sun at this time of year. I have a few Trinidad Scorpion seedlings and to prevent them from becoming spindly I sought advice from a local grower' shop on growing them indoors until conditions allow them to be plated outside. The guy reckoned to keep them from bolting I need a high temp lamp.. 10,000K - 14,000K. 
 
Long story short: Lamps by those specs were nowhere to be found and I came across 2 X 20W 15,000K lamps. They are currently sitting on top of my propagator. 
I have read that warmer temp light promotes strong and squat plants, however nothing about lamps at 15,000K.
 
Are these fine to use? 
 
Do I need to rather use 6,500K lamps?
 
Does a mixture of e.g. 1 x 4,000K and 1 x 15,000K lamps give a 8,500K equivalent output? 
 
Please help me understand how this works and what would be the best for my seedlings. 
 
Humbly yours...
 
 
Sounds like that guy had little idea what he was talking about. Lol. Not sure what you mean by bolting, but I'm guessing you meant growing spindly? If that's what you meant, I have only 2 suggestions. Make sure your light is powerful enough and close enough, and aim a small fan at them to blow them around slightly. This will thicken up the stems
Red spectrum light like HPS seems to promote more blooms for me but plants under the blue spectrum T5's grow vertically at pretty much the same speed
 
6000K: Balanced light includes peaks in the blue and red spectrums that matches the chlorophyll absorption peaks in plants.
 
What I am using in a T5HO, 6 tube by 4 foot fixture.
Less than 6 inches from the tops of the plants, and will do 4 flats up to 18 inches or so. (72 in 3.5 inch squares.)
 
Got them over 2 feet before it got warm enough to plant out, but seriously rootbound and poor penetration to the lower foilage.
Also, had to flood every day---alternating days with plain water and  hydro ferts---to keep them alive.
 
Fan on them from first germination to plant out, 24/7.
 
Many ways to do lights, some like to change them out to different k's depending on growth cycle.
 
illWill said:
Sounds like that guy had little idea what he was talking about. Lol. Not sure what you mean by bolting, but I'm guessing you meant growing spindly? If that's what you meant, I have only 2 suggestions. Make sure your light is powerful enough and close enough, and aim a small fan at them to blow them around slightly. This will thicken up the stems
Red spectrum light like HPS seems to promote more blooms for me but plants under the blue spectrum T5's grow vertically at pretty much the same speed
Click to expand...
 
Bolting just refers to flowering. It's an incorrect term when used with berries like peppers as their flowering/veg cycles are totally different from things like lettuce, kale, greens, and brassicas. Things like that go to seed once and once they start, they're ruined as the edible parts become very bitter and generally useless from the grower's POV. However with things like berries (chilis are berries) we want flowering and lots of it.
 
illWill said:
Sounds like that guy had little idea what he was talking about. Lol. Not sure what you mean by bolting, but I'm guessing you meant growing spindly? If that's what you meant, I have only 2 suggestions. Make sure your light is powerful enough and close enough, and aim a small fan at them to blow them around slightly. This will thicken up the stems
Red spectrum light like HPS seems to promote more blooms for me but plants under the blue spectrum T5's grow vertically at pretty much the same speed
Click to expand...
Hey there.. Thanks for the advice. Will get them under a fan to help with this. 
SciurusDoomus said:
 
Bolting just refers to flowering. It's an incorrect term when used with berries like peppers as their flowering/veg cycles are totally different from things like lettuce, kale, greens, and brassicas. Things like that go to seed once and once they start, they're ruined as the edible parts become very bitter and generally useless from the grower's POV. However with things like berries (chilis are berries) we want flowering and lots of it.
Click to expand...
Hi Sciurus
 
Sorry wasn't aware of the term being officially used for something else. English 2nd language here. Meant that I didn't want the growth to "run away with me" - "Bolt"
 
I've heard of bolting with say, broccoli or radishes, but as far peppers I'd never heard the term used, hence my confusion lol
 
Im running 2x250w 6500K CFL in a small 75x75x180cm tent! And my plants are starting to bug me. They grow phenomenally, but they get incredible bushy!! I want them to stretch more. Everyone is saying that CFL, LED and T5 don't work! You need HID or HPS to flower, to ripe... BULLSHIT! Its better, yes, but again, 99.99% of all the threads about lightning if you search on google is related to WEED! Not chili! Automatically people refer to whats working for buds and adapting that to chili! I have 11 pods going strong on my pepper plant, about 30 flowers the last two weeks. On a habanero I have just over a hundred flowers, pods in various sizes and some fully grown and starting to ripe. Every plant in there is thriving. The jamacian is flowering, the naga is flowering and podding, the thai is flowering and podding, the fatalii is flowering and podding, heck every single one of them! And all this is to give me fresh pods during the winter. Cant argue with that :) However, nothing beats sunny days outside 
 
:) puh
 
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