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lighting Suggestions needed - Lighting/methods

T

ThePickler

Hi everybody,
 
I'm looking to give my pepper garden an early start this year.  I had a lot of Thai plants and jalapenos, but my ghosts and scorpions didn’t do so great.  They could have used more time.  My girlfriend and I do a modest amount of gardening, so we'd like to start more plants than just peppers.  I read through the Light 101 post and have concluded that most any setup will work to get seedlings going.  Money is kind of tight between buying tools for work and other life necessities, but I think spending a bit on this would be a good investment. ($100-$200)
 
We saw a setup in a grow shop that consisted of a wire shelving unit that had several T5/T8 fixtures (I didn't see how many bulbs per fixture...2?) on the shelving unit.  There was a single fixture per level, there were four levels.  Anyways, I guess I'd like some suggestions on what more experienced growers would do.  There's a lot of numbers flying around and "YMMV...This might be better than that, depending on the situation".  I'm handy and am not afraid of building something too, but am new to indoor grow tech.
 
We'd like to start peppers early, very early, as the growing season here is short, then transfer them outside. (Montana) It might be fun to keep a few plants inside or over the winter too.  
 
Any input is appreciated.  My gut says we'll probably need to go with T5 fixtures, unless we could make something with LED strips.  There was a video on the forums here, 5m LED's (I think) for ~$5/less, but I don't feel like I know enough about plant's light requirements to really make a sound decision. 
 
Thanks!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
T8 is cheap, I paid 30 for a 4 bulb. I added 6500k bulbs(that's the color temp. And some eyebolts and cable stuff to hang it. And I think I had to put a cord on it. I built one with led strips too, It could use a few more rows of strips, but it works good for young plants and I just end up starting tomatoes under it and move peppers to the brighter lights.
 
You did not say how many plants you are starting, which would determine how much shelf space and light you would need.
 
I find that 2x4 foot shelf usually will accommodate up to 50 plants until they are 6 to 10 inches, with about 8 to 10 sets of true leaves, using a four foot, six-lamp T5HO fixture with 6500K lamps.
 
Thank you all for the replies, I appreciate it.
 
In total, I'll be starting around 60 pepper plants, and other vegetables as the season progresses.  I had looked at some larger sized CFL's for $18/each, but need to look more at T5/T8 fixtures.
 
Again, thanks for the input, I'm still getting my feet wet with all of this stuff.  I read through a good thread on Lumens/ft vs Watts/ft, but a lot of it left me kind of confused.
 
Thanks.
 
 
Sorry I've been MIA.  I'm starting my seeds this coming week and will order supplies today or tomorrow.  Are you able to use T5HO's with T8 fixtures?  I might just stop at Lowes/HD and pick up one to start.
 
Thanks again.  I have Reapers/7 Pot/Butch-T Scorpions/Savinas.  Looking forward to what this year brings.
 
 
 
Check out ledgardener.com for some really neat DIY approaches. I built the Samsung F series-based rig myself and couldn't be happier. All for ~100 bucks and enough light for both seedlings and full-sized plants. I mixed 4000k and 5000k to try and get the best of both worlds, and it runs nice and cool inside a grow tent even.

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How big of an area are you covering with the f series? I was looking at them, but there are so many choices
 
Walchit said:
How big of an area are you covering with the f series? I was looking at them, but there are so many choices
Click to expand...
I'm covering a 2' x 3' with 4 strips, using the 2 foot long strips. Have pretty even coverage throughout, and would put a strip for every 4" of length needing coverage.

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alkhall said:
You did not say how many plants you are starting, which would determine how much shelf space and light you would need.
 
I find that 2x4 foot shelf usually will accommodate up to 50 plants until they are 6 to 10 inches, with about 8 to 10 sets of true leaves, using a four foot, six-lamp T5HO fixture with 6500K lamps.
Click to expand...
 
Alright,
 
Should a 4ft/4 lamp T5HO fixture be able to do the same? 
 
I am thinking of getting two of these to start a growing rack for our garden:
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T0CPI7O/ref=psdc_5772194011_t1_B01L7YZURA
 
-  $99 for a 4ft/4lamp T5HO fixture, 6400K T5HO bulbs included.  That should put me at about 36W per sqaure foot.  I had read that between 30-40W/sq foot is ideal for veg growth.
 
I looked at the LED stuff, but I'm pretty bewildered with it.
 
Thanks everyone. 
 
4 bulbs work fine for a 2x4 area in my experience, I couldn't tell a difference between the T8 and the T5 either, in terms of plant growth. T5 is definitely brighter though.
 
I ordered up a 4 bulb T5HO fixture.  I could probably have built the LED setup, but I may save that for another time.  I'd just like an easy intro to all this.  I'll likely add one more fixture in a month or two when we start our other veg. seeds for the garden.  Thanks again for all the suggestions and insights.
 
 
 
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