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10K Lumens...Good Enough?

PeteyPepper

PeteyPepper

Looking at a CFL light for growing my seedlings this winter for 3-4 months. Goal is to have bigger stronger plants than the past year when I relied on the weak winter sun and a windowsill.

Should 10K lumens in a two tube CFL be sufficient for turning my seedlings into nice young plants (6" - 8"in.) before plant out on May 1st? Gonna be going heavy on the chinese this year.

Looking for the knowledgable opinion of forumities. TIA.
 
Petey,

Depends on how many square feet the light will be try to cover. Others will have their opinions but IME, if you can deliver 3,000 or so lumens to the plants' canopy, they will grow quite well.

Mike
 
I have very good experiences/results with CFL myself.
I am using those fixture that have 2x55W double folded CFL's. They provide approx. 5000 lumen each. Must say that those light are very cost effective and give perfect results as far as I'm concerned. Good choice!
 
My tomato plants are suffering and I'm not sure from what. They were doing great until I put them under my 105-watt CFL. They aren't getting over about 9500 lumens at their canopy but the leaves wilt then fall off. Even the seedlings are showing the initial signs. I opened a door to cut out some reflection to see if that helps.

Even the toms in hydro are showing some stress. The cukes look great and are growing extremely fast. The broccoli in dirt also love the light.

Mike
 
lee said:
I have very good experiences/results with CFL myself.
I am using those fixture that have 2x55W double folded CFL's. They provide approx. 5000 lumen each. Must say that those light are very cost effective and give perfect results as far as I'm concerned. Good choice!
Click to expand...


That is exactly what I am going to purchase. Here is the Link http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=51907

For $70 this seems to be a great deal especially for 10K Lumens! Hopefully it is a decent fixture that will last a few years.
 
Just what I need - another light to try! Man, I need help for this addiction. I don't suppose these bulbs will work in a standard shop light fixture, will they?

Mike
 
After two days of keeping the door open (cutting down the amount of light reflected, the toms that survived are recovering. Surely there is a reason other than too much light - even with the door closed there would not have been more than 10,000-12,000 lumens.

Mike
 
PeteyPepper said:
That is exactly what I am going to purchase. Here is the Link http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=51907

For $70 this seems to be a great deal especially for 10K Lumens! Hopefully it is a decent fixture that will last a few years.
Click to expand...

Sweet! I believe those are very similar to the lights I'm using for growing lettuce. Mine are 24" and each one puts out like 2600 lumens, but they are the single bulb type. The ones in this fixture are like double bulbs which is awesome. I paid almost 30 bucks a piece for each of the single ones, this has 2 of the double ones for about twice the price.

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Looks like a hell of a deal. HTGsupply has the best prices I've ever seen on supplies. I'm getting a 400w HPS from them for christmas ;)
 
I paid €55 for a complete set. That includes electronic ballast and 2 bulbs (grow or flower).
The bulbs cost about €6 a piece and they come in 4000 and 2100K.
I am running 2 sets on 9 square feet.


 
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