seeds Affordable/efficient seedling light

[OoNickoC]

Just thought I would share a type of light I have used in the past and currently for certain situations. I'm sure someone on here has used this or came up with it/tried it.

Priced out;

Power strip- $3.50-$5

Sockets - $.80-$2.00

Y adapters- $1-$3

4x15 watt CFL 6500K- $2-$5.50

or
4x26 watt CFL 6500k- $2-$7.50
________________________________

Approx min = $16 and change

Approx max = $48ish

Even on the high end you get a very utilitarian 106watt light that is very flexible for small plants and seedlings.

Ive been lucky in my local stores and made my recent one for about $16 total (the 106 watt version).

Oh yeah, with the Y's you can fit up to six bulbs on one power strip, though I thinks thats over kill for the footprint it covers compared to heat and par needs of the plants.


Here is a pic of the 26 watt one, the strip is just under 1', giving it a nice small footprint for tight spaces.

Oh yeah, with the common GE bulbs the 2700k ones produce much farther spaced nodes...the 6500k seem to do best for most plants I've used these on. Reason I mention this is because Ive had many bulbs were what "should" be the correct CT turns out to be inaccurate on the packaging or lacking somehow.

 

[srin2]

you should blend 2700k and the 6500k bulbs. the 2700k colour temp has more red in it and 6500 is more blue. so the blended like should give some good results

 

[LGHT]

Those should be fine for growing seeds, but your going to need more light after about 4 weeks when the plant starts to grow. I normally go from a setup like your to a 400 watt MH after 4 weeks, but i'm trying something new this year.

I'm starting all my seeds in my phototron that use 3 large U shapped bulbs and one of those 96w cfl spiral on the top. This will allow me to give the plants enough light to grow them for a couple of months before they go outside and I can just use the HID while growing in the winter saving some money.

The key is the plants are actually growing out and not up making them very short and wide since most of the light comes from the side of the plants and not the top. Then when I put it ouside it should start growing up to balance it out.

Here are the u shaped bulbs i'm using.

 

[OoNickoC]

you should blend 2700k and the 6500k bulbs. the 2700k colour temp has more red in it and 6500 is more blue. so the blended like should give some good results

I ran the 2700's with my test batch and they were lanky, but I think it was just those bulbs....may have shifted spectrum (why I mentioned that prior). Totally agree though on mixing spectrums.

Those should be fine for growing seeds, but your going to need more light after about 4 weeks when the plant starts to grow. I normally go from a setup like your to a 400 watt MH after 4 weeks, but i'm trying something new this year.

I'm starting all my seeds in my phototron that use 3 large U shapped bulbs and one of those 96w cfl spiral on the top. This will allow me to give the plants enough light to grow them for a couple of months before they go outside and I can just use the HID while growing in the winter saving some money.

The key is the plants are actually growing out and not up making them very short and wide since most of the light comes from the side of the plants and not the top. Then when I put it ouside it should start growing up to balance it out.

Here are the u shaped bulbs i'm using.

Nice, I like the u shape. I've got enough ballasts/hoods/bulbs for a small nursery lol. Word on the hids, I like to run the color masters, the CMH's rock out for veg and bloom with other plants. I would assume peppers would love em too as they have a crazy spectrum.