I have 4 sets of 2 1/2 x 4ft 4 bulb T5 HO 54 watt 4100 kelvin lights. My question because I've heard mixed things is how deep can these lights take peppers. I've heard they are only good for the vegative stage and some have said they can do it all all the way to pods which is true? I have an experimental mutt (cross) growing upstairs that has little buds on it already. So how long can I leave plants under T5's.
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Are T5's able?
- Thread starter Spankyscolts
- Start date
Warmer color for flowering and pods. 2700k
But it will produce pods heh? That is so cool !
I have my few overwinters under one of the 4 foot T5 HO fixtures (4 bulbs) and they seem to be doing fine. I've even gotten a handful of ripe peppers off them without any effort on my part. I just have 6500k lights in there, not sure what's optimal for this sort of thing but so far they seem to be working fine.
Seems like a lot of debate. I grew some plants under a 4' 2 bulb t8 4100k temp. Some of the annuums started getting tiny peppers right before hardening off. Check the flouro challenge thread and the light thread started by Omri. I know very little about all this.
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/
Wouldn't that depend on the efficiency of the bulb? I think lumens per square foot is a better measurement. I've heard 2000 lumens per square foot is suitable for fruiting but that doesn't take color temperature into account.
You have 16 bulbs at around 4000 lumens each. That's 64k lumens. With fluorescents you are basically limited to the grow space directly under your lights. Each of your lights is 10 square feet for a total of 40 square feet. 64000/40 is 1600 lumens per square foot. Slightly less than the recommended 2000. You should have around 32 square feet of space suitable for fruiting. Hope this helps
or you could do what I did after trying to figure out how the heck I was going to light all the plants I'm starting and just get a cheap ($20) light meter from amazon or something.. I got one and made everything soooo much easier.. also realized how much light the HID was putting out for a nice large area, (HID color temp for 400w is 4,200k light, but I would like to invest in a DIgiLux 6,500k bulb when I get a 600w dimmable setup when I have to use the entire grow tent area) and based on my hood for that light, how close I could move it before I starting loosing light on the edges of my growing area..
as far as the color... based on what I have read on here is that 6,500k or towards the cooler range of colors is better for peppers, since they really don't switch between veggy state and flowering state (they just do both at the same time, unlike other less legal plants lol) when I was starting my plants out, I had the ones in the party cups under 3 CFLs that were 6,500k that were rated for about 2,100 lumens or so in a little 2'L x 1'w and there were so many leaves on them that I actually had a little trouble repotting them because they had a TON of leaves right above the soil line, it was great.. and a lot of them after repotting them and putting them into my grow tent have started procucing a ton of buds, but I've been taking them off of the non-Chinese ones because I want them to grow a little larger and I have been told it slows them down.. and I really don't need pods now, I want size...
since those T5 lights are really on the top, when they get bigger, just stick 2 CFL lights on either side for the lower branches using those dome lamp clamp things, and personally I would keep it in the cooler range since your T5s are 4100k (kind of right in the middle but if you don' t want to spend money to get new bulbs then they are fine, I would idealy have 2x 2,700k bulbs, and 2 6,500k bulbs and then have 1 or 2x 6,500k CFLs on sides for the lower folliage (only really need that if the plant is big and the bottom leaves start to yellow or fall off)
I'm still pretty new to the indoor growing but I have been reading a ton of stuff, and leaning a lot, and mixed with my personal experience and mix of what I have read on here.. this is my opinion.. but, to each his/her own..
as far as the color... based on what I have read on here is that 6,500k or towards the cooler range of colors is better for peppers, since they really don't switch between veggy state and flowering state (they just do both at the same time, unlike other less legal plants lol) when I was starting my plants out, I had the ones in the party cups under 3 CFLs that were 6,500k that were rated for about 2,100 lumens or so in a little 2'L x 1'w and there were so many leaves on them that I actually had a little trouble repotting them because they had a TON of leaves right above the soil line, it was great.. and a lot of them after repotting them and putting them into my grow tent have started procucing a ton of buds, but I've been taking them off of the non-Chinese ones because I want them to grow a little larger and I have been told it slows them down.. and I really don't need pods now, I want size...
since those T5 lights are really on the top, when they get bigger, just stick 2 CFL lights on either side for the lower branches using those dome lamp clamp things, and personally I would keep it in the cooler range since your T5s are 4100k (kind of right in the middle but if you don' t want to spend money to get new bulbs then they are fine, I would idealy have 2x 2,700k bulbs, and 2 6,500k bulbs and then have 1 or 2x 6,500k CFLs on sides for the lower folliage (only really need that if the plant is big and the bottom leaves start to yellow or fall off)
I'm still pretty new to the indoor growing but I have been reading a ton of stuff, and leaning a lot, and mixed with my personal experience and mix of what I have read on here.. this is my opinion.. but, to each his/her own..
Yea I can tell lol. What is the clamp thingy you speak of? Sounds like I need 2 6500k and 2 2700k's in each one. Have you ever heard of induction lighting?
man I really botched a lot of grammer in my post, but I was rushing to get it all down before dinner..
but if you mean 2 of each, get 2 of each of the tubes.. you really don't need them but if you have some extra money, go for it...
as far as the CFL clamps, I can never remember what they are really called, but they are the dome light fixtures with clamps on them.. they are like $7-10 depending on the size, but here..they call it a work light..http://www.lowes.com...ar|1&facetInfo=
but just grab 2 of those, and 2 of those 100w eq. 6,500k bulbs (the 150w ones were 3 way bulbs around here, and I learned that with 3 way bulbs in regular sockets, they get set at the lowest watt rating, (usually 50w, which sucks) so I just went out and got some 3 way sockets and replaced them, but it's not worth the little bit of extra lumens you get.. if you want higher lumens in 6,500k, just order online.. but you really don't need it for 1 plant...
and since I guess the plant is pretty big, and if you have a shelf or anything really to clamp them onto on the sides.. (can use whatever you have holding your lights up, unless they are hanging from something) and if you can't do that, then take off the dome reflector piece and hang the light on the sides and just put like a side of a box with tin foil or emergency blankets if you can get them taped to it.. just anything so the light is directed at the plant and your not wasting it.. here is a pic of my shelves I had set up with those same fixtures but hanging from the top (I used some sticky things with a little bungi piece holding the wires, and had to tape them on there more so they would stay... I would just drill holes through the top next time and use a tip tie to hold the wires up, and could adjust the height still when they got bigger)
here is a pic of them a week or 2 before I moved them and the other 60+ seedlings in the bottom shelf down into the grow tent... my light meter measured around 12-25,000 lumens in there with the front part uncovered facing the window.. and the tall one is the Bulgarian Carrot that I think actually had buds on it at this point, if not a few days later..
and this is the lower shelf of how it was set up, since I was germinating the seeds at that time.
