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lighting CFL bulbs as grow lights

Icablumoon

Icablumoon

I have a metal rack with a 36" x 18" shelf that I am planning to place new seedlings on under a light. Does anyone know how many lights I would need for one shelf? Right now I have 4 CFL bulbs that are Natural Daylight type 13W 5000k. Is that too many or not enough?
 
I just bought two 125w cfl's to try and cover an area that is 32x48. The 125w bulbs are like 12" and put out a massive amount of light though.
 
The package the bulbs came in say they are equivalent to a 60w incandescent bulb. So it would be like a 240w incandescent bulb. It seems very bright and also puts out a lot of heat. BTW (nmorris279)I lived in Riverside for about 35 years before moving to Alabama.
 
i use the 100 w equivalant daylight spectrum and they work great, i have used them for 2 years now and have had great results

they do work

thanks your friend joe
 
My rule of thumb, is to place the back of my hand close enough to the light where it feels slightly warm, for 10 seconds, that's as close as I place the tops of the plants, any closer might burn the tips...... :(
and that would be determined without the use of any fans running...
 
Icablumoon said:
The package the bulbs came in say they are equivalent to a 60w incandescent bulb. So it would be like a 240w incandescent bulb. It seems very bright and also puts out a lot of heat. BTW (nmorris279)I lived in Riverside for about 35 years before moving to Alabama.
Click to expand...
I did a lot of research before I bought my bulbs and unfortunately 4x 60w does not equal 240w light output. It is a wider disbursement of 60w light. The higher the wattage, the higher the lumen output and when you combine lights it does not effect the max lumen output just coverage. You might want to find a higher equivalent bulb IMO. Maybe try the 100w equivalents like ajijoe is using.

I have lived here in the Riverside area for most of my life, but I plan on moving closer to the beach at some point to enjoy the more temperate climate.
 
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