What's the difference between lumins and a 'k' buld?
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shopping help trying to buy light
- Thread starter HH81Betterhalf
- Start date
Basically we're at our favorite cheap store Walmart and we came to a bulb for our reflector for our plants being overwintered. We don't have a south facing window that gets enough sun. Any help would be great thanks.
Aaron
Aaron
Any fluorescent with a color around 3,000K will do. Keep the bulb about 6" over the tops of the plants and make sure you have a way to adjust the height of the light. Lights in the color range are not that common since most are rated 4000 - 5000K. This is the only one I could find at Home Despotism rated at 3000K: http://www.homedepot...catalogId=10053
It's $8 but you would need fixtures, etc.
In a pinch, many years ago, I found that in terms of bang for the buck you can just get the cheapest $10 fixture and el-cheapo 4' fluorescent bulbs and they worked well.
For a longer term investment, you could get something like this: http://www.htgsupply...-Grow-Light.asp
It's under $70 (figure $80 shipped to your door) and should provide good light and a long life.
Lumens is a measure of intensity. 1 candle burning equals ~1 lumen. The K rating is the color temperature. Incandescents tend to be around 3000K, which is great, but they are REALLY inefficient.
It's $8 but you would need fixtures, etc.
In a pinch, many years ago, I found that in terms of bang for the buck you can just get the cheapest $10 fixture and el-cheapo 4' fluorescent bulbs and they worked well.
For a longer term investment, you could get something like this: http://www.htgsupply...-Grow-Light.asp
It's under $70 (figure $80 shipped to your door) and should provide good light and a long life.
Lumens is a measure of intensity. 1 candle burning equals ~1 lumen. The K rating is the color temperature. Incandescents tend to be around 3000K, which is great, but they are REALLY inefficient.
Thanks for info, we'll go with home depot for now and up grade in the future. We're obviously not looking to get any chiles right now anyway.
@geeme We've seen what most growers are using, from soil to lights and even heat mats. We're eventually going to start our own seeds using T5's but as of now we're just trying to keep the plants we have alive during the over winter process. Thanks
Aaron
for just over wintering them and if they are in a windowsill. just not a south facing one.. and depending on how many plants you need I would either say get the 4' 2x grow light with the fixture... $30 total with both bulbs and the fixture at Lowes.. or if you only have like 2 or maybe 3 plants you could just buy those hood clamp fixtures (the ones with the reflective domes) and from what I have read on this site, the color for peppers so they stay nice and compact is towards the blue end so like 5000k or even better 6,500k.. and with a few 100w equivalent CFL bulbs at 6,500k, right above your plants ( depending on your setup you could just find a way to hang the clamp fixtures, like from a cheap shelf or anything really) you should get great light.. a little more lumens than the florescent tubes, since each CFL bulb at 6,500k color, is 1900-2100 lumens or so in a concentrated area.. but if you have more than 2 or 3 plants, I'd go with a few 4' florescent fixtures with grow bulbs in them, the fixture should be like $10 from Lowes, and $8 for each bulb
but anyways to simply answer your question, the lumens is the light intensity like others said, it is recommended that 3000 lumens per square foot is good.. but with window light you can get away with less lumens from bulbs.. and "k" is the bulbs color temp... peppers use the warm color so like reds/yellow which is around 2100 to 2200k but without a lot of it, from what I have heard, it makes plants a little skinny and tall, instead of the blue end of it, around 6,500k which is what I am using now and even though they are small right now, they are growing tons of little compact nodes, it's great, I will stick to the blue end for all my growing now
but anyways to simply answer your question, the lumens is the light intensity like others said, it is recommended that 3000 lumens per square foot is good.. but with window light you can get away with less lumens from bulbs.. and "k" is the bulbs color temp... peppers use the warm color so like reds/yellow which is around 2100 to 2200k but without a lot of it, from what I have heard, it makes plants a little skinny and tall, instead of the blue end of it, around 6,500k which is what I am using now and even though they are small right now, they are growing tons of little compact nodes, it's great, I will stick to the blue end for all my growing now
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
for slow overwintering growth, you don't need but about 1500 lumens/ft[sup]2[/sup]. 3000 lumens/ft[sup]2[/sup] will get you faster growth and maybe even flowers and fruit...
and an incadescent light won't cut the mustards...it needs to be a fluoro type bulb or HPS/MH or LED if you want expensive...I use 42 Watt CFLs (150 eq watts)...they put out about 2700 lumens.
and an incadescent light won't cut the mustards...it needs to be a fluoro type bulb or HPS/MH or LED if you want expensive...I use 42 Watt CFLs (150 eq watts)...they put out about 2700 lumens.
hey AJ, those flouros you use, that are 150 equilivant, I think 2 of mine that I have now are those, but they are 3 way bulbs, the only ones that I could find that would go up to 150 eq. that is 5-6,500k color range, is that what you are using, or are you using the 42w ones that are in the 2,700k range I think it is?
Thank you everyone. I know that there's plenty of information on here about this subject but we were standing in the lighting aisle and trying to make sense of info we've read here and what the stupid boxes at the store were saying. Gets confusing.
That's a lot of information, I think this is where it gets confusing to knew growers, or just guys like me. 
When shopping around at stores you don't see both lumins and 'k' on the box, and for someone that knows absolutely nothing of lighting and electrical I figured I was looking for both plus wattage of 40 or so. Appears I have mistaken 
There also never seems to be a wrong answer on which to use as long as your using the right amount based on space. Is this kinda of correct?
Aaron
When shopping around at stores you don't see both lumins and 'k' on the box, and for someone that knows absolutely nothing of lighting and electrical I figured I was looking for both plus wattage of 40 or so. Appears I have mistaken There also never seems to be a wrong answer on which to use as long as your using the right amount based on space. Is this kinda of correct?
Aaron
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
Home Depot, Lowes, and other stores may have quit selling the 42 Watt CFLs...I can't find them anymore....I order mine online from 1000bulbs or something like that...cheaper by the dozen applies here....I use the 2700K and 6500K 42 watt ones...
That's a lot of information, I think this is where it gets confusing to knew growers, or just guys like me.
There also never seems to be a wrong answer on which to use as long as your using the right amount based on space. Is this kinda of correct?
Aaron
here is a picture of what you are looking for...two pictures...first one is standard 40 watt T-12 Fluoros and the second one is from a 42 watt 2700K CFL...what you are looking for is color temperature (2700K or 6500K) and lumens (dependent on wattage of the bulb)
I use Phillips bulbs for my T-12s....but it really doesn't matter, the information you need about the bulbs should be somewhere on the packaging...if you are buying 2 bulb packs, it is on one of the sides on one of the ends...this picture is of a "10 Pack"
for the CFLs...here is two shots of the packaging...and as I said about the T-12s...the info you need should be somewhere on the packaging...
in this case, the color is on another side...
CFLs are not cheap, but they last a long time...here is a link to where I order mine from
2700Ks are $7.51 each if you buy 6 or more...
http://www.1000bulbs...rescents-2700K/
6500Ks are $13 each if you buy 6 or more...
http://www.1000bulbs...rescents-6500K/
Luckily they have a little section of the higher watt CFLs here still, they keep about 1 box in stock of the soft white ones.. heck, at Home Depot I got excited when I found a 300w equivalent in a standard base size, that thing is a BEAST hah, but it was in soft white (2,700k) which I am not really using now just based on what I have read about it causing "less compact plants" (I will have to find out for my self eventually, but for my first time growing indoors, I just want my plants to do the best they can without trying to test out a bunch of different things), having great results with the 5-6,500k color range so far
but I think I will use one of the 42w 2,700k bulbs I have in one of my shelves and switch out the LED for now.. The LED is just too powerful for them right now (only a few weeks old) and they are "tanning" with the purple leaves, so I can save some money on running cost and switch it out for a CFL
I know what you mean, when I first starting looking around for lights and stuff, I first started with the 2x4' flouro setup, but then realized I didn't have any real place I could set it up the way I wanted to, so returned that, and still ended up spending at least a hour at each store (Home Depot/Lowes/Walmart) every time I went out haha looking for something else or different or trying to figure out what light I could use... in the end I learned keeping it relatively simple worked best.
so if you have a long shelf or area you can set the plants up, go with the 4' tubes (the 2' ones are, for some reason, more expensive, at least around here.. for the fixtures that is) and if you need them in a shorter/more compact area like the shelves I have or something, just get the soft white, or daylight (just remember that daylight is sometimes either 5000k or 6,500k, they should say on the back of the packaging if not on the box they are sitting in, get the 6,500k, not the 5000k ones)
Thanks for all the help guys and the reference AJ.
We were looking for the small bulbs but looking at what we have for plants we will be needing a couple 4' lights afterall. Thanks again z
Aaron
We were looking for the small bulbs but looking at what we have for plants we will be needing a couple 4' lights afterall. Thanks again z
Aaron
That sucks! Sry to hear that! I'm planning on getting mine next week
They were tripping the breaker because the circuit was overloaded. A 15a breaker will do about 1500 watts @120v.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
+1 Willard...
V = I*W
where V= Voltage, I = Amperage, W = Power (Wattage)
V = I*W
where V= Voltage, I = Amperage, W = Power (Wattage)
V=IRAlabamaJack said:
Volt = I(amps)*R(resistance, Ohms)
Â
P=VI or P=I2R
P(watts)=Volts*I(amps)
Â
Â
So @ 1500Watts and 120V the light should be pulling 12.5Amps, not tripping a 15 amp breaker. So either the light is defective and pulling more then 1500 watts or the breaker needs to be replaced.