indoor Moving Indoors

[pure_bordem]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster
 
I currently have 2 Trinidads, 2 Bhuts, 2 Antillais Caribbean, 2 Tepins, and 2 Golden Cayennes that have gotten nice and bushy. While I have had peppers, it has been an unfortunately cold/wet summer up here so I am just starting to see ripe peppers and some plants just started flowering! Since it is slowly turning into fall already here I want to get ready to move them inside. I thankfully have a unfinished basement where I have ample space for them. However lighting would certainly be an issue down there  .
 
I have done a lot of research into the lighting and would like to come to the pepper community for the correct lighting setup for peppers (since most information on indoor growing is on pot haha). Ignoring bulb types (CFL, HPS, etc.) it seems there is a core criteria that needs to be met regardless of how exactly you reach it. So correct me if I am wrong but...
 
-Peppers need white light for a full spectrum, however having a strong presence of blues and reds are best for peppers
 
-A high amount of lumens, but lumens change drastically over a given distance/angle so Lux becomes the more important number
 
-Watts have absolutely nothing to do with the above and are amount of juice im pulling from the wall
 
From what little I have gathered is that generally the blue spectrum is more important for peppers than the red but both are still needed. If so then I would need 6000-6500k bulbs primarily? Also, how much Lux would I need for full grown plants? Obviously more the merrier and the more I have the farther away I can pull the lights but what is a good number to shoot for?
 
Thanks!
 
     
 

 

[CBarkley]

The lumen mark that you should aim for is 3000 per square foot with cfls. That is what I use and it seems to work, but as you said, the more the merrier.

As far as bulb temperature ratings, I do primarily "daylight" bulbs with a few softer bulbs and the peppers seem to like it.

 

[Jeff H]

How many are you moving inside? If you move more than a couple full grown plants, understand that this will effect your electric bill more than a little. I have outdoor plants that are 3'x3' easily, that can get expensive. 
 
Just speaking about HID bulbs, the rule of thumbs seem to be 4'x4' for a 400 watt, 5'x5' for a 600 watt and 6x6 for a 1000watt. All types of florescent bulbs will need more watts than this to produce the same penetrating light that a full grown plant will need to produce fruit all winter.  

 

[pure_bordem]

I will be moving all of them inside so 8 total. CB, you are positive that its minimum 3000 per sq ft and not sq meter? I hope to god it is because all Lux calculations give you sq meter which means my calculations would be super safe  Also, what is a safe distance for the lights? I obviously want to make sure I hit the whole plant and not just a narrow spot on it. Is one foot too close?

 

[CBarkley]

Yeah, everything I have read says 3000/square foot, and that's what I use as my minimum. My last setup had 3733.3333333333 lumens per square foot and my peppers did well.

I usually put my CFL's as close as possible without causing damage. 1 foot might be too high for CFL's as their light output drops pretty quickly the farther away they are. I usually aim for 6 inches, but I've seen people put them as close as 3 or 4 inches from the tops of the plants.

 

[Jeff H]

 
Yeah, everything I have read says 3000/square foot, and that's what I use as my minimum. My last setup had 3733.3333333333 lumens per square foot and my peppers did well.

 
Bolded for emphasis. OP, you are refering to lux (not sure what that is really) and CBarkley is in lumens.
 
I agree with his lumen number though. Just using my HID setup as an example, I'm very close to that number with a MH bulb and exceed it with a HPS bulb.Peppers grew well in either last winter but a little better in HPS.

 

[Monkey Hunter]

-Peppers need white light for a full spectrum, however having a strong presence of blues and reds are best for peppers
 
-A high amount of lumens, but lumens change drastically over a given distance/angle so Lux becomes the more important number
 
-Watts have absolutely nothing to do with the above and are amount of juice im pulling from the wall
 

-All plants are most responsive to red and blue light, the rest are barely registered.  That's why horticultural LED's end up a purple colour as they just use the bulbs that emit use able light.
 
-Lumens and Lux both measure light that is visible to the human eye, which evolved to pick up the light reflecting off of plants.  Both drop off at the same rate, the inverse rule determines how much it's reduced.  Square the distance traveled and that becomes the new fraction of light received by plants, ie at 2ft it's 1/4 as strong, at 3 it's 1/9, etc.  I believe 1 lux equals 1 lumen/sq meter but that may be the wrong conversion.
 
-Correct, watts measure how much energy goes in, the type of lighting determines how much light is produced in a use able range.
 
A good rule of thumb is to use 2 cool bulbs for every warm bulb as that'll create a decent spectrum for plants, the more red light they're exposed to the more they'll stretch.  Equally if you're really tight on space get the bluest light you can.
 
As far as energy, the last time I worked it out it cost me roughly 15$/month to run a 600w HPS for 12 hours a day at 7 cents/kwh.  I always told customers that up to 250w CFL/T5's make the most sense, over that HID/LED's lights are more cost effective even though they cost more up front.  I never used LED's though, the technology still seems immature to me.
 
The closer you can get your lights the better, as long as the whole garden is still getting even coverage.  I try to keep my CFL's 2-3 inches above the canopy, it's not irregular that plants will actually touch the bulb though.  As long as it's not for too long they won't burn.  Make sure you have an oscillating fan blowing on them at all times though.
 
Which is another thing to consider, lighting is only one small part of keeping plants healthy indoors.  Air circulation, temperature, humidity all effect growth just as much and are commonly overlooked.  It doesn't matter how good your light is set up, if the air isn't moving they'll use all their CO2 in a couple minutes and shut down photosynthesis until they have fresh air.  If the temperature and humidity aren't balanced they'll dry out too quickly or won't be able to transpire to keep cool and will shut down.  The sooner you understand the interaction of the various aspects of the climate the more successful you'll be.

 

[pure_bordem]

Thanks for the information everyone. I will def put a fan down there to keep the air gently moving. I believe with the bulbs I am going with I can get roughly 3000-4000 lux at a foot off the plants but I am double checking with the manufacturer for a spec sheet. The bulbs are suppose to be 1200 lumen with a 120 degree viewing angle so if I do one per plant I should get plenty of bleed between all the lights for ample coverage. I have the option for 5700-6500k bulbs and  2700-3200k so maybe I should do 3 of the 2700k and the rest 6500k? 

 

[Monkey Hunter]

I'd definitely move the lights closer, otherwise your plants will stretch and it'll be hard to control.  Assuming you have 9 bulbs total, that should work well.

 

[CBarkley]

Bolded for emphasis. OP, you are refering to lux (not sure what that is really) and CBarkley is in lumens.
 
I agree with his lumen number though. Just using my HID setup as an example, I'm very close to that number with a MH bulb and exceed it with a HPS bulb.Peppers grew well in either last winter but a little better in HPS.

As far as I know, lux is 1 lumen per square metre. I generally just do a lumens per square foot calculations for simplicity. Total number of lumens / total square feet of grow space = lumens per square foot.

Thanks for the information everyone. I will def put a fan down there to keep the air gently moving. I believe with the bulbs I am going with I can get roughly 3000-4000 lux at a foot off the plants but I am double checking with the manufacturer for a spec sheet. The bulbs are suppose to be 1200 lumen with a 120 degree viewing angle so if I do one per plant I should get plenty of bleed between all the lights for ample coverage. I have the option for 5700-6500k bulbs and  2700-3200k so maybe I should do 3 of the 2700k and the rest 6500k?

That sounds like it will work. I had 14 bulbs in my grow space last year that was 6 square feet and I used 4 softer bulbs, while the others were 5500-6500k.