Fluorescent tube suitable for germination/growth?

Several previous dicussions on here which might be worth a search for.

My "overview" thoughts would be:

Fluorescent lights need to be within an inch or two of the foliage. Thus you need either adjustable light supports, or a bench that will adjust upwards!

Fluorescent is fine for seedlings, which are all the same height, but for things of variable heights (e.g. plants overwintering) you would be better off with, say, a Metal Halide light. (You can put plants on up-turned pots to get them to the same sort of height, but for canopy-penetration you need Metal Halide rather than Fluorescent).

Lights will generate heat - Fluorescent not much, Metal Halide "lots" - so with some insulation you should be able to make a self-heating "room" without an otherwise cold outbuilding. (Probably cheaper using lights & insulation in a garage than trying to heat a greenhouse in Winter)

You need a lot of tubes - have a look at the Fluorescent lighting rigs - their tubes are only an inch or so apart. (Thus just using an existing overhead fitting won't be enough)

Hydroponic shops are good sources for grow lamps etc. I bought mine from 3c hydroponics.

Cannabis growing forums have a wealth of information on growing under lights. Definitely worth reading their views IMO.

Bugs will flourish in the growing conditions under artificial lights, pay special attention to that, and "sanitise" anything coming into the area (freshly sown seeds in sterilised compost are easy of course ... plants coming in out of the greenhouse in the Autumn will be bringing a lot of free-loading insects with them :( )

 

Try Growlux (4 footers) . Works for me

Cheers, Tony.

 

Two different approaches F.C.:

Keeping plants "alive" on tick over during the winter (such as Exotics in a semi-dormant state). A few compact fluorescents dotted about, reasonably close to the plants, will do for that.

Getting plants growing is a different ball of chalk though. They need lots of light, and suitable warmth. Window nearby will just make the plants "lean" towards it and become leggy. If you provide masses of light the plants will ignore the window so it becomes irrelevant at that point.

Light "power" uses the inverse square law - so double the distance from lights-to-plants and you will reduce the power of the lights by a factor of 4. Increase the distance to 4x and the light power will reduce by 16x :( So actually getting the Fluorescent lights to within 2 inches of the seedlings is important (Metal Halide different, it will burn the plants if within a18" - 24" but it has much more light output so using 2' away from plants is fine, and then one lamp will cover 2 sq.m. or so.)

To preserve the heat (rather than heating the whole garage, but to a lower overall temperature once the heat has dispersed) you need something to contain light, plants and heat. I bought a "seconds" blowaway last Spring and put it in my (unheated) conservatory with my M.H. lamp in it. The lamp kept the "tunnel" above 10C at night in the Spring, but Fluorescents don't give off anything like as much heat as M.H. ... so in a garage you would need some supplemental heating. One of those £20 electric greenhouse fan heaters would do.

But you do need BRIGHT light if you want plants to grow - that's either lots of fluorescent tubes, or a powerful lamp such as Metal Halide.

Some pictures to illustrate (took a while to find some that were not of Cannabis plants!):

Seedlings under flourescent lights:







This is the type of lights commonly sold (at Hydroponic shops):



4 tubes above, and the 8 tube model below:



Metal Halide lamp:

 

Hi.

I've been having thoughts along these lines, to stop my seedlings going 'leggy'. My seedlings (for the most part) are started off in my propagator, which is around 1mtr long. I had thought to maybe suspend (somehow) some 'strips' above this. My propagator burns around 100w an hour. I'm guessing a single 4ft tube will burn maybe 40watts? 4 strips @ 40watts, so that's a grand total of 260watts. Any reason why this wouldn't be a goer?

Cheers...Freddy

Edit : Obviously, I would have to remove the cover from the propagator, but I figure that the bottom heat should suffice?

 

Freddy , FC
there were some huge posts on grow lights in Jan-Feb . Which covered everything to the 9th degree Kristen , PeterS , JWK , Scrungee and others built some impressive set ups . I'll try and find the posts when I have some time . Note in typical GC fashion , the posts will take at least 4 weeks to read ! It gets very detailed in parts

 

Will the seedlings be in the propagator for long after they get some leaves? Obviously you don't need Blackpool Illuminations before they germinate

Thus you could perhaps move them to a different location once germinated (a "growing on box" for want of an expression). If you still want bottom-heat then perhaps a reptile mat - they tend to be cheap to buy, and run. [i.e. instead of propagator, thus freeing the the propagator for the next batch of seeds].

4 strips @ 40watts sound fine. That will give you about 2' width I think [but guessing a bit]. Take a look at the T50 lighting rig, that comes in 4-tube and 8-tube versions, and I expect one of the suppliers will list its dimensions.

You don't need to burn 260watts 24/7 - indeed, some plants may prefer to have a dark period. I burn mine overnight, because that is the coldest time, and the heat from the light boosts the ambient temperature.

Worth looking at the pucker rigs I reckon - by the time you have bought tubes, reflecting shades, and the fittings with ballast you'll be hard pressed to do better than the cost of the purpose-built units (depending on what you have lying around for DIY of course). You would benefit from getting some tubes specific for plant growth (i.e. emitting the right light spectrum)

 

That was the conclusion I came to before I bought two Lightwave T5 LW24 590 x 370mm T5 units (4 tubes) that are now £69.95 each from Jungleseeds that are currently P&P free on orders over £25 but are also out of stock http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d108.html They are £74.50 instore at Three Counties Hydroponics (where I got the materials for lining my grow light box) http://www.3ch.co.uk/grow-lights/fluorescent-grow-lights/t5-4-way-propagation-light/prod_902.html

I also thought that matching the size of unit with the propagator underneath was important to me, but a 1200mm long (twice as long as the above units) is currently on special offer at 3ch for £99 http://www.3ch.co.uk/grow-lights/fluorescent-grow-lights/t5-4-tube-long/prod_843.html and although that means you can't have 2 lights at different heights to suit both seedlings & young plants, you can always prop up gravel/seed trays & pots at different heights by standing them on something.

The previous grow light thread:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/grow-light-germination.39483/


P.S. There is a T5 'Clonelite' 8 tube T5 unit 540 x 600mm is on special offer at 3ch for only £79.50 (reduced from £120 but I can't find anywhere else selling them) http://www.3ch.co.uk/grow-lights/fluorescent-grow-lights/t5-clonelite-8-square/prod_1263.html which seems a really good price to me, but I know nothing about that make/specification.

EDIT: This it what I should have done, but it was the early hours when I drafted the above.

 

I saw that and drew the same conclusions.

I also thought it a bit small (but depends on individual circumstances of course) - 2' square won't accomodate much once its out of a seed tray.

My 2p-worth would be that it seems to me that longer tubes are better value - so I would go for 4' 54W tubes rather than 2' 24W ones. (Double the area, but less than double the price, ditto for replacement tubes).

However, also worth considering the electricity cost, as that is likely to be significant over the lifetime of the product - and saving a few watts, or buying multiple units and turning some off when not needed, might be a bigger saving in the long run.

From the thread you kindly found & posted: 100W is about £10 electricity for 7 hours per night over 3 months growing season.

 

Hi I have just found this brilliant website and I am pleased I have as I am about to delve into the world of outdoor gardening next year.

I work at 3CH and can help you with any lighting questions you may have either about our products or about lighting in general, hydroponic gardening or any other indoor gardening or outdoor gardening. If I dont know I have people who work for us that probably do or can find out.

The thing that puts most people off using lights indoor is rising electricity costs but the T5 lights offer brilliant results at low cost. These lights cost less to run than my washing machine and tumble dryer which feels like its never going to stop being on and my sons xbox which is on 24 hours a day even when his not in!

All our Lighting unit comes with a 1 year full guarentee. We also sell the bulbs seperately for both the 24w and the 54w options in both red and blue. RED bulb for the glowering stage and the Blue bulb for the growth stage.

I have a small clone tent with a T5 8 Tube in the corner of my living room/dining room with a herb garden on top and my cuttings/seedlings in for next year. Luckily I have space at work though.

Please feel free to get in touch.

 

Thanks Amy. I'd be grateful for any thoughts you / your colleagues have on my thread about Building the Perfect Grow-box

 

Have posted a reply asking for photos. Sounds like you are on the right track. How are things progressing?