Growlight Project

Too windy & heavy rain showers to plant the perennials today so I thought I would sit down and get to grips with starting a grow light/box. I am going to start with trying two types of light T5 Fluorescent tunes and CFL`s ,then later try the Led`s. Since it is an experiment I decided to start small and work up. I have purchased 4 packets of Petunia seeds which will give me an idea how each grow under different lights. The object, after germination is to grow them stocky enough to plant into 7cm or bigger pots ready for garden. The 1st small build will to fit 2 full size seed trays in or 30 7cm pots. Not a lot but I will get an idea how plants respond to either cfl bulbs or f/tubes
Today I ordered 2 x 45w blue spectrum cfl`s

Not sure if to build the box out of that white panel stuff (contiboard,plas,furniture board?) I have a fair bit of that and would be easy to cut and screw toegether.Also too sure about the surface as it is not Matt but a soft sheen. The advantage of it is if I need I can screw in a small panel fan on one side and a open/closed vent on the other.
The alternative is to make a frame, make 3 sides with white hardboard, not sure about the front though as this has to open and that would perhaps have to be a frame with hardboard fixed on. The top will be furniture panel as I will have a false ceiling with the 2 lights attached to raise & lower to plants. The top will have holes and hooks for the chains so have to be a bit more solid.

After that I will try florescent tubes. I have had a look on the TLC site and 4 x 2ft tubes + battens will come to £47.40 unless you are trade. Then you have to mount the things on a board so I may as well buy a complete Lightwave unit off ebay which is nicely made up.
After that who knows??? If a success could get the 4ft units or even the whole garage as a grow box

 

You might be better off growing something faster than Petunias? Petunias grow very slowly, initially, so take a long time to get to "planting out size", and starting this late in the year I doubt you will have anything useful until early August (3 months).

Its been my experience, too, that purchasing a T5 lighting rig is cheaper than buying the individual components and then having to mount them.

 

Very enlightening comment Kristen about the slow growth of Petunias. As I have mentioned,1st year for growing flowers from seeds.The 1st we planted were snapdragons and they were fine.The 2nd was petunias and when they came off the heat and into the conservatory they kind of stopped growing.They are doing fine now but I thought I took them off the heat too early,from your comment I know they take a long time from germination to planting out stage.

 

I think more and more people will be doing projects like this because we don't get any friggin' sun!!!!

Val

 

I have a T5 light that I hang under a shelf. I use a heat mat to germinate then prick out into cell trays, then under the lights - keeps petunias etc short, and branchy - but I start my Petunias in February so as mentioned before, it is a bit late for them now. I also have a garland light garden which is good for germinating and growing on herbs as well as keeping seedlings short and stocky.

You could try sowing some perennials like Aquilegia (to give them a good start) or some marigolds etc that will grow fast (even faster under lights) and flower a bit later. For me it was trial and error to see what does well - but fun oh yes !!!

S

 

Hi Trogre
If you are looking at a double seed tray size light box , this is one I made last year.
It is a double size seed tray , with a framework made from plastic plumbing pipe and connectors . I covered it with diamond pattern mylar. The lights are 30W daylight CFLs x 2 . These are fitted to two photographers lamp holders . I run it from a simple timer for 12 hours a day. It is now packed away as the first photo ready for next year . It works really well for bringing on some of my plants . The last photo is the box assembled and clad , with Chilli plants on the go.
Most of the items are off Ebay , it cost about £30 all in .

 

Cannas are pretty quick, and respond well to lights (I had them flowering in about 2 months from seed in mid Winter !!) - but they are also quite tall, so probably not the idea specimen for a light rig (Metal Halide type lamp probably better once they are 4" - 6" tall and thereafter. Of course in Summer they can then just go outside at that point! but if the purpose of the experiment is to compare lighting it would be better to choose something shorter so that they can stay under lights for longer, to continue the experiment [if required ]

Salvias would be quite good I think, probably 2 months before they became far too large to stay under lights. Aquilegia, as mentioned, would similarly fit the bill. Anything perennial would be a good candidate because can then be given a permanent home somewhere in the garden later on in the Summer.