Supplemental lighting

Already I notice the days are getting shorter and shorter, so I am adding supplemental lighting in the morning and evening to keep my tropical plants actively growing. To keep the cost under control I am using LED grow lights, with the spectrum tuned to exactly the wavelengths the plants most require for growth: red, orange and blue. The lights cover a good portion of the bench, and, the total power consumption is a meager 66 watts, not each, total. The cost of the lights was little more than fifty dollars, and the life expectancy is ten years, if used all day. I thought I would share this as food for thought.

 

Would that power be enough to supplement chillie growing in the early spring?

 

That is hard to answer as I don't know your growing conditions. I use LEDs to grow indoors all season long. These peppers were started indoors using LED lighting and finished in the greenhouse. I also grow them indoors in the winter using LEDs. That said, I would use one light with at least 90 watts of power for a dozen or so seedlings to get them off to a good start.

 

What wattage do you use to grow them indoors,I would of thought about 400 or am I way out.

 

Indoors I use some 90 and 150 watt LED grow lights. The spectrum is tuned for plants, so you can not compare them with regular lights like HPS or MH. You might do some research online for LED grow lights. The are energy efficient and last for 100,000 hours. If you like garden 365 days a year they are a good investment. These are tomatoes I grew last winter with 100 watts. I got 16 tomatoes from each plant, but I had to limit the size of the plant to 4 trusses. They were fantastic tasting tomatoes. Right now I am starting Giant Marconi peppers to grow indoors this fall.

 

Wow,I'm shocked that you can get that sort of results with only 100 watts,are they in soil?

 

No, they are not in soil, but are grown hydroponically. I would never bring soil indoors to grow anything. The tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are grown in a half and half mixture of coco coir and perlite. Lettuce, beets, chard and herbs are grown with reusable expanded clay pellets. I use these 100 watt lights all winter to grow greens when lettuce is three, or more, dollars a head. I figure the cost of the lights at about six dollars a month to run, however, the greens I grow out weigh the cost of the electric. I guess the price of electricity in the UK is pretty high though.

 

Could you please tell a good uk supplier I could get info for the right light or me.thanks

 

I made a grow cabinet based on LEDs and a cheap heat mat such as you might use for keeping a reptile tank warm.

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/...ters-etc-on-a-budget.47293/page-3#post-626723

It worked fine. Too well in fact, and I got carried away and had a sort of production line on the go for seedlings, but I quickly ran out of room in the cabinet, and it was still very early in the year, so I had seed trays on rotation between the cabinet and various window sills. After a short time I had so many seedlings that their share of the grow cabinet time was too short, and I ended up loosing pretty much the lot. But it's not a failure. The way I used it was a fail, but the technology was fine. I know for next time to be a bit more patient. Oh, and I'm looking for a bigger cupboard for Grow Cabinet 2.0

 

Very interesting,I've been toying with the idea of having a little grow room but MH have been expensive to run these LED seem more cost effective.I shall continue to read up on it,thanks.Roy

 

Roy,
You might try Ebay, but use care in selecting a light, as some claims are blown out of proportion. If you use patience you can occasionally get a good buy by bidding. I figure a 90 watt LED will cover about a square meter at a meter above the plants. My lights are mostly red/blue/white and give off practically no heat at all. I also use them for cuttings and seed propagation. My assistant is six years old so that is why the figures are in the photo. The reason I don't recommend dealers is that they mark them up to twice, or greater, than you can buy from a manufacturer.

 

Thanks,what I want to do is help my chillie plants along in the green house in Febuary.

 

I started mine just after Christmas and I was picking in April. I just started seeds to grow one indoors this fall. These are Marconi peppers and we love them.

 

I've just planted some beef tomato seeds which have germinated ,what I am doing is putting a 600w light on at about 6am for two hours and putting it back on at 6pm to 8pm to make the daylight appear longer,do you think the winter sun in the daylight hours will be strong enough to rear these plants and others I'm growing?at the moment I've got a tube heater on all day and night(4ft)and I'm going to add extra heating .any views welcome.thanks.Roy.

 

The only advice I can offer is: try it. To me that is what gardening is all about. Somewhere I read that tomatoes need something like 25,000 - 30,000 foot candles per day of light to produce. I use a meter to measure average foot candles and to determine my photoperiod , then add a little for good measure. Right now I have peppers going and the tomatoes are about two weeks from being placed under the lights. The light has about 3,000 foot candles on the canopy and I will give the tomatoes at least 12 hours. Good luck!