douglas gray

I bought a UV strip light unit today to set up a winter growing area in the garage....this does not emit much light (dark tube), does anyone know if I use normal light bulbs AND a UV light, it will provide the light required to germinate ?

Lodewijkp

i got alot of information but i keep it simple.

i don't have much experience with geminating seeds under certain lamps.
i only grow plants under lamps.
i have also made a post in the seed germination forum.

first not all fluoresend lights wil work they have to admit a certain wavelenght of colors .

plants need BLue , yellow and orange most so a wavelenght of 350 to 680

the best lights are fluoresend lights that are designed for aquariums, look for philips, jewel and some other brands.

always choose the color white hot or white hot 6500 K

There are other type of lights but they are not energy conservative and high the risk of lighting a fire.

RED WAVELENGHT ONLY EMITS WARMTH AND COSTS ALOT OF ENERGY< USELESS FOR PLANT GROWTH, MAYBE GOOD FOR GERMINATING SEEDS BECAUSE OF THE WARMTH .

PLANTS DONT USE GREEN WAVELENGHT BECAUSE THEY REFLECT AND DONT USE THAT COLOR SPECTRUM THATS WHY WE SEE THAT PLANTS ARE GREEN

you need alot of the blue spectrum.

don't use one type of spectrum emmiting light, variate with different color emmiting lights.

T5 technology is specialy designed for plant growth, T8 is more expensive and is almost the same. there are also special T5 and T8 designs that incorporate special technology besides the standard way's they wil have certain names like : greengrowth, optigrowth most will be named : ''floralux''

the closer the light on the plant how more photosynthesis will take place, a great distance only wil decrease the lummens thus the plant will not grow optimal.


DONT USE ENERGY EATING LAMPS ! think of the enviroment and your own safety, high energy lamps costs money. and remember no light can imitate the sun, plants just need sunlight once a while

sorry about my spelling!

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bencelest

The more lamp wattage the more energy you use, ergo, more money to pay for KW usage.

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douglas gray

thanks lodewikjp,

thats excellent info for me. I agree, I will use the most energy efficient and the garage is only for the really cold wet months to get the plants going. By the way, dont suppose you know how much lumens or watts bulb required ?
thanks again for all the info

mskitty38583

so glad i got full spectrum that leans more to the blue end.. i guess i did do good.

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jason

Hi a simple shop light that you can get for $10-$15 will do just fine just make sure you replace one of the to 40 watt bulbs with a different bulb,,you will want one bulb to be called a warm wich will emit more of the red yellow spectrum and the other bulb should be a cool white and that will give you the blue you need,,save your money on those exspensive aquarium bulbs will not work any better for ya than what i told you ,,,you will just end up spending more money on those hobbist bulbs.check out my pictures with my lighting I have set up for all my tropicals,,,hope this helped. Jason.

mskitty38583

i have a regular 100 wt. light bulb and the grow light that i use in the den along with the natural sunlite that comes into the windows. the grow light is the full spec. that leans to the blue end( paid 8.97 at walmart) for the whole light and fixture. and i paid 1.09 for the light bulbs. went and bought some plant food today at lowes that has the trace minerals in it. i spent more for the fert. then i did both lights. lol

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Gabe15

what was the point of the UV light? Or was it just a "black light", which is not UV, but just violet. A true UV would kill any seedlings.

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mskitty38583

thanks for the info gabe, i didnt know that uv would kill a seedling. good to know.

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Lodewijkp

I use Fluorescent light because they are more effiecient and cheaper, i use 35watt lamps and 75 watt lamps that emit the blue spectrum
i also use jewel aquarium products :

http://www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/high...bes_day447.htm

look at this articles

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/fluorescent.html

http://members.misty.com/don/f-spec.html

http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~jerry/orchids/light.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp

the things you lookat must be wattage and K / NM kelvin and colorspectrum

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mskitty38583

im sooooo glad i got the ge plant and aqua. lite. takes a load off my mind! that was an interesting article, thank you for posting it. i may have to go get another one for the other side of my room. and i believe that the incandescent light that i have will just have to go away. we like happy plants!

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Lagniappe

http://www.1000bulbs.com/30-Watt-Com...rescents/4013/

These 30 watt bulbs are cheap and have a high watt to lumen ratio .
they are available in 6400 k and 5000k both full spectrum

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mskitty38583

i know have one of these light bulbs in my nana room along with my gro lite. will be getting a couple more very soon. its not bad 6 in a box for 10.97. i need to get some more. i still have 2 regular lites in the nana room to change over. thanks for the info.

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rane

This part is incorrect, most plants use both blue and red light.

Richard

Oh my, there is "red" and "infrared". Above-ground plants use both, in varying percentages. The recommendation to only use T5 or T8 bulbs is a good one. The best way to provide a heat source for seed germination is with a heating mat/pad. UV light is not a significant source of heat for plants.

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Richard

Full spectrum is good, but most incandescent bulbs do that also -- in a very biased way. I use the compact florescent throughout rooms in my home. For plant light though, it is long way from the 5000-6400 Kelvin range of the above bulb to the 9000 Kelvin output of newer plant bulbs.

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