Compact fluorescent lights
 

i am just getting into artificial light with them. i have poked around on the internet to get the skinny but originally i came away confused.

i heard ppl say that "warm" light is for blooming and "blue" light is for vegetative growth. i have seen 2700K recommended for blooming and 5000K or 6500K for vegetative growth. all of this made no sense to me w/o references.

i looked up the a photosynthesis spectrum to get an idea of what plants want. then, i looked up some info on the spectrum for the 2700K, 5000K and 6500K flo lights on the GE homepage. Learn About Light: Spectral Power Distribution Curves: GE Commercial Lighting Products i attached two images showing comparisons of SP65 to SP50 and SP50 to SP27. now it make more sense.

it looks like the 5000K and 6500K lights can help somewhat with blooming and would be the best light to get if you could only have one.

anyone out there using CFL lights?

Re: Compact fluorescent lights
 

I am using 2 4x bulb T5 fixtures, I am using Argomax Bulbs 4 x "Grow" 6400k Daylight, and 4x "Bloom" 3000K

I seem to have good luck bring veggies from seed to bloom without changing over any bulbs. I prefer to run one of each so I do not have to change bulbs, and in an effort to provide a more "Rounded" light source. I figured the sun puts off all the different spectrum's at once, so why not try to recreate the sun light as much as possible. I have found that Tomatoes and green beans grown under fluorescent lights seem to stretch or grow taller vs HPS or MH

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Worm Farmer do you keep the light close to the foilage to try and stop the stretching?

Re: Compact fluorescent lights
 

thanks for your comments. i am going to try and get the 5000K bulb. i have the 68w light very, very close.

Re: Compact fluorescent lights
 

Yes, I keep the lights right on top of the plants, when ever the leafs start to burn against the tubes I lift them up another notch.

Re: Compact fluorescent lights
 

It is kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around growing Bananas under lights since they get so big but I suppose that it could jump start a season especially if you are growing dwarf varieties.

Has anyone posted pictures of their grow light setups?

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Ill be the first.... :08:


I have a 27 watt compact fluorescent, and the out put is equal to a 100 watt light bulb. I think I need to add another light and put the light closer to the plants. I want to buy a led light like like this TRIBAND LED SPOT LIGHT GROW hydroponic UFO FLOOD USA! - eBay (item 120646968774 end time Nov-18-10 09:17:02 PST) to help out with the growing process, maby even one of these All BLUE 225 LED Grow Light Panel stimulate Growth Lamp - eBay (item 220696110286 end time Nov-15-10 19:40:12 PST) for folige growth. But for now heres some pictures of the light that I have:











And yes, I know its a little messy. ;)




.

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good set-up blake. you can do so much better now with the newer bulbs. i picked up a 68w CFL (~ 300w incandescent) at home depot for $16. the 5100K and 6500K bulbs are available online for purchase. i don't know why HD does not carry the latter two.

here is my set-up.

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Last year I grew my 6" banana's under a 400watt 10,00k MH bulb with a supplemental 6500k Compact Florescent under a round hood. Like the one pictured above. THis year as the plants are over 8ft I added a 6 bulb t-5 6500k unit that seems to work great with the others. Here is where I got it. It was the best price for a t-5 unit that I have found and people that have come over to look at it have also bought one. I would like to add another at a later date but $$ will tell. So far I have had really good luck with what I have been using. THe old 10,000k MH bulb was from my reef tank and although it is mainly blue it worked great the plants did not end up being long and stringy they went from 6" to over 3ft in a little under 3 months.

Hydrofarm T5 4FT Designer Fluorescent Grow Lights - Plantlighting Hydroponics & Grow Lights

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Re: Compact fluorescent lights
 

All this talk has given me an idea. Every year I drag around fifty tropical plants inside a 12 x 30 foot insulated building. I place them near a large window and water them a couple times. They look pretty ratty by Spring. This year I think I'll spread them out some and use fluorescents to try and keep them healthier. I think I have just enough time to work something out before I have to drag everything inside.

Is there any advantage in using the CFL's over the 4' bulbs?

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hi darman,

is there a local hydroponics store in your area? you might want to go visit one. they usually will have lights set up for display and for plants that are in the store. i went to sea of green here in tucson. they had the 4' bulb set-up with 4 lights. it was very bright, but my one bulb seems brighter. it could be because it's just one light and not spread out linearly. seems like the 4' bulbs would give you better coverage. i think it would be best to visit a hydro store if one is in your area and see what they have set up.

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There is one nearby. I'll check it out. Thanks!

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This is a good thread to come up, I am glad I found it.

I know how people put lights with hundreds and hundreds of watts and run up big fat electric bills. On the same subject, how much lighting should really be needed to keep a plant healthy over the course of a winter indoors? I am overwintering 4 types of bananas and some borneo giants. I have 2x27 watt tube grow lights from wal mart as it is mounted to the ceiling in the area. If I mounted it close I would need 8 of them.
Basement temp averages 55-60.
I am thinking I want to keep them juuuuust barely growing. If I had 1 or 2 leaves over the whole winter more than I started with I would be thrilled.

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Soooooo What is better to let them take a nap and not expend energy or try to get them to grow a little which will definately tap into the plants energy reserves?