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ellenr22

? re grow light

first of all, I am a very amateur grower, with limited space and more importantly limited $.
so I am not asking about those fluorescent set-ups. Also I have no skills to perhaps make up my own.

I simply want to improve the quality of life of my few plants (include succulents).
They face a north window.

So I'm thinking of this grow light. (link below)
I used to have one and it seemed to help.
I'm sure that it is not going to do what the 4-ft fluorescent bulbs do, but keep in mind, I am a very casual gardener, and when Spring comes I return to my community garden and might chuck my indoor plants. :)

This is all an experiment for me anyway.

Before I get it, or maybe in addition to it, as it does not cost very much, do you have any suggestions along these lines? It has to be a bulb that goes into a usual bulb socket.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grow light

Comments (8)

  • dellis326 (Danny)
    9 years ago

    Forget that lamp, Incandescent lamps are mostly heat.

    Go with "Daylight" compact florescent, the small pigtail looking lamps. Get 23 Watts or more and if you can get ones that are marked "6500K" this is the color temperature rating. Either or both of those are good.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    the key to lights.. is how far they are from the plant ...

    trust me.. i understand budget ...

    get something like at the link .. yes.. i understand its 5 times your light ...

    but it will be worth it...

    maybe you wont have to throw out your plants come spring ...

    but the key is to get hardware chain.. and make sure.. its only 2 inches from your plants ...

    by the time you put your little light.. 2 inches from the plant.. it will light a 6 inch circle.. meaning one plant.. it will be worthless ..

    plain old 4 foot shop lamps... no foo foo special spectrum stuff ... its all marketing hype ....

    do it right.. or skip it ... which of course.. is cheapest of all ... dont buy into the marketing hype ...

    ken

    Here is a link that might be useful: link

  • dellis326 (Danny)
    9 years ago

    To say the "spectrum stuff" is all marketing hype is over simplifying it. Spectrum does matter, for foliage growth you'd want a bluer light and for flowering or fruiting you'd want something with more red. Or a blend of both. Plants don't utilize yellow and green light very much if at all.

    Wide spectrum lamps are a waste of money because they produce a lot of spectrum that plants do not use to grow. Fluorescent lamps of the "daylight" or cool variety generally have a color temperature of 5500K to 6500K which is fine for plant growth.

    Intensity matters too, You need to have either the lamps close enough to the plants to do any good or a quantity of lamps that will produce enough light that it will provide enough light intensity once it reaches the plants. Light quality drops and drops fast with every inch farther away the lamp is from the plants. Compact lamp provide more light intensity in a smaller zone then tubes will but both will work. You just need more lamps for a larger space regardless of which you choose.

  • ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    thank you

    dellis, is this what you mean, but to get 6500? -link below.

    btw, I don't need the additional light for foliage growth or bloom, bec. in winter these plants are dormant. I just want to make sure they survive in my north window.

    Here is a link that might be useful: daylight flouorscent

  • pandoratim
    9 years ago

    dellis326, I'm very interested in the topic of temperature and what works. I have a small room in the corner of my garage which stays well above freezing in the winter. There's a boiler in there and a couple of windows for light. So I have a 4 ft florescent fixture mounted on rope with one cold and one warm tube. I was told by a grower at a nursery that this combination works well for generating growth, as long as the tubes are close enough to the plants, as you've already pointed out. I have no feel for what temperature these designations mean, although a google search indicates that warm is probably less than 5000k. Growth is snail-like at best in my corner. Do you have any thoughts on whether a more specific temperature range of inexpensive bulbs would make a difference?

    Tim

  • dellis326 (Danny)
    9 years ago

    The lamp in your link is a 5000K lamp. That could work but 6500K is better for plants. This lamp is also only 14 watts which isn't bright enough and won't give you much light intensity.

    When thinking of lights for plants, you'll need to keep in mind two particular aspects of light, Color and Brightness or Intensity, ie; Kelvin (K) & Watts.

    The color of light is measured by it's Color temperature on a scale given in Kelvin or "K". Lamps rated less than 5000K of considered warm, more than 5000K are considered cool or daylight.

    Intensity and Wattage aren't really the same thing but for our usage here we can use them together, Wattage is the rate the the lamp consumes electricity and converts it to light, that's pretty straightforward, a 14 watt lamp will use less electricity and produce less light then a 42 watt lamp. Intensity could be translated to mean how much light reaches a given area from the lamp. So a 42 watt lamp a meter away will give a much lower light intensity per square inch than if it is just a few inches away. In other words, it needs to be closer.

    When you go into home depot or a similar store and see a display of different lamps and there's warm lamps and cool lamps and a couple in between, these show you what the color scale is all about. Plants only have photoreceptors for ultraviolet light, red light and blue light so a lamp that generates light with a lot of yellow & green is wasted energy because the plants do perceive and make use of that part of the spectrum. This is why a full or wide spectrum lamp is a waste of money and energy.

    This information applies to fluorescent tube, CFL's and LED's.

    Check the link below

    Here is a link that might be useful: 42 Watt 6500K Lamp

  • dellis326 (Danny)
    9 years ago

    Pandoratim; I didn't see your post before I wrote my last one. If your fixture has only two tubes you may just not have enough intensity to provide for growth even if it is enough to just keep them alive. Maybe the physical temperature is too low or not enough humidity. I would increase the amount of light. If you have a two tube fixture add a second one with just cool or daylight tubes. I think most often plant grown under lights don't have enough light intensity. You could easily double or triple what you have without causing problems.

    I don't know why light color is measured in Kelvin/Temperature, It can be confusing until it sticks in your head that it doesn't refer to physical temperature. Possibly because of our emotional response when we are exposed to different color light but that is only a guess.

  • ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    thank you dellis for the link and yr explanation.
    I will go with the one you suggest,
    and am looking forward to some happy plants.
    (happier)

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