Home Made Grow Lights

[redser]

Ive rigged up a grow light for my greenhouse.
While the greenhouse itself is not heated, the light is over a heated bed.
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With the additional of a small polly tunnel the temperature has never been lower than 12 degrees raises to around 22 during the day.
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Im going to add an additional 4ft light this weekend.
The light is going on at 5am and off at 8pm, with it also going off during the day.
At the moment the bed contains lots of chillies, lettuce and tomatoes.

Careful you don't get a dreaded nice day and fry them under that cover! I imagine with the bottom heat you would only need to cover them at night.

[Mudge]

The hottest its been under there is 23 degrees.
The lights go off during the day now at 10am and come on again at 4pm.

[Ladyslip]

I'm setting up a deep water culture tub

Show me yours n i'll show you mine we too are having a crash at a hydroponics system and a deep water culture experiment...hoping to increase the yields on produce and cut down on time spent watering/feeding

[rita1]

i have an old vivarium with florescent light i could put all my seedling in there.

[broadway]

Hello Folks

I'd appreciate someone who nows what they are talking about commenting on this one please?

REFURBISHED PROXIMA 6OO W HPS GROW LIGHT KIT | eBay

I was looking at this thread earlier however thought no then I saw these on Ebay, just seemed "meant to be" as although I live in Tottenham I work in Chelmsford.

[Bigmallly]

You could put them on your watch list but it's unlikely the price will stay with 4 days still to go..........good luck.........the self collection may put a lot of bidders off.

[Kristen]

I don't think that Sodium (i.e. HPS) is appropriate for "growing", that's more for flowering / fruiting

Metal Halide bulbs better for growing ... but they generate a lot of output, and heat, so T5 tube rigs [lots of tubes, side-by-side rather than one plus a reflector] probably better still for seedlings (or LED rigs)

[Kristen]

P.S. You might be able to put a Metal Halide bulb in that reflector?? but that would be additional cost for the bulb.

[chopper_j]

I have my main crop of tomatoes under an identical 600w setup with a halide bulb, they are around £15

They are doing very well.. had bulb a touch too close and some of the leaves yellowed but since moving it up higher than I would have thought to, the new growth is very lush

Going to be under them for 2 more weeks before they go in my heated greenhouse

[sequoia]

Light box lined with 25mm jabalite,various light bulbs to control the temperature+fluorescent

[Notty1975]

Read through this thread and seen some good stuff but does anyone know the what lumens /sq foot is needed for good growth

[muddled]

Gosh.
I'm cream crackered.
I read through the entire thread.

Here's what I learned....
Bog standard fluorescant tubes are fine...the best being T8 but T5 are pretty good too. Cool white is great but refers to the colour rather than the temperature.
They're not expensive to run.
The lights need to be very close to (but not touching) the seedlings.
White reflects more than foil.

Now, the bits that were less clear....
some said exclude all other light or plants will stretch for it....but some said allow daylight then switch on lights at night?
I thought that the point of lights was so we could start plants earlier....but apparently if using lights we should start them later? (there was a reference to toms being shoulder high by May )

And finally....how did you all get on?
Did anyone ever manage to get a comparison going....like VC's lettuce experiment but with more time?
Are you all using them again this year?

[Bigmallly]

I'm not going to bother with lights this year, I have to be patient and sow at the "proper" times not when I get itchy fingers...........

[smutley]

First post here and I must say what an interesting read.

Just got some Aubergines, Peppers and Tomatoes popping their little heads through.

As with previous years, I am trying to stop them getting too leggy due to lack of light.

Will be giving this a try and see how I get on.

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine smutley, glad you enjoyed the thread. There are many others that you will enjoy.