Quote:
Originally Posted by drew51
I have seen photos in the hot pepper forum of decent plants that never were put outside, grown under shop lights, impressive, with many peppers. It's pretty amazing what you can accomplish with simple lights.
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The T5HO 6500K
are shop lights if you are buying in the correct venue. For example, at an electrical contractors outlet. The packaging you see on them from hydroponic venues is just a means of quadrupling the price!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug9345
Actually that looks either like a ballast efficiency or a ballast factor. Fluorescents are in the 25% - 40% range. The main problem is that low pressure mercury emits most of it's energy in the ultraviolet range. That ultra violet is then used to make the phosphors in the tube glow. A photon of ultraviolet light has much more energy that a photon of visible light. The difference in the energy is lost as heat.
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I have clients who grow fruits, vegetables, and sometimes marijuana in warehouses and in converted orchid houses. The converted flower houses have translucent roofs and supplemental lighting using suspended T5 systems. For example, one operation is in Murrieta CA with 5 50,000 sq.ft. enclosures growing fruits and vegetables year-round for fresh market sales. They have geo-thermal on site and mostly free electricity. The lighting is controlled by photometers to achieve 700 W/sq. meter during the "daylight" period regardless of the actual sunshine levels above. Mid-season we measure about 90% efficiency from the T5 bulbs.