What type of grow light?

[tgplp]

I need to order another grow light from somewhere, because I am growing way more tomatoes this year and need more room for my next batch of seedlings. I really have no idea where to start! I looked through some older posts and Im not sure what hot vs. Cold lights are, or what color means, and lumens and how all of that affects tomato seedlings. Please help me understand!!can you reccomend a good, cheap light? Right now I have a fluorescent light, but I need to get a better light. My tomatoes grow sloooooow. Where can buy one? Thanks!

[Qweniden]

At lowes.com search for this:

Utilitech 48" 4-Light Utility Fluorescent Shoplight

That is the light fixture I decided on.

And then choose 2 t-8 sized warm bulbs and 2 t-8 sized cool bulbs.

(I think the two I got are warm at least. Its labeled "Kitchen and Bath" and is 3000 k color temp. Thats what the guy told me to get when I asked for a warm bulb)

[kath]

I checked several Lowe's and Home Depots locally and found they varied a bit on lamps, but a LOT on bulbs. Followed the advice on this thread for 4' shop lights for less than $10 and ten Philips 6500K T12 bulbs for less than $15. Will be comparing how these lights do with the other warm/cool combination bulbs left over from last year.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...ht=grow+lights

[333.okh]

I use CFLs in a Rubbermaid box. I have 2x6500K 26W, 2x3500K 23W, and 2x2700K 23W bulbs. I keep them on 24 hours until the sprout emerge, then I back it off to 18 hours a day until they leave the cube.

[dice]

An old thread that discusses flourescents, has a link to a graph
of loss of light output over time with different types of lights,
and shows a picture of dcarch's multiple 400 watt metal halide
setup:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=9789

[organichris]

Originally Posted by 333.okh

I use CFLs in a Rubbermaid box. I have 2x6500K 26W, 2x3500K 23W, and 2x2700K 23W bulbs. I keep them on 24 hours until the sprout emerge, then I back it off to 18 hours a day until they leave the cube.

How long have you been using this set up. I would venture to say that you could get some very rapid growth out of this. How much heat does it generate?

[333.okh]

Very little heat. Typically stays in the mid-70s to low low low 80s. Growth is good. If they get at all leggy I take them out at 3-4 inches and repot them in a deeper pot and up to the false leaves.....works good for us here in Humboldt County, Calif....I only grow legal goods, but have learned a lot from the Internet about other Humboldt grow techniques. This is one used by students in dorm rooms.

[organichris]

Originally Posted by 333.okh

Very little heat. Typically stays in the mid-70s to low low low 80s. Growth is good. If they get at all leggy I take them out at 3-4 inches and repot them in a deeper pot and up to the false leaves.....works good for us here in Humboldt County, Calif....I only grow legal goods, but have learned a lot from the Internet about other Humboldt grow techniques. This is one used by students in dorm rooms.

Humboldt, eh? Yeah, I have built similar boxes, not as well as your own, using the phototron as my inspiration.

[333.okh]

POT has ruined this area that was so incredible, but they do know how to grow stuff...too bad it was at the cost of an amazing area...don't be fooled, this area is not safe anymore...especially outdoors in the summer in the forests

[333.okh]

Just checked the water in the grow cube...No peppers up yet, but I have four of the five tomato types sprouted and looking good after only 4 days and I did not dampen the seeds 1st, just right in the mix and into the cube....

[simmran1]

If you're looking for a better light, as I am- the one I'm most interested in is below:

[URL="http://www.gardeners.com/Amazing-Grow-Light/IndoorGardening_LightGardens,39-406,default,cp.html"]

My deterrent, (and possibly yours) is this puppy is 46" in length.
I DO know the T-5 lamps are the most energy efficient and the reflector is important. Seems like they've got a 'best' product.
Cheap- not, but if the results are beneficial the $ are an investment in a continuing hobby the way I see it.

[organichris]

333okh, I don't know if have noticed this or not, but my experience has been that tomato seedlings grown in these boxes are much harder to harden off.

[333.okh]

I noticed that when using two to four 20-25 watt CFL 2700 Kelvin lights or two 6500 Kelvin lights....

[1] with the three different Kelvin rated lights I get a stronger plant.

[2] I keep them for two weeks indoors about six feet from a large south window.

[3] one week going outdoors in the evening.


This is my process and last year I had no mortality when planting to the garden.

[tjg911]

i did not read anything but the 1st post in this thread.

so.... do you want to make it easy and inexpensive or difficult and expensive?

easy and inexpensive - shop lights from home depot or similar store with the least expensive tubes they sell. when i bought my lights about 6 years ago t8 was the new standard for tube size, it used to be t12 at that time, not sure if that has changed. when i bought tubes the cheapest t8 tubes were 99 cents, i suspect they are more today. cheap tubes work as well as the fancy scmancy expensive tubes imo. shop light fixtures fail after a number of years, i've had 2 of my originals fail so i wouldn't spend a lot of money on them. a friend and i experimented with tubes and found the cheap ones worked just as well as the others. ymmv.

[David Marek]

I got one of these:

http://www.vminnovations.com/product...ith-Bulbs.html

It was the best price I could find.
324 watts, 30,000 lumens (that's like 30 60-watt incandescent bulbs)
It comes with daylight bulbs already in it.
The free shipping sealed the deal. Of course, Qweniden's fixture is a better budget option, you can probably buy three of them for that price. But I'm happy with my new lights.

Be careful with these. I almost killed my broccolli seedlings. The plants should be one or two inches lower than you would place them with a 4 bulb fixture. (my former setup)