Grow light recommendations
jamesunsworth
Posts: 26
Hi guys,
So, i'm finally setup properly with the greenhouse, staging, all my seed trays and so on to make good use of the greenhouse over winter to get next years flowers ready!
So, I have a 6x6 greenhouse in which I have staging around 3 of the sides (Except the door of course), with the staging extruding out around 2ft.
I guess I'm looking for some grow lights to cover 2ft x 6ft areas and to put 3 of them over each bench - I am aware this may infact require say 3 2ft x 2ft lights in an array.
Can anybody recommend some grow lights? As everybody probably wants, I'm looking for some cheaper ones i.e not hundreds of pounds and some nice power efficient ones so my electricity bill doesn't rocket! At the same time, I don't want to spend so little that they break within the year!
So, i'm finally setup properly with the greenhouse, staging, all my seed trays and so on to make good use of the greenhouse over winter to get next years flowers ready!
So, I have a 6x6 greenhouse in which I have staging around 3 of the sides (Except the door of course), with the staging extruding out around 2ft.
I guess I'm looking for some grow lights to cover 2ft x 6ft areas and to put 3 of them over each bench - I am aware this may infact require say 3 2ft x 2ft lights in an array.
Can anybody recommend some grow lights? As everybody probably wants, I'm looking for some cheaper ones i.e not hundreds of pounds and some nice power efficient ones so my electricity bill doesn't rocket! At the same time, I don't want to spend so little that they break within the year!
0
Posts
It's a subject that interests me and I often read articles on grow lights.
It's the electronics and physics that interests me. I've no intention of using them to grow plants out of season.
LED's can work wonders, but you'll be spending several hundred quid on a decent LED lamp. May of the cheaper ones are over-driven and use led's that require different supply voltages but feed all of the led's with the same voltage. So they start to fail (even if you can't see it) very early on. Many also state they provide xx watts of light when the true figure may be only 30% of that.
There are plenty of examples of leggy seedlings being grown under LED lamps on this site
If it were me, I'd use a setup as I had for my aquarium.
High-output T5 flourescent tubes for aquarium plants.
I used to get mine from this place-
https://www.iquaticsonline.co.uk/product-category/t5-bulbs/t5-fluorescents/
The Tropical tubes would be best and a reflector is very important.
The tubes need only be about 3-4" from the plant tops
The bigger question though is how you're going to look after your plants when it's the middle of winter and they getting taller every day and need some warmth too...
Or do you have a cunning plan?
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
@Pete.8
Thanks for the recommendation and info - I guess it would require me installing some light fittings in the greenhouse which is definitely possible. I was actually looking on Amazon and following some reviews, I came across some LED grow lights. I'll continue to investigate alongside this thread.
In terms of the warmth, I've been looking into this and alongside realising how hot my green bin is when full of grass clippings, I'm considering composting in the greenhouse to provide some warmth. This needs more research though.
@philippasmith2
Thanks also for your input here.
I currently have some geranium cuttings and Garvinea divisions in there, so cuttings for sure, but I'm also looking to grow some annuals from seed. Using grow lights, would I get a nice headstart on getting some annuals to the flowering stage as opposed to transferring small plug plants to my garden and waiting for further growth and start of flowering?
Hope this gives enough info, please let me know if you need anymore info to kindly point me in the right direction on what to do!
You might like to take a look at Charles Dowdings website, he uses a manure box in his green house to help provide warmth for seedlings. Did you ever invest in a grow light?
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1048748/experiments-with-microgreens
I think that for a 6ft x 2ft area, 6ft fluorescent tubes are perhaps the cost effective option.
Make sure you know how you will attach your lights to the support, and be sure that your chosen option supports that method.
One comment worth repeating here is that if your lights are close, then you need to be good at being consistent with watering / spraying or your seedlings may burn out quickly.