grow lights

[4DROOPY20]

what are the best grow lights to use and y???

[The Butcher]

heres some useful info for you..this willl help you get a better grasp on the lighting issue:
(if you need any more help trust me this is the site to get you where your going, and feel free to either p.m me or just post)
Fluorescent Plant Grow Lights
Recent advances in fluorescent technologies provide the indoor gardener with a multitude of fluorescent plant growing options.

Standard Fluorescents are an excellent choice for starting seedlings to get a jump start on spring plantings. They also are excellent for cultivating a cool weather harvest in the basement year round. Leaf lettuce, spinach, and herbs all will do well year round under fluorescent lamps.

The trick to using them successfully is to keep standard fluorescent bulbs no further than 4 inches away from the tops of the plants. Since the tubes burn relatively cool to the touch, you do not have to worry about burning plants unless they are actually touching the bulb. Fluorescent tubes are an excellent choice for the display and grow lighting of african violets, small cacti and succulents, and many kitchen herbs.

New advances in color blending make full-spectrum fluorescents one of the truest color rendering lamps on the market today. Standard fluorescent tubes are twice as efficient as incandescent bulbs, producing twice as many lumens per watt of energy consumed and have an average usable life span of up to 20,000 hours... more than 25 times as long as an incandescent.

High Output Fluorescents produce almost twice as much light as standard fluorescents while still burning very cool to the touch. HO fluorescent fixtures have a very thin profile, making them extremely useful in vertically limited areas. High Output Fluorescent fixtures are available in 2, 4, 6, and 8 tube models, making them ideal for a wide variety of horticultural applications. An 8-tube 4-foot model produces approximately the same amount of lumens as a 400 watt Metal Halide fixture, but with much less heat and the ability to more evenly spread that light over the coverage area. High Output Fluorescents produce about 5,000 lumens per 54 watt 4-foot tube and are available in warm (3000K) or cool (6500K) versions. Also available are 2-foot 28 watt tubes that produce 2,450 initial lumens. Average usable life span for High Output Fluorescent tubes is about 10,000 hours.

Compact Fluorescents take the cool burning fluorescent technology and pack it into a focused, high output "bulb", that you can use not only for propagation, but for growing larger plants as well. Compact fluorescents work in specially designed reflectors that efficiently direct light to the plants, much like the high intensity discharge lamps described below. Compact fluorescent bulbs are also available in warm (3000K) or cool (6500K) versions. Average usable life span for Compact Fluorescent bulbs is about 10,000 hours.

High Output Fluorescent / HID Hybrids combine the incredibly bright cool burning power of high output fluorescents with the penetration that can only be achieved through high intensity discharge technology. The primary advantages to these fixtures is their blend of light colors and broad even coverage.



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Metal Halide (MH)
High Intensity Discharge (HID) Plant Grow Lights
Metal halide is a highly efficient light source capable of delivering a white light in the range of 2700 to 5500 Kelvin degrees with typical Color Rendering Index (CRI) ratings in the mid-60's to mid-70's. Some lamp chemistries even obtain CRI's in the 80s. The CRI is an index that measures how closely an artificial light source matches the natural colors of sunlight, with 100 being a perfect score. In contrast, high pressure sodium lamps yield yellow lighting (2200K) and have a very poor color rendering index of 22.

By varying the blend of chemicals in the arc tube, metal halide engineers are able to alter the characteristics of the light output.


This flexibility in design is what makes metal halide lighting so versatile. White light is a very important attribute of metal halide technology, because it is the closest to the natural sunlight that people prefer.
Metal halide lamps are widely used where color rendering is important such as stadiums, malls, manufacturing plants, and even your local supermarket.


For horticultural purposes, metal halides tend to produce a shorter, more compact plant habit that more closely resembles plants grown outdoors. A plants appearance growing under most metal halide lamps is almost identical to those growing outside, which makes it the preferred lamp for use in living areas. Horticultural metal halide lamps have an enhanced red spectrum, which is added for increased fruiting and flowering without sacrificing plant appearance.

Metal halide lamps are about five times more efficient than their incandescent counterparts and last up to 25 times longer, with a usable lifespan between 10,000 and 20,000 hours, depending on the wattage.


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High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
High Intensity Discharge (HID) Plant Grow Lights
High pressure sodium lamps have been used for years in less color critical applications such as parking lots, street lights and as supplemental greenhouse lighting. The benefit of high pressure sodium lamps to the horticultural industry is their ability to enhance the fruiting and flowering process in plants. The orange/red spectrum HPS produces is the spectrum plants use in their reproductive processes, which generally produces larger harvests of higher quality fruits or flowers.


The major drawback to growing under high pressure sodium alone is that the plants tend to be taller and leggier with a longer internodal length than plants grown under metal halide.
Another minor negative is that plants generally do not appear very healthy growing under HP Sodium light. The operative word being 'appear', because in fact most plants do grow very well under HPS lighting.


Due to the poor color rendering of high pressure sodium, the plants tend to look pale, washed out or nitrogen starved.

Additional benefits to high pressure sodium lighting are incredibly long usable bulb life... up to two years in many cases; and unparralled efficiency at six times more light output per watt of energy consumed than a standard incandescent bulb.

Due to their high efficiency and the fact that plants grown in greenhouses get all the blue light they need naturally, HP Sodium lamps are the preferred supplemental greenhouse light.

Combination HPS/MH lamps combine a metal halide bulb and a high pressure sodium bulb in the same reflector, either with a single integrated ballast assembly or two separate ballast assemblies. The combination of blue metal halide light and red high pressure sodium light creates an ideal spectral blend and extremely high outputs.

Convertible, Switchable & Two-Way lamps are configured to burn either a metal halide bulb or an equivalent wattage high pressure sodium bulb in the same fixture, but not at the same time. These fixtures are ideal for propagating and vegetatively growing plants under the metal halide, then switching to a high pressure sodium bulb for the fruiting or flowering stage of plant growth. Generally, all that is required to change between one and the other is to change the bulb and set a switch to the appropriate setting.

[hippylee]

Great info - complements a lot of the other info I`ve been reading on this site. Thanks for posting it :)

[The Butcher]

yeah no prob..n e other help all you gota do is just toke n type.

[HAPPY GRASS]

I want to buy a total of three PL 55 Compact fluorescent lights (two 5,000 lumen bulbs each) to put in my vegg room. I will have 2 mothers ??? plants growing from cutting to vegg and then placed in another room for flower. My question is will I need any warm whites with these at all?

Check these out, I havent found anything better on paper this far.
High Tech Garden Supply

[The Butcher]

hows it happy grass?
From what the ad says that these t5's are of blue spectrum. The one thing that is best for any indoor plants are of course full spectrum. The best is to shoot for a full spectrum, so if you want to achive the best w/ fluorescents i would find full spectrum t5's. And in case you decide to ad the warm white just keep in mind that you want the lights to mesh, so if you decide to ad them as side lighting ( which side lighting is always a good idea, due to the lack of penetration through the foliage )your going to want to keep them at the same level so they mesh well, this is not a bad thing, due to the fact that it would spred the light coverage.well thats my 2 cents at least.

[HAPPY GRASS]

You can choose either cool white or warm white so I was thinking about putting one of each per fixture so that I can get the full spectrum effect.

[The Butcher]

hey wat up HAPPY GRASS!!
That would definetly make a difference. Jus remember you got to keep them close. You want to make sure you have a thermometer that can give you the high and lows in your temp reading's. I check these daily, along with my nightly checklist. I say this because unfortunetly most people dont realize,(well not relize it but dont keep in mind) that when the temp climbs the heat in your bulb increases so if your bulb is TOO close with the increased heat then it will SCORCH your leaf tips.but i would definetly say you have the right idea.

[Mushibag420]

Just thought I'd mention for anyone in the Spokane area or near there that is looking for lights, there is a 1000 watt HPS Hydrofarm system on Craigslist right now for $200...

[HAPPY GRASS]

I have a thermometer in my grow cabinet right now that gives me humidity as well. But I wanted to ask you what do you usually check for on a daily basis for your grow room. I am growing in soil, I will post pics and info when I'm done building my other grow room 56square feet/ 288 cubic feet.

[The Butcher]

my nightly checklist is the following:

* first and formost PLEASE make sure the room is spotless!!(remember dirt and dust allow bugs, fungus and any other rancid things can furment in the corners or just under or around the room)
* CHECK electrical
* lighting levels
* check tubes, pipeing and waterflow(check to make sure no blockage, thats if your using any sort of feeding system)
* check rez levels
* for soil : check p.h
check moisture levels(be sure to invest in a meter to read these levels)
* when you check your plants be sure to check in dense foliage,on top and under leaves thats where the pest love to hang out, kickit and smoke your trees before you do.
* if you hand water then you going to want to check the E.C and P.H in you nutes, keep in mind that nutes can change p.h over time.
* i definetly suggest if you can turn you ladies a quarter turn.(this will give you nice even growth)
* LAST BUT MOST IMPORTANT SMOKE AND ENJOY THE FRUITS OF YOU LABOR

the reason why i say to smoke at the end, is to save you the meltdown when you realize that you added double the nutes you were suppose too.

(i can go on with another million things to check for but these are the basics, anyonbe who has anything that i failed to add please feel free to add, actually DO ADD it well help everyone out)

[Racefan]

One thing a lot of growers don't realize with tube floros are that the blbs burn hotter on the ends of the tube. So after packing in as many plants as possible they wonder why the plants at the ends are showing heat stress while none of the others are. Other than that I can't really add anything. Great posting by all.

[HAPPY GRASS]

I am going to sound like the total noobie but I have a few questions;

-How do you check soil ph?
-How do you check lighting, rez, & E.C. levels? What are the appropiate levels?
-I was going to start to turn them a full 180* every night, is turning them 90* better?
& Why?

[The Butcher]

There is meter you can purchase @ any hydroshop. This 3 way meter there like $10.00.
this meter will give the readings you want.Are you using a drain to waiste or hand watering?And as far as the rotating goes you can turn them however you want, i say 90 so that all corners get some sort of light. that way if you want to cut clones some time you have more sites to chose from without really compromising yield to much.This is the best tech i found without having to mother a clone.oh yeah, as far as e.c goes, there are meters that read E.C but these tend to get a little more expensive. Til then i would suggest week 1 schedule at ¼strength until well rooted in thier pots
week 2 same as above
week 3 you can start to go from here as far as increasing nutes

However keep in mind that some soils come with nutes in them so your either going to want to flush the soil with 3 times the amount of water then there is soil, sooo if its a 1 gallon pot then flush(run water through the soil) with 3 gallons of water.
This will flush all the nutes out, But just dont feed them nutes til their next feeding fallowing the flush.The meter that i was talking about has a moisture meter on it so you'll know when your girls are hungry,

OR

you can just feed them P.H'd water for the first month (depending on the soil). If you dont have a P.H meter either fill jugs of water up set them outside with the lids off for a few hours and the clorine will evaporate

OR

go purchase water at the store(this can get expensive though)I've tested name brands and store brand H2o They were the same when it came to alll the meter readings i did.so if you go this route then i would suggest store brand.

[HAPPY GRASS]

Im sorry bro I just realized when I was reading your post that I forgot to mention my main question, what is rez & E.C. I am so excited with this shit, I have maybe a day or 2 left on building my room. I think its just cause its my first time but "ITS THE SHIT," I am just kind of broke right now I've spent a shit load of money and I still have alot to go. This shit is expensive... Especially now that I'm basically done with building because I have to buy more lights, timers, and enviromental controllers. I'll post some pics. when I'm done.