Home Made Grow Lights

[smutley]

Well, here we are 19 days down the line from my last post. The Toms, Peppers and Aubergines have been potted on.

Quite pleased, seeing as it's the first time I've tried this approach.

I will definitely refine this bit of kit for next season.

[maverick451]

They look good smutley.

Im way too early, all my Tomatoes have grown so much they no longer fit under the light so Im having to move them into the conservatory for a week and then they go in the greenhouse which im having to heat.

This is my first try at doing this so still learning but next year im going to start the tomatoes at the end of Feb, this year I started on the 11th

This is a what they look like at the moment.

[Crazy_Tomato_lady]

Is type of light important?

I have a UV light similar to the kind used to cure nail varnish in salons. It was originally bought to cure rubber for making rubber stamps but I've not used it for years. Would this be any good for helping the plants to grow indoors?

[Kristen]

Probably not, no. You will be spending money on electricity to run the light, best IMO to get a bulb that emits the sort of light that the plants will maximise into growth, otherwise its just throwing away part/most of the energy

[nerobot]

Just noticed this thread, so I'll add my example of a home mode grow light (sorry for the cross post from another thread).

I'm using 12 3W LEDs (8 blue, 6 red) as an experiment to grow lettuce under grow lights. They are current placed in area so get no natural light. They get 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. They currently growing in an old cardboard box with no reflective material inside.

Attached a photo after about a week and a half growth. They are starting to get a bit leggy, but I think that's due to high temperatures in the box when the lights are on (about 26C), which I'm going to try and reduce soon.

[Bonsai Si]

A bit beyond DIY

I just noticed this thread and while probably not welcome as it's not pure DIY in the spirit of the thread I thought I'd chip in.

I initially tried to boost early growth & propagation using a large wooden vivarium (Bought dirt cheap through a Facebook selling page) and the included grow light (Fluorescent tubes and a heat mat), with the addition of some tin foil and even a small micro irrigation set up all set up with a timer to make it pretty much hands free operation.

The results were pretty good initially and I was of course pleased with myself at being such a clever sod, turning what was essentially pretty much unwanted junk into something very handy. It was very effective for bringing on Sweet Corn from "seed" really fast (As well as other items from seed).

In fact that years Sweet Corn was utterly amazing as once I moved it from the home made grow room, out into the poly tunnel for a repot and a few more weeks inside boosting, then into the outside "Bonsai" grow bed. (Lots of very fast draining substrate with a good % of water retentive materials in a full sun position). The Sweet Corn was the talk of the neighbourhood, being as I was the only person in the village to ever grow Sweet Corn in the front garden, let alone produce pretty large Corn on the cobs which were delicious!

I went from that genesis point to going on a bit further, and in all honesty as good as the DIY approach is, it does more often than not; as mentioned in this thread fairly often, creates leggy seedlings.

My main focus with anything is always with Bonsai in mind first and foremost, any room for anything left over after that is used by growing Flowers/Veg.

As good as my home made grow tank was, it was still very inefficient. Having seen how much of a boost a very inefficient version was I decided to invest and see what the difference was between a DIY approach to a more built for purpose method or version would be.

It may be more than many are willing to invest or even bother with, but it saves having lights slung across chairs annoying the missus/other half or corners of a room taken up by on the fly bits of acquired lighting and such to produce leggy and weak seedlings at the expense of time, effort and electric consumed.

I honestly would advise if you are half serious about grabbing a month or two either side of the "regular growing season" to get yourself a dedicated set up, fit for purpose that you can use for a decade give or take if you really want to capitalize on the time frame advantage it can offer.



This set up is considered "Basic" in the grand scheme of things.

Secret Jardin Propagation Tent DP90 90x60x90cm
2 x T5 Four tube 2 Foot tubes
2 x 4 Inch Extraction/Intake fans + vent pipe
A couple of cheap Thermometer/Hygrometers from China
Simple Plug in timer if required to control lighting and fan off/on for economy/plant requirements.

Though to be honest, for basic general seed tray sowing/propagation no fans are needed as the top inlet/outlet is enough to vent excess heat, fans are only needed to exchange the air and regulate the temperature and humidity for more fickle seeds/crops.

Yes, it's £200 give or take of hardware, and potentially eyebrow raising for neighbours/visitors, but if you actually want a solid head start to the season & an extra month or so at the end of the season with the option of all year round growth and propagation for exotics/tropicals; then if you do what we do yearly, is it worth it? I firmly believe it actually is.

As you can see by the picture above, mine is rammed full of seed trays (14 seed trays and 2 small half trays currently, with room for probably another 10 if I really pushed it) as I am trying to play catch up due to lost time due to moving home and I am still setting up my Allotment and I do not have the large Poly Tunnel I used to have at my disposal which could be heated and ventilated if required.

So I am well behind where I would normally be by June. If it isn't coming across this is annoying me, then I should point out I am livid about this fact...

Granted, once the seeds start popping and you can see Green, you can only realistically have 4 trays at the top of the stack that will be getting "Growing light" to bring them on. Then again, how many heated propagators would you need to bring on 20 trays of seeds, or how large a heated growing bed would be required to do the same?

It holds a steady temperature of 25 degrees to 35 Degrees with a decent level of humidity which I can regulate and control with the fans if I so wish, throw on a few seed tray covers if you have seeds that require higher temps/humidity and you're good to go, though this will require some DIY racking creation or fast rotation.

It's enabled me to germinate and grow up to re-potting stage tree seeds for Bonsai purpose (which can be far more difficult than your average veg and flowers require) much faster and with far more reliability than the usual methods employed for garden or allotment growing. With the added option of all year round growing conditions for specialist or exotics at what can honestly be described as pretty cost effective levels.

Not for everyone, I know. I did however think it was worthy of taking the time it took to write this post to point out, going the extra mile I firmly believe is actually worth it. The cost for return is there if you use it often enough and considering the number of pages involved in this thread it is obviously a hot topic.

As a last note, I sowed seeds in the polytunnel in seed trays, and the same again but in a heated propagator in the polytunnel as well as seeds in seed trays in the grow tent and the grow tent always beat the polytunnel & heated propagators. Even to the point I had Sweet Corn ready for planting out when Monty Don was on the BBC's Gardener's World only just sowing his Sweet Corn seed into initial pots. Mine were just moving from the grow tent down to the polytunnel, and by the time he was pricking his out from seed compost/seed trays to John Innes No 2 mine were going in the ground outside. Yes a large factor of this is your local weather, does it give you the potential for being several weeks ahead of everyone else, yahuh. Does it give you a window of opportunity to soak up a few weeks of typical English Summer weather that sets your crops back a few weeks without fear, very much so if you have it at your disposal.

I was also knocking out Tomato and Strawberries well before anyone else in my locality with heavy cropping throughout because of the grow tent, let alone the number of tree seedlings I was able to establish early and with high vigour which of course was my main focus, Growing Toms/Strawbs, Onions/Sweet Corn was a second consideration for me...

[Jonny.D]

but it saves having lights slung across chairs annoying the missus/other half or corners of a room taken up by on the fly bits of acquired lighting and such to produce leggy and weak seedlings at the expense of time, effort and electric consumed.

[Bigmallly]

Have just finished reading through this thread & think it is worthy of a bump................Cheers Pene.

[Bigmallly]

As this is a dedicated Growlight thread, I thought it appropriate to copy this post from the Awesome Ideas thread:

Here is my 1st idea of 2017.

2ft x 1ft LED Growlight Mk1.....Total cost approx £10......I'm calling it Mk1 as I have a Mk2 in mind..............


Stage 1:
Parts Reqd: A Storage box of your choice, some blue & red LED strips & a 12v 2a power adaptor...........links can be provided if needed. The LED's are cut to size & stuck to the lid of the box, they are then solder linked together:



Stage 2:
Test that the lights work then cover with a piece of clear polycarb to keep the lights in place.:



Stage 3:
Place the Growlight in your favoured position:



Here are some results over a 1 week trial period comparison between Growlight & Greenhouse:

[MarkHackwell]

As this is a dedicated Growlight thread, I thought it appropriate to copy this post from the Awesome Ideas thread:

Here is my 1st idea of 2017.

2ft x 1ft LED Growlight Mk1.....Total cost approx £10......I'm calling it Mk1 as I have a Mk2 in mind..............


Stage 1:
Parts Reqd: A Storage box of your choice, some blue & red LED strips & a 12v 2a power adaptor...........links can be provided if needed. The LED's are cut to size & stuck to the lid of the box, they are then solder linked together:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70890[/ATTACH]

Stage 2:
Test that the lights work then cover with a piece of clear polycarb to keep the lights in place.:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70891[/ATTACH]

Stage 3:
Place the Growlight in your favoured position:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70892[/ATTACH]

Here are some results over a 1 week trial period comparison between Growlight & Greenhouse:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70893[/ATTACH]

Where did you get the Growlight for £10?

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Mark

Look in the awesome idea's thread for 2017

BM as posted a few links in there!

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

I do actually love this set-up as a put on!


https://youtu.be/GF8DlpGu5FE

[Bigmallly]

That's very good Deano & will be easy to store away when not in use.

[Cadalot]

Well BM in the process of clearing the office I have emptied a plastic storage box and have fixed the panel to the lid. As it happens the panel sits on the profiles that allows these kind of boxes to stack. I've fixed the panel using paperclips straightened with a hook at the end then bent over and gaffer tapped down.

A full tray fits comfortably in the storage box and I have an upturned tray and module liner as packing bringing the double tray with module liner up close to the LED lights. So the plan will be to remove the middle module tray packer as the plants grow.

At the moment I have the grow station at the end of my narrow office next to the radiator and the window, but I can relocate it in the outside store or in the spare bedroom if needs be.

Shame the photographs have gone because I think I've more of less ended up with what you made using the strips of LED lights

[Bigmallly]

Yes Al, they do look similar to my MkI model...............