Home Made Grow Lights

[Mikey]

Do you have to use fluorescent bulbs or will Led light fittings do?

[vikkib]

Do you have to use fluorescent bulbs or will Led light fittings do?

I'm not sure about LED lights, I've seen a lot of ads for LED grow lights but also a lot of bad reviews.

I've just set up another space with a fluorescent light in a cupboard I thought we were putting a new boiler in.



With a similar fluorescent bulb my seeldings are doing quite nicely now!

[Aberdeenplotter]

I paid a lot of money for a custom made led light complete with fan. Waste of money .

[RedThorn]

Problem with LED is the light spectrum is tight on them and they gernerate virtually no heat, advantage of LED lights is they have a narrow light band and generate virtually no heat.....

So without due experimentation to get the exact light spectrum you want, it's far easier to pilfer someone elses experiments (from aquarium manufacturer's) and put a flouro in that's been taylored to plant growth

EDIT: One fine day when I finally get some time to experiment, I'm gonna set up some time to play with this and try and run some control experiments, you get LED's now that with the right electronic's, you can tune the light spectrum pretty much to where you want it, so roll on time where I can make a compartmentalised dark room where I can do proper controlled experiments

PS as you can see, I haven't given it enough thought yet

[Mikey]

Well these are my temporary light boxes set up with led bulbs, the sprouts seem to like it in there, and the tomatoes are finally breaking through. Why oh why do I insist on writing on my plant sticks with felt tip, they have all washed clean with my watering. There are a lot of tomatoes in there but as to which are which, well your guess is as good as mine!!!


Aerial View


3 standard plastic boxes, paper lined, the lights came with fixing brackets so they are temporarily clipped to the bamboo with some of my daughters hair bands.


Close up of my sprouts

[veggiechicken]

Just resurrecting this thread as L!dl have a light fitting on offer that looks as if it might be OK for this. Can anyone tell me if its suitable or not. I've read right through this thread and still don't know
Our Offers - Monday, 24.06. - Energy-Saving Ceiling Light - Lidl UK

[shepp726]

OMG, are we becoming the veg growing equivalent of Columbia. LOL

[redser]

I don't know for sure but I think 18 w is too low. I use 60 w.

[RedThorn]

If you're using as light source, you need to find out the Lux level. If you using for light and heat then 2x 18W is low...

[veggiechicken]

Thanks both It would be just for light (I think ) I really am clueless about this - just fancy having some sort of light for next winter

[redser]

Check secondhand websites for flourescent shop light fixtures. I imagine they would come very cheaply.

[veggiechicken]

The L1dl thing appealed to me because its self contained and ready to use (apart from some wiring I assume) Can they be run from a socket?
I have lots of ideas about what I could do but I'm not practical enough to follow them through

[bearded bloke]

Think I might have a go at this as well,T8 is as near to natural daylight as can be made with current technology,nice find VC

Yes it can be run from a socket,but replace the 13amp fuse with a 5 amp (or 3 amp) for safety

[veggiechicken]

Goodo, BB. You'll be able to talk me through it I may get 2 of them, one for here and one for there

[Urban]

Might have a look at getting some of those, seem ideal for plant use,
Although we need to swap the tubes for daylight ones, and I think I remember that t5 tubes are best for plant use

But it's cheap enough to give em a try, thanks for posting