Home Made Grow Lights

[Penellype]

Very nice VC - makes mine look very amateurish. I've dropped my lights down so that they are much nearer the seedlings now.

[Bill HH]

Announcing the 2014 successor to the 2013 Blue Peter lightbox

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41861[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]41862[/ATTACH]

Two lights from L1d1, some chain, a couple of dog leads and a lot of help with the wiring Only set it up today and I'm sure the seedlings have grown already

That is brilliant, only snag I can see is when you come to walk the dog.

[chopper_j]

what type of wattage are people using over their seedlings? I have a 2*30w T8 aquarium hood from an old tank with some daylight tubes, think its enough?

[Kristen]

what type of wattage are people using over their seedlings? I have a 2*30w T8 aquarium hood from an old tank with some daylight tubes, think its enough?

A T5 lighting rig is 2 foot square and has 8 x 24w tubes, so 192W for 2' square or 4 sq.ft. So 48 watts per square foot. The tubes are 3" apart.

Make sure the lights are as close to the seedlings as you can get them without burning them - normally a couple of inches is about right. It the seedling containers are in a "strip" directly under a tube then I suspect they will be fine. alternatively put them on windowsill for natural light during the day and under the light for another 8 hours or so in the evening perhaps?

[veggiechicken]

Mine are T8 x 18w - 4 tubes in an area approz 4' x2'. Don't ask me whether its right or wrong as I haven't the foggiest

[chilli_grower]

Looks superb VC, I wish I had the room for a big lamp like that!

[Kristen]

Mine are T8 x 18w - 4 tubes in an area approz 4' x2'.

4' T5 tubes are 55W, so 18W sounds quite "modest", but if it works for you that's the acid test.

Would be handy to have some side-by-side tests - 55W is going to cost 3x as much to run as 18W, and for my money I would want to see 3x as much growth

[Currysniffa]

I've enjoyed reading through some of this thread. Got some good info out of it. I'm planing a small growroom/growspace. There's a freezer is the area that I'm going to use at the mo but when I get another shed up in the garden I'll move the freezer out into the outhouse and it will be systems go. Unfortunately not in time for this season.

[Glutton4...]

What a fab thread! Yup, always late to the party, me!

Several years ago, I bought on "The 'Bay" three loft water tanks, very cheaply. I only wanted one as a horse water trough, but hey-ho. One was used very successfully, with a heat lamp and a wire 'lid' as a Chick brooder, and then taken outdoors, turned on its side and used as a rain shelter for them. The other, in the spare room, was filled with 'homeless' items when we moved house. Something tells me that would do well, lined with white paper or a sheet, and a similar lowered light unit.

What a fab idea - I love this forum!

[Penellype]

I'm completely bemused with all these T numbers but as far as I can tell what I have is:

Upstairs, homemade growlights: 2x 20W T4
Downstairs, grow light garden: 2x 24W T5.

I just wish we could have some sunshine, because as I have solar panels, that would mean my lights would be free to run. Currently I'm generating only about 500W a day (more correctly, 0.5 kWh)

[chopper_j]

for those that use additional lighting, how long before you decide to just use natural daylight over fluorescents? I have about 60 of various toms,aubergines, chillies about 1.5" high now in coir pellets and wondering how long they should be under there??

Thanks

[redser]

Depends on what your setup is like. You need light and heat and the right minimum amounts. If you are using a greenhouse, you'll have to wait till it is say 10 degrees in there during the day before you could start moving stuff in. But you might have to bring them inside the house at night if you don't have additional heating.
If you'll be using windows ledges in your house, heat wont be a problem but light will be. A south facing window would be best. Chillies are slow growing so will do just fine on the window ledges. Tomatoes are pretty fast growers so need good light or they'll start getting leggy and whispy.
So what's your setup like?

[chopper_j]

hi, thanks for the reply

I have them currently on top of my freshwater fish tank which has 4*55w lights and 3*150w halides which grows plants under water nicely but toms seem a touch leggy already so going to put them all directly under a 150w halide outside on top of the hood

Here is a photo i took when I put them in, yesterday I put the seedlings higher up to the lights to see if that slows them down, but I think that as the temp is 24 or so degrees they may be growing to quick..



Was just trying to work out when I can move them out of here (in the way) and let them just use daylight in a heated lean-to we have

[redser]

You're right, they need to be closer to the bulbs or they will shoot up. I used cool white tubes that gave out virtually no heat so was able to have them almost touching.
If you have a heated lean to then you don't need artificial lights really Just be careful about extra cold nights and throw some fleece over them if needs be.

[Kristen]

For fluorescents the top of the seedlings needs to be 2" from the tubes

If you put them under Metal Halide it will probably be about 24" - the nearest distance that if you hold the back of your hand to the light (and leave it there 30 seconds) you feel only slight heat. Otherwise the plants will cook!

When I move my plants out to the conservatory (when there is enough daytime heat that I only have to heat it occasionally) I move the lights in there two, and have them on from dusk until midnight to increase the amount of growth I get. Might not work for you though if you are getting your aquarium lights to do double-duty. You might also have to think about what to do when the plants are too tall to fit under the aquarium lights - if that is before they can go into your greenhouse. Tomatoes need the temperatures to be no lower than 10C (e.g. Minimum overnight) otherwise they will "stall" and even if they don't die they will take a significant amount of time to get going again. Best to sow a bit later if you cannot maintain temperature and light I'm afraid.