Strip grow lights

[annie8]

Was thinking of getting some of those full spectrum strip led grow lights and putting them under my kitchen shelf. I could then put my seedlings like chillis and tomatoes underneath. The shelf is about 60cm from the work surface. They wouldn’t get a lot of natural light there though as it’s in a corner of the kitchen. Would the grow lights be enough on its own or do they need both that and natural light?

[Jungle Jane]

Yes the grow lights give enough light,mine block out most of the natural light because it’s too bright for the room,I put a surround around it made of diamond mylar reflective sheeting from a hydroponics shop. The diamond indents reflect the light back in many angles,it’s really good although years ago I didn’t use it & still had good results,if there’s not much heat coming from the light,you can have the pots quite close.

[burnie]

If the strip lights are LED's then there's very little heat coming from them.

[annie8]

They arrived today and put them under the shelf. Geez they are bright it is like a disco in there.

[Babru]

Mine are in fairly dark corner of the living room, and my little plants have done really well. You certainly can't miss them though. I had the builders in two years ago, and they definitely thought I was growing something dodgy!

[annie8]

Strip lights seem to be working well. Have my chillis and tomatoes under them -the ones just out of the propagation and the ones I have potted on. Am just wondering how long I keep them under there before I move to windowsills. When is the light strong enough for them to be on windowsills? I don’t really have the space under the lights for all of them once they are all in individual pots. Maybe keep the chillis under them rather than the tomatoes?

[Jungle Jane]

I’m not really using my grow light now,I’ve just put seventy five tomato seeds on the windowsill in the bathroom,there’s enough daylight now it’s Mid March.

[nickdub]

There are a couple of possible problems with windowsills. One is that the light maybe restricted to only part of the day and the other is they may get quite cold at night. The only way to really be sure is to try a couple plants in your windowsill and see how they do.

My own tomato plants are about 30 cm high now, and I am putting them out in the unheated conservatory in the day and bringing them back in to my sitting room where I have a set of LED grow lights hanging from the ceiling. I give them about 4 hours with the grow lights on each evening. They are getting to the size now where I'll be planting a couple of them out in my poly tunnel soon to see how they do there. I've got plenty of spares so if they fail I'll have some more to try again later. When it comes to spring weather and tender plants it's always a gamble.

[annie8]

This is the first year I’ve had grow lights usually I just put them on windowsills particularly the one at the front which is bright and sunny. My plants are much smaller than yours nickdub. Only just onto individual pots. Certainly be a good while before I can start taking them outside to gh even during the day.

[Grafitti]

My tomatoes are quite small as well still, I planted them a bit later.
Chili peppers and aubergines are the farthest along. I haven't got a suitable window for them so they're still under grow lights, if we start getting warmer days I'll just do the daily trips in and out to harden them off.

[Babru]

My tomatoes are still tiny and under the grow light. Be a long time before they're going anywhere! Last night it was +1.6 in my greenhouse.

[annie8]

Yes no way mine are going anywhere outside the house for a while. Have moved them to the sunniest windowsill though.