grow lights for seedlings help

[organic fumbler]

Hi all, i was hoping to get your advice on a diy grow lights set up, i'v searched google and just keep coming up with set ups for growing drugs
I'v got a south westerly window sill i usually start all my early seeds on (toms,chillies,peppers,annual flowers esc.) but they always end up getting leggy, i do all the usual turn them 1/4 turn every day,big foil reflector, and it helps but not enough, so this coming year i'm going to try grow lights to start them off, then heat the greenhouse to get them out earlier,(if it ever gets cold enough to need it ).
The plan i'v got so far is to use either 2 or 4 of these B&Q Fluorescent 58W Batten Light (L)1523mm | Departments | DIY at B&Q a couple of inches over the top and raise them as needed, and upgrade the foil reflector to foylon.
Do you think this would be enough to stop them getting leggy?

[bearded bloke]

This thread may help ........ http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...hts_69290.html


EDIT .. If we have any other threads/information on this topic it should be in this section of the forums .. http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...er-operations/

[Jungle Jane]

It looks like 2 lights a foot apart will work. Found this information;
""Most vegetable and many mature flowering plants that grow in full sunlight need a high light intensity of 25 to 30 lamp watts per square foot. (A standard fluorescent tube provides 10 lamp watts per foot of length, so 40W, 4-foot fluorescent tubes a foot apart will supply 10 lamp watts per square foot.) The lamps should be located 8 to 12 inches above the plants and will provide about 800 foot-candles when placed on 12-inch centers. (The foot-candle is the illumination level or the amount of light falling on a surface).""
https://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/public.../HGA-00432.pdf

[Penellype]

I made a simple DIY grow light from B&Q fluorescent tubes of the sort that go under kitchen units and link together with purpose made cables and plugs. I had 2 tubes about a foot apart, and suspended them on wooden slats using pieces of chain. The system worked quite well - I used it for tomato seedlings and found they grew straighter and less leggy than on the windowsill.

My problems started the following spring when I found that one of the bulbs had gone. I took the bulb to B&Q and was told that not only was that particular bulb not made any more, but there was nothing that would go in that fitting at all, and there was nothing of comparable size. Faced with the prospect of starting from scratch again (I'm not at all good at DIY), I gave up and bought myself a 2nd grow light garden.