LED Grow Lights

[Jonnyt]

Do you really have to buy special bulbs? Why not just use a natural daylight bulb that is cheap as chips?

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Jonny! Think the same old phrase used here is "Ya Get What Ya Pay For"

Although I have invested this last year in two set-up's, both cool white T5's, sure you would get results from pure run of the Mill average lighting, suppose it comes down to personal preferance and how far you want to go with it!

[Bigmallly]

My thoughts are that because the plants/seedlings have to be fairly close to the lights, you run the risk of burning them with ordinary bulbs...........try it & let us know the results.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Deano is bang on there. I bought an 8 tube T5 a couple of years ago although not used till recently. Cost £120 ((got a good deal as a few of us bought at the same time). Lamp is amazingly bright and my onions are loving it.

However, some of my NVS mates are using banks of standard fluorescent tubes and getting excellent results. I have in the past made a lamp using ordinary bayonet lamp holders fitted with the curly economy light bulbs. That also worked fine.


You did mention led lamps and I have one of them which has a built in fan. It has mainly blue leds for vegetativive growth and the others are reds. I don't rate it and it was flemmin expensive.

[Cadalot]

Having done a little punting around and reading you need a min of two spiral CFL bulbs one in the Daylight range 5000 -6500K and the other in the Warm White/ Soft White range 2700 - 3000K

Wilkinson's, Wicks, Screwfix, Tool Station and Tesco don't sell them and I have yet to visit B&Q to see what they have off the shelf. B&Q only appear to so 23W & 35W Spiral 2700K bulbs and no Daylight bulbs, listed on their web site.

I have found 20W versions on Lyco.co.uk at £5.39 with the vat. The sockets, base and two into one fittings are around 99p each with P&P £2.30. If you buy a fitting with lead and plug they are charging just under £10 which is crazy with the amount of leads with plugs I have in the shed on the basis that they may be useful one day.

Cheapest 30W Daylight bulb on ebay was Minisun at £6 can't recall what the P&P was. And you can get a pack of 3 number 20W Warm Lights for £10.95 with free P&P.

Still punting and looking at the moment to try and find somewhere local where I can pick up the bits I need without paying a fortune.

[Penellype]

Have a look at this thread for ideas http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...hts_69290.html

[Bigmallly]

Have a look at this thread for ideas http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...hts_69290.html

Gees Pene, where have those 4 years gone......................

[Penellype]

Gees Pene, where have those 4 years gone......................

I dread to think

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

BM! Don't get lost in nostilga!

Once you hit 60! The memory goes altogether

RIGHT! Best to the sack, before I turn into a pumpkin!

[rary]

I used to keep tropical fish, and what was used then to keep the plant growing was ordinary light bulbs fitted into a wooden box with the inside painted white, then once alluminium foil came on the market this was placed above the bulbs to reflect the light, and it did work as the plants grew quite well, so I would say normal light bulbs are worth trying, so much so that I think I will be setting up some lights tomorrow to see how they do, and I have a LED grow light, with which I can compare with

I should have added I also have a LED light strip set up in the greenhouse so that will give me three light systems to compare