LED Lighting advice - Early Christmas present

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Good morning people,

I'm now thinking of what to grow next year and to help me start things off early, I'd love an LED lighting grow lamp.
I tried to start seeds off early this year, OH does not like seed trays and plantings on the window sill, so I'm going to give it a go in the garage with an LED lighting system.

What advice would you give me for such a project?

Thinking I need;

LED lights, not sure what is worth buying? maybe looking second hand or store discounted, special offers
I have soil warming cables already and i'm thinking of using an IBC container to house the plants seedings (already have this too) as I'm roughly thinking the growing bed is around 3ftx3ft. A bit like a terrarium.
Anybody with a similar setup?
All help appreciated

[toomanytommytoes]

How much are you looking to spend? Seedlings and young plants don't need super high light intensity. A budget option would be LED tubes ('substitubes') in an old fluorescent fitting, or ready made LED battens. Look for bulbs putting out over 100 lumens per Watt.

If you specifically want a grow light I would say a COB (https://diyleduk.com/collections/cob...uminus-cob-kit) or a quantum board (harder to get for a decent price in this country) are the best value for money. The cheap, old style 'blurple' (blue and purple) grow lights found on Amazon would also be OK for seedlings and young plants but they're not energy efficient and often of low build quality.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

How much are you looking to spend? Seedlings and young plants don't need super high light intensity. A budget option would be LED tubes ('substitubes') in an old fluorescent fitting, or ready made LED battens. Look for bulbs putting out over 100 lumens per Watt.

If you specifically want a grow light I would say a COB (https://diyleduk.com/collections/cob...uminus-cob-kit) or a quantum board (harder to get for a decent price in this country) are the best value for money. The cheap, old style 'blurple' (blue and purple) grow lights found on Amazon would also be OK for seedlings and young plants but they're not energy efficient and often of low build quality.

Thanks for that.
No, I'm not specifically wanting a grow light of any particular type, if LED tubes work and they're cheaper, then win, win. Just something that doesn't grow "leggy" plants.

Don't have a price in mind at the moment (only because i don't fully need for a complete setup) I'm sure if i have a price, i reckon it'll change as i progress.

How many tubes would you reckon i need for a 3ftx3ft space?

[nickdub]

I bought a cheapo (£20 ?) multi-colour LED grow-light arrangement made in China off Ebay last year and built a sort of cupboard to mount it in to help with warmth and reflecting the light inwards - it did a job with the early tomato plants but I'd say you'd have to be quite a keen gardener to really think it worth it considering the time etc involved.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

I bought a cheapo (£20 ?) multi-colour LED grow-light arrangement made in China off Ebay last year and built a sort of cupboard to mount it in to help with warmth and reflecting the light inwards - it did a job with the early tomato plants but I'd say you'd have to be quite a keen gardener to really think it worth it considering the time etc involved.

Yeh, I know what you mean.
I plan on it not costing very much though, famous last words

[Babru]

I bought this late last year, to keep my cuttings and seedlings happy in the darkest months of the year, and I was pretty pleased with it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It clamps on, so I had it clamped to my standard lamp in the living room (laid back other half), and the led light plugged into a timer. I'll be using it again this winter.

[toomanytommytoes]

How many tubes would you reckon i need for a 3ftx3ft space?

Maybe 3? Each of my 2ft fluorescent tubes cover 2ft by 1ft when held 4 inches above the plant canopy. You can increase the light plants receive by surrounding with foil or mylar. It would probably be cheaper to buy two 4ft tubes and light maybe 8 sqft instead of three 3ft tubes for 9 sqft.

[SarrissUK]

I just noticed the bulbs on that page Babru - I wonder if I could maybe get cheaper lights, and just buy the LED bulbs on that page... hmm... I am off to Ikea tomorrow... :P

[SimpleSimon]

I have a cheapo LED one from Amazon and it worked great. Did make my kitchen look a bit weird from outside. Mind you 3*3ft is quite big.

I'd be more concerned about heat. Would soil cables heat a box in a garage in January? I doubt it. Bad weather could just kill everything in there. It's need to be kept at 15c I guess which would be tough if it was below zero in the garage.

That said a cheap tube heater from screwfix would solve that if the box was insulated.

[SimpleSimon]

I bought this late last year, to keep my cuttings and seedlings happy in the darkest months of the year, and I was pretty pleased with it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It clamps on, so I had it clamped to my standard lamp in the living room (laid back other half), and the led light plugged into a timer. I'll be using it again this winter.

That is very similar to the one I bought. It was plenty good to look after 50 chilli seedlings, none got leggy. Admittedly I'll be doing less this year as having that many seedlings in your kitchen is not without issues

Mind you if I was building a grow box like this I'd get one of the bigger rectangle ones on there. They are a bit more bit money but more suited.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

I have a cheapo LED one from Amazon and it worked great. Did make my kitchen look a bit weird from outside. Mind you 3*3ft is quite big.

I'd be more concerned about heat. Would soil cables heat a box in a garage in January? I doubt it. Bad weather could just kill everything in there. It's need to be kept at 15c I guess which would be tough if it was below zero in the garage.

That said a cheap tube heater from screwfix would solve that if the box was insulated.

Temperature is certainly an issue, I already have insulating material, was thinking the soil warming cables may warm the air enough to maintain growth.
An additional small heater should definitely help

[toomanytommytoes]

I just noticed the bulbs on that page Babru - I wonder if I could maybe get cheaper lights, and just buy the LED bulbs on that page... hmm... I am off to Ikea tomorrow... :P

IKEA do their own range of grow light bulbs (VAXER) which are apparently OK. Another budget idea I've seen elsewhere is to get a TERTIAL desk lamp (https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tertial...reen-30447221/) and put a high efficiency LED screw bulb in it, like from the Philips CorePro range. £9 for the lamp and £3 for the bulb.