Grow lights...what to look for? Please help.

[viktords]

I live in Iceland and nobody sells real grow lights and it would cost me a fortune to order from abroad at the current rate.

The lights in my garage are a set of 2 fluorescent lights and I can read 4500°K on each of them and then something like "cold...something".

1. Do these sound ok for growing inside over the winter?
2. What do I look for when searching for suitable commercially available "grow lights"....is it the lumen number or the ...°K or what?

[Kisal]

I think ordinary florescent bulbs should be fine. You might want to look for "full spectrum" tubes, so you'll have all the colors found in actual sunlight. You'll need to hang the fixture just a few inches above your plants, of course.

[hendi_alex]

It really depends upon what you want to be growing. If you want to grow green leafy, or non flowering plants, then any florescent bulbs will do. If you are going to grow flowing plants then you need to pick up some red spectrum. You can either do this by getting full spectrum bulbs, or you can get the same result by mixing ordinary florescent bulbs with regular incandescent bulbs. The incandescent bulbs are heavy on the red/yellow end and the florescents are heavy on the blue/green end of the spectrum. a mix of the two will give a pretty good balance.

[viktords]

Thanks for the tips....

1. How will I know if the fluorescent bulbs are full spectrum or not (given that I will be buying them at a regular hardware store in case the sales person won´t have a clue about the spectrum ) ?
2. Would you say that "the more watts, the better" or should I look for the ...°K reading or what?

[hendi_alex]

Read the light temperature on the side of the bulb.

"2700k to 3000k bulbs provide higher output in the red spectrum which promotes flowering. 5000k to 6500k bulbs are full spectrum with much of the light in the blue spectrum which promote overall green plant growth"

https://www.littlegreenhouse.com/guide3.shtml

[applestar]

I don't know if this is the same thing, but years ago (back in the 80's) when I was reading about growing plants, the general recommendation was to mix in 1:1 ratio, "cool" fluorescent light tubes and "warm" fluorescent light tubes. Maybe your hardware store would have these? Full spectrums used to be hard to get and expensive to boot.

Other light designations that may help are "Daylight" bulbs and also those lights that are supposed to help people with S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

[gixxerific]

can't hurt to look here as well. They have diff kinds of lights for different purposes.

[/url]https://www.thelashop.com/catalog/LED-Grow-Lights-orderby0-p-1-c-47.html?gclid=CJqu7-eO3psCFQUhnAodF33b-w[url]

Dono

[cynthia_h]

I know that the Bonsai Forum has had several discussions on indoor lighting for plants; perhaps a scan of the threads in that forum would help?

Or maybe a search of the site using a phrase like "grow lights" would find them for you.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[viktords]

Thanks all!

What a coincidence....just 2 days after posted this topic I found this great little company here where they are selling hydrophonic gear and all that goes with it....and I was fascinated because with that you don´t have to have dirt and you can grow it in the garage and over the winter (the days get very short here in Iceland in the winter but the summer daylight lasts the whole 24 hours!). I´m going to get me one of those sets and I could even use the light to see which grows faster, same plant in a container with soil vs. in the hydrophonic system. www.eurohydro.com

[gixxerific]

Thanks all!

What a coincidence....just 2 days after posted this topic I found this great little company here where they are selling hydrophonic gear and all that goes with it....and I was fascinated because with that you don´t have to have dirt and you can grow it in the garage and over the winter (the days get very short here in Iceland in the winter but the summer daylight lasts the whole 24 hours!). I´m going to get me one of those sets and I could even use the light to see which grows faster, same plant in a container with soil vs. in the hydrophonic system. www.eurohydro.com

Well that 's a good turn of fate. Good luck with your Hydro garden. I would like to try that out myself as well. I would be interested to see a Hydro vs. dirt battle.

Dono

[somegeek]

Just throwing this out there... you can also use CFLs as grow lights and can pick those up most anywhere.

[a0c8c]

Thanks all!

What a coincidence....just 2 days after posted this topic I found this great little company here where they are selling hydrophonic gear and all that goes with it....and I was fascinated because with that you don´t have to have dirt and you can grow it in the garage and over the winter (the days get very short here in Iceland in the winter but the summer daylight lasts the whole 24 hours!). I´m going to get me one of those sets and I could even use the light to see which grows faster, same plant in a container with soil vs. in the hydrophonic system. www.eurohydro.com

You've gotta be careful with hydroponics. Not every plant likes that much water and even a crappy to decent hydro system will keep roots wet all day long. I'd look up each plants watering needs and do some research into the plants you want and the hydro systemd effects on them. Planst will grow faster as well, sobe prepared for great growing. All depends on what kind of system it is too, drip or spray. Drips drip water where as spray systems spray the roots with water. They require different types of plants as well. I'd recommend alot of research.

Oh and be weary, 90% of of the information on the internet is going to be about growing Marijuana hydroponically, not other plants.

[viktords]

Thx.

I bought this small system from GHE, called Aquafarm - [url]https://www.eurohydro.com/waterfarm.html[/url]
It didn´t cost that much so if I´m disappointed I haven´t invested too much and I could still use the lamp for regular indoor growing....this will be interresting...

[razzz8606]

if you wanna use florescent lights I would recommend using T5 daylight florescent lights with 6400k they will grow just about anything u want

[ChefRob]

as someone wrote on here, 6500k bulbs are not full spectrum. they are cool spectrum whereas 3000k bulbs are warm spectrum. both together are full spectrum. a 4-ft. high output fluorescent setup with dual 54w bulbs of varying kelvin levels will provide you with 10,000 lumens per sq ft. and full spectrum lighting.