Grow Lights

[Christian1971]

I am still deciding on a lighting fixture. Will need to cover approx 5ft x 4ft. Tomato and pepper seeds. Bunch of dahlias too. Plenty of south facing windows. I read that lights should be around 2-4 inches from top of plant. What if I get a single 200 watt compact fluorescent bulb (grow light). If hanging low in the center, will plants get leggy aiming towards bulb or be bright enough not to be an issue. Like the idea better then the tube lights. But not sure if tube lights are much better to prevent leggy veggies. Thanks

[rainbowgardener]

One bulb wouldn't begin to cover that area. Remember that the closer you have the light to the plant, the less area it covers. It helps if they are in front of a good south facing window but only the first maybe 18" in front of the window get enough direct sun to do much good. You are going to end up with leggy, light starved plants.

I have a counter top with fluorescent tube lights over it that is almost two feet wide. For that width I run two shop light fixtures (with two tubes each) lengthwise down the counter. The four tubes together, hung close down by the plants cover the width. The tube lights come in 4 foot lengths, so you should really figure on your area being 4x4 not 5x4.

[Christian1971]

Thanks.

[PaulF]

I have also used shop lights as my light source for many years. I do not advocate the expensive "gro-light" set ups when much less expensive shop lights are available. In the two tube shop light I prefer a hot white bulb and a cool white bulb. My preference is also to keep the light within 1 to 2 inches from the top of the plant to stop legginess. As the plant grows be sure to be able to move the lights up or the plants down to keep the distance stable. I start seeds and grow seedlings in a windowless basement. I don't think having windows no matter how they face is any advantage. Sunlight will overpower the lighting system and the plants will reach up to the sun and get leggy. Just my way...successful growing has several good ways.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, my seed starting set up is also in my basement and I'm not sure how much of an advantage the window might be. Probably could cut down on the amount of lighting some, if you are willing to do a lot of moving plants around in the system, so that different ones are in front of the window at different times.

[jal_ut]

I bought the shop light fixture. It holds two 4 foot fluorescent tubes. I hung the fixture with chain and small hooks
such that the height could be easily adjusted. My seed starting area is in an outbuilding with a south facing window.
I leave the lights on all the time, sun or no. I adjust the height of the fixture to be just 3 or 4 inches above the plants.