I've been growing in a hydroponic system outdoors for the last 4 years and I love it. Now I want to move it indoors so I can grow lettuce and maybe some herbs during the winter and the heat of mid summer. My systems are a NFT system that grew great Lettuce and Basil the past couple of years and a DWC system that I've struggled to grow tomatoes in (I've decided that the problem with the DWC is me and I'm growing my tomatoes in the ground this year because I (finally) have the space for a small bed of tomatoes).
I'd like to get a grow light setup that I could use with either system (only have the indoor space to set up one or the other for now).
My grow space is an old dark room so I've got pretty good control of all conditions (and a close water supply). I plan to stick to leafy green things that don't need to flower when growing indoors (at least at first, because we know how that goes).
So what have you tried? What worked? What seemed like it should work but failed miserably? for those who have tried both DIY and ready-made lighting systems which do you prefer? What do you think of LED's? What should I know about my first grow under lights?
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SledDogMama
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- Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 9:32 pm
I use two mars hydro 300 full spectrum for indoors. I personally think they are great. I've used them to grow hydro and soil plants over the winter but at the moment, I have one of them on some seedlings. Most of my seedlings are in my greenhouse now, getting ready for summer.
No stretching of the seedlings, unlike last year when I used cfl and unless I had the lights almost touching, they would stretch.
They definitely grow better with the leds rather than the cfl. Sometimes I have it on 24hrs a day, at the moment, it's on for 20hrs, off for 4.
There is better growing lights out there but I chose the leds because of the long life and efficiency. The lights I have create no heat, that means there is less wasted energy going to heat, it's being used for light instead.
Cfl are cheaper per bulb but I worked out how much it would cost for the amount I would need and all the fittings/wire, it actually worked out cheaper to buy the leds.
No stretching of the seedlings, unlike last year when I used cfl and unless I had the lights almost touching, they would stretch.
They definitely grow better with the leds rather than the cfl. Sometimes I have it on 24hrs a day, at the moment, it's on for 20hrs, off for 4.
There is better growing lights out there but I chose the leds because of the long life and efficiency. The lights I have create no heat, that means there is less wasted energy going to heat, it's being used for light instead.
Cfl are cheaper per bulb but I worked out how much it would cost for the amount I would need and all the fittings/wire, it actually worked out cheaper to buy the leds.