MarkL057
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Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:15 am

Is this light sufficient for hydroponics?

Hiya everyone!
Novice balcony / window ledge gardener here looking to expand into hydroponics.

I watched a video on YouTube of a home made hydroponics system using big plastic containers with holes cut for the net cups, fish tank air pump and a grow light and I am keen on giving it a go.

Here's the video


I live in a flat with limited space so just have a couple of practicality questions.

1. Provided a sufficient grow light, will it work with no natural light? I want to completely cover up this system including the light source so it doesn't leak light into the surrounding area. To be specific, I want the hydroponic container to live in the corner of a room with 4 cardboard walls and lid with just a hole on top to drop in the bulb. Essentially from the outside it would just be a cardboard box. We don't have any spare rooms or outbuildings so without this the extra light bulb would be an issue.

2. Would any "full spectrum" light bulb do? I've seen an energy saving 30w (equivalent 150w) bulb labelled full spectrum for £7. I could then get a plug in the wall to b22 adaptor to place this in my box.

Here here it is

https://www.amazon.co.uk/iBoutique%C2%A ... onet&psc=1

Hope someone can help.

Appreciated in advance.

Thanks, Mark.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I have yet to venture into hydroponics, but can help a bit.
I grow seedlings and overwinter some near-frost tolerant plants in my windowless garage. So that’s kind of like your box. I have also tried various fluorescent type supplemental lights.

I feel the spiral light bulb you indicated is inefficient for intended use — it is tall and take up too much vertical space and runs hot enough to require sufficient distance from plants. If you tried to mount it horizontally, you lose advantage of the 360° output.

You are better off with t8 or t5 fluorescent tube bulbs — 3 or preferably 4 tube 24” or equivalent fixture. T8’s can be positioned as close to leaves as 2-3 inches, t5 needs more like 3-4 inches. T5’s are coming down in price due to increasingly available LED’s of sufficient-acceptable performance. I suspect if you have budget for them, really, good LED design would be even better due to lower heat emission in the enclosed space.

Your specs will limit choice of plants that would fit and thrive in the environment — what were you thinking to grow? (BTW I didn’t watch the video, but those cucurbits in the video is unlikely to grow to maturity). You’ll need to consider that enclosure will also create higher trapped humidity and will require some kind of ventilation system. If using t5 which creates heat, maybe lower vents will create sufficient simple passive thermodynamic airflow? But you could easily repurpose personal or recycle computer fans.

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Small scale hydro. Lettuce is your best choice. You must use a hydroponic solution for lettuce or whatever crop you choose or it does not work very well. An airstone helps to oxygenate the water.
Applestar can give you better advice on the lighting, but you need air circulation too, or you may have other problems.

https://www.fullbloomhydroponics.net/hy ... stems-101/
https://university.upstartfarmers.com/b ... tky-method
https://www.hydroponicsbc.com/air.html



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