Please recommend the ONE LIGHT I need.

[Gardener123]

Thanks Rick.... But I ended up getting an 8 bulb fixture. I also use the silver colored reflective medical blankets. I am expecting much better results this year. Quite possibly I will start some seeds tomorrow that will likely be thrown away after I see them growing..... I have far too many seeds. I will be sowing my hot pepper seeds in the next week or so. I have a fixture just for those, as I grow a lot of hot peppers.

[RickRS]

That's good. The dual tube 4 foot shoplight is just a minimal setup that can work, if you do it right. Eight tubes will give you a much bigger seed starting area.

I start a lot of seeds myself and this year I'm using two 4 foot 4 tube T8 ceiling fixtures from Home Depot's clearance bin instead an assortment of shoplights. Most of the people reporting poor results with shoplights don't realize how intense the light needs to be and are using a setup where the lights are too far from the plants, old bulbs with a fall off of intensity from age, or using standard Warm White or Cool White fluorescents.

If cost isn't an issue, metal halides or HO fluorescents would be the way to go.

Hope you have good results this year.

[drh146]

THanks everyone for the good info, and to the original poster for starting the thread.

I got 6500°K and 4100°K and a 2 bulb fixture. I have one of each of the bulbs in it. would it be better to put both of one or the other in, or is it ok with one of each?

[oggy]

Hello, I use a single light for Bell Pepper and Strawberries.
It's an 85 watt 5000k full spectrum bulb that cost $15 online.

However, I used a 4 or 5w CFL that cost $0.25 to start my seeds.
I don't think lighting is all that important for SEEDS since they are under the soil and don't receive much light anyway. I think the most important part is keeping them moist and fairly warm. My seeds germinated in 50-75 F temperatures inside of my home at a 100% success rate(25/25 Bell Pepper seeds and 25/25 Strawberry seeds). It probably varies by seeds, though.

I've learned that keeping the seeds moist is the most important part of germination. If they dry out, then it's probably over for them. I've killed a lot of sprouts by letting them dry out in only a day...

Also I should mention, I germinated some of my seeds outside of soil with 100% success rate. I left them on some moist towels that could compost later and kept them moist.

All of the seeds took about 1.5 to 2 weeks to germinate (in and out of soil, both bell pepper and strawberry).

[rainbowgardener]

THanks everyone for the good info, and to the original poster for starting the thread.

I got 6500°K and 4100°K and a 2 bulb fixture. I have one of each of the bulbs in it. would it be better to put both of one or the other in, or is it ok with one of each?

I think it is fine with one of each.