4 Likes
Less is more imo when it comes to liquids. Diluting to instructions caused many headaches. Now i do about half recommended strength and have pretty good results. This is with Woods at least, other brands may b different.
I am sure you said somewhere but how much lighting and how much ventilation do you currently have?
The 4 cobs hanging from wooden rod are sharing 220w. There’s another stand alone unit on my shelves aimed at the tomatoes right now that uses 160w. So between all the plants at that end of the closet they r getting about 380w. I’ve got lights on my 3 shelves that take about 300 watts also so maybe 700w in the whole room. Just have a standard bathroom vent fan in there that was added when i finished that room. Gonna wire it to a humidistat soon so it’s more automated. Got the part ordered already. Temps don’t get to high, bout 85f Max but humidity gets up to 80% also at times with Fan off.
Put new light together today. 6 2ft strips pull 188w at the wall turned to full power; can b dimmed down to 40w.
Covers my shelf much more evenly than the cob strips i built before.
8 Likes
That kicks the crap out of my t5 double strip hanging on garden chain next to a t12 shop light…
2 Likes
i have 2 viparspectra 600w leds in my front room i use. i had a fan go out on my older one , so i ordered a new one. friend of mine fixed the fan on the older one for me so i don’t need the new one and itll cost me $50 to send it back to china. think i paid $250 for it .someone interested in it , give me $100 plus shipping to you and its yours. a good light for the money. has veg and bloom switches. covers a 4’ by 4’ area. brand new and never used. if this isn’t allowed on here scott, my apologies and please feel free to delete this.
1 Like
I bought a cheap 6 sprectrum grow light from amazon the other day. My seeds havent germinated yet but boy it is incredibly bright. I made the mistake of inadvertantly looking right at the light when I first turned it on and it really hurt my eyes. My wifes as well. Shes not letting me live that down. Lol
This is the one I bought
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01LYBGVRG?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_yo_pop_mb_pd_t2
1 Like
Not sure if this should be in a tomato topic or grow light topic. But here goes.
I started my tomato seeds in a jiffy grow box 6 days ago. I kept it in my dining room at an ambiant temp of 71 degrees. All of peat pods have at least one sprout now. I removed the lid as the directions instructed. Time to stick them under the grow lighy i just purchased. The instructions with the light stated to start at 36" above the seedling. However, i can not set up a grow light in my dining room due to my wife likely killing me. So into the basement they go. My concern is that the basement temp is typically around 65 degrees. Is that too cold for sprouts? Here is what i just set up but im willing to find a better option if this is not ideal. I have the light on a timer to run 18 hours and turn off for 6 hours.
at 45w you’re going to have to get that light a lot closer for them to grow and a light that size is ok for young seedlings but will quickly underpowered to grow anything more than 6in. tall. i had lots of low powered leds and learned quickly that you need a light that draws at least 300w from the wall if you want to grow more/bigger plants.
Lower temps after germination may be called for to slow growth and avoid leggy-ness. Then again with tomatoes you can just plant them deeper.
You could use a cardboard box to enclose that stuff. Paint inside white to reflect light and it will help hold some heat in also. For seed starting a white led shop light would work ok too. I’m not abig fan of blurple lights. Looking at ppfd numbers I Amazon is start that light at about 12 inches above seedlings, for sure no more than 18.
Ok thanks. The 36 inch is based on the instructions that came with the light. It said that once the true leaves come out to move the light closer to the plants. I guess it is what it is. I really dont want to invest any more money into the setup. I thought about creating an enclosure covered in aluminum foil to help reflect light.
Not aure about wattage requirements but i thought the light was crazy bright. Maybe i wasted my money.
I was more worried about the ambient temp than the light
Bright to the eyes is diff than bright too plants. U should be able to feel the light on back of your hand. I’d set it to where u can just barely feel the light at top of the plants to start out. And run it 24/7.
1 Like
Agree with that. I have one of those cheap 45w lights and I’ve been keeping it about 8 inches form the seedling the last 2 weeks and they have been doing fine. They could probably be even closer. I kept a small jujube seeding under that light about 4 inches away and that worked.
I have a very similar light that is on a small aquaponics system in the basement. I started it 12 in from seeds…basil and tomatoes are now growing into the light and it is about 18 in. Plants really took off when I raised water temp to 70, they did not do much at 65-67, the normal basement temp. A heating pad might help. Good luck!
1 Like
I just put this together this year with 4 sheets of 2" foam insulation, 4’x8’ sheets (top, 2 sides and one cut in half for the ends). The one on the floor is just 1/2" thick, may not be necessary. This is in the 2nd story of an unheated garage. I’m still using fluorescents which works out well as they give off just the right amount of heat to keep the interior at 75-80 degrees. I have the lights on a timer, and a small electric heater with a thermostat keeps the inside warm at night when the lights go out. I stuck an instant read thermometer for cooking though the side so I can check the interior temp without opening the end. I may add a vent or 2 so I can control heat, I think the temps could get above 90 F as the garage heats up. The sheets are foil back, but I kept the white side in as it’s supposed to be more reflective. I’ll have to rebuild the PVC light holders to improve the layout inside, perhaps even set it up to hold another sheet of insulation or plywood to create 2 levels and add 4 more lights. I wanted to be able to break this down for storage. The wood was attached with construction adhesive, but it’s not sticking to the foil well, I may have to ad a couple slats inside and screw through to the outside slats to ad some structure. Otherwise its pretty stable. I cut the tape on the ends to get in and out right now. I’ll need to improve on that and I may add a plexi-glass window.
3 Likes
built mine with 2’’ by 2’‘s and stapled a silver tarp around it. its 4’ by 5’ long and 6 1/2’ high keeps the water and dirt off the floor and the light contained in there and gives me something to hang my lights on. starting some seedlings soon.
2 Likes
I sent my grow light back to amazon despite it seeming to work pretty well. I dont like that its a unitasker. I bought a 48" 5000 lumen 5000k led shop light to use instead. Ill be able to use it elsewhere when growing season is over. The plants seem to be doing well for their 8th day since sow.they started off a little lefgy prior to me getting a light on them but have really perked up.
2 Likes