I forgot to say that they will be in an unheated room that has a northern exposure...so not very good lighting.

LOL....

WE JUST SPENT DAYS OF TALKING ABOUT THIS ONE. Some left frustrated, some not knowing,some with an answer, and some with varying opinions....

Let me ask you a question first if I may..
I got the help I needed here at one point, and I had to make a few calls..Now I will help you..:-)

How warm is the enviroment going to be for them?
In other words, at what temps will you be growing them at? What kind, and how much natural light will they recieve without the shoplights?
Your consistancy at certain roots temps will make a huge impact on how long you should use artificial lights..

Mike

Wow..That was a quick response..lol

The most important info is,,,AT What Temps..? How cold is that room going to be unheated? How cold will it be in there at night?

I don't mean to hijack this question but........

I am also going to go with shop lights because my citrus are heavily loaded with half ripe fruit and I don't want a repeat of fruit drop like I had last year.

The room my citrus will be in maintains about 65 degrees all winter, has a fair southern window with only fair sunlight. The citrus got so huge while outside this summer that the window (natural) light will not reach all 6 trees - they will shade each other.

I am thinking 12 hours on and 12 hours off for the shop light. If necessary I can put heat cables around the containers to keep the roots around 65-70 degrees.

BTW I have an empty room with a single bulb ceiling fixture which can accept a 150W compact florescent - will this work for the citrus (12 on/ 12 off) The room has a west facing window ??

????? Is this enough??

DL

If you say they are going to get a fair amount of sunlight, why not put the lights on timers and make them go on a few hours in the am and a few more on the pm, before and after your plants recieve sun to extend the day and save money on your electric bill.

If you are keeping your temps above 65, then the roots are functioning well and will love all the extra light. In fact, up to 15 hours is better if you want to see phonominal GROWTH.. That is what I have done, and what I would do, with great success..:-)

Cooler than those temps, then your talking about a different growing zone and a whole new world..

Don't foget to fertilize and watch for bugs..
You also might find that the room may get warmer than 65-70 by day with the heat your lights will produce, unless they are cool lights. Don't foget to provide humidity too. Not really needed, but will be much appreciated by your trees anyways..:-)

Mike..:-)

P.s..I just notice you said 150 watts...I don't think it will be enough to satisfy citrus plant needs at those temps..It may help, but for such a high demanding sunlight plant that wants to actively grow, you should be at least using 400 watts or more...

Make sure they are not so grouped together so lower leaves loose out on light, or they will drop. Also remember to rotate them frequenlty. And, sorry, make sure your plants are not more than 2 feet away..For every foot you move your plants away from your lights, you loose at least 75% of lumen..So the closer the better. You might be able to get away with plants being 3 or more feet away with a 1000 watts. I am talking about halide and strong heat lights. Compac flourescent, no more than a foot away. If your just trying to keep them alive, then further away than suggested will probably help . But,to keep them actively growing, as close to the lights as possible is best..

In a rush to get to work, so if I rushed this info, I am sorry...

But what you plan on doing is better than nothing...

I tried that amount of light, the 150w years ago, before halide and stronger compacs were available, and I still lost fruit and plants at such warm temps..Not enough artificial "sunlight".. I hope it works out for ya..

I use that kind of wattage on some of my other tropicals such as clivia, palms, and pothos, and they seem to thrive under that..
Depending on how much sun your citrus are getting, they may do ok, live or grow. There is no concrete answer..:-)

Moral of story......
The more "sunlight" and mimicked "sunlight" the better.
The closer to the lamps, the better.
The higher the wattage the better, at those temps...

Mike..:-)

Thanks Mike for answering dancinglemons question...which seem to help me. Since I haven't been in that room when it is cold outside I can't answer right now. But I appreciate the info especially about rotation. The shop light have (2) 500 watt bulbs which should generate some heat. I will definitely put it on a timer and tilt one of the lights to beam on the lower leaves. Thanks for your help.

Just be careful that the shop lights don't heat the room so drasticaly warm, just to let the night temps in that room drop so cold.. Those lights can get really HOT! Such a drastic difference can hurt your plants severely..ok

I used these before. I found that my room temps went all the way to 90 degrees at times, which also brought on mites, then dropped all the way down to the low 50's at night..It was crazy. That was in an unheated room... My leaves dropped like crazy... I lost a lemon meyer.
So I gave those lights away. They put my electric bill through the heavens too..lol,

Invest in a thermometer and a hydrometer if you can. They were my plants life savers..

When you use them in the day, crack a window open. Also use a fan and humidifyer if you can..You will find the balance as I had too...
I personally didn't like the lights you are thinking of using..But you might..:-) They are better than nothing..

Take care for now..:-)

meyermike,

I just brought my 6 ft. meyer lemon into the garage as well. I bought it this summer from Lowe's and I figure it's probably around 3-4 years old. In the winter, I believe the garage can probably get down into the 35-40 degree range without any lighting. If put directly over the tree, do you think a 400 watt high sodium bulb would be adequate? Also, would this bulb be hard on my electric bill if used 12 hours a day?

arkard: If your elec costs $0.17 per Kwh, like mine. Then 400 watts for 12 hrs per day is about $0.82 per day.

Here is a great link for you to read...I also learned from this one too...:-) :-)..Great info!
Also look at the info "nygardener" gave me..

Very helpful!

But caution..
If your garage is going to go down to the 40's, not to many hours of lights then. No more than 9..At least that is what I have been taught to do from many who grow in those cold conditions...
I tried many more hours of that last year, and lost a many leaves and trees to overworking the plants while the roots were not functioning properly at cold levels..
I too am going to take my own advice this year do to very sucesssful people I am meeting, growing in colder temps too... I am only sharing based on people with good experience, and research, not my own experience.
This will be a first for me with less light at cooler temps..More lights at cooler temps was a failure..
I hope you still find my time and info useful..;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: lighting

Meyermike,

When I went to get my high pressure sodium bulb, I didn't realize that the bulb itself would be much too big to fit into a regular light fixture. All Lowe's had were big outdoor lamppost type stuff. I'm looking for something very inexpensive that I can either just hang above the tree or maybe something that will sit on the garage floor and project upwards at the tree. I'm not wanting to have to install anything. Just a very basic, simple setup. Do you have any suggestions on what I can get and where I can get it? Thanks for your help.

Yes....They have shop floor lamps for only 35 dollars..

They are black and it is a floor lamp that looks like a tripod.

They throw out 1ooo watts of light at all different angles, since the heads twist.. Great for the lower leaves and top lights to get evenly distributed light.They are awsome for heat too.. But beware of how hot a room can get if it is small one with these suckers.
My small room once got to 96 degrees in the middle of winter, so that I had to open windows, and boy did the spidermites appear outa no where!!...lol

If you lived close to me, I would just give you mine for nothing, since I no longer use it...I live in Mass though.

Let us know what you do..ok...:-)

Meyermike,

I hate to keep asking questions, but can you actually send me a link to a shop floor lamp? I have googled everything I can think of and I just can't seem to find anything close to what you're talking about. Thanks

Ok..If I find it at home on my interent, since I don't have complete access to internet here at work, I will..

In the mean time, I will take a pic of what it looks like and post for you...Let me do it within the next couple of days...

Mike..:-)

Here is an example of the kind of the shop light you can buy at Lowes....

Mine is black though, but same wattage..

Here is a link that might be useful: Example of light

Great! Thanks so much for your help!

The lights used as an example in the link vary in construction by manufacturer. Some will adjust up and down the pole and others have 3 lights. Go by your local auto parts store, Harbor Freight store, Lowes, Home Depot, etc., and ask about halogen shop lights. By the way, as long as you keep the temps in the 40s or 50s and provide sufficient light, you should be OK. An occasional 35 degrees won't hurt.