Starting seeds indoors - light

8 years ago

Hello all!!!! I am new to gardening, and this is my first time posting here. I live in NY, in zone 6. Last year I started all my plants inside, but they didn't do so well. This year I want to do better. I have a mini green house with multiple shelves that's about 24in long and 18in wide. I want to grow things like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, different types of herbs, and maybe some other stuff. Last year I'm sure my problem was not enough light. Would it work to use CFL bulbs? I ask because I have been growing aquarium plants for years and CFL bulbs work wonderful for them. I thought if they work for aquatic plants they probably will work for terrestrial plants. I was thinking of using a 23w, 100w equivalent, 6500k, 1450 lumen, bulb for each shelf. Is this enough light?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

brandon7 TN_zone7
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
No, it's not enough light for that area to grow most plants. I would go with at least four of those bulbs for that size shelf. I use even more light than that on my grow benches. The type of reflectors you use will also make a difference. You will want to be able to direct the light down onto your plants and not be scattered everywhere.

For simply germinating seeds, you need little to no light (depending on the type of plant), but I don't think that's what you have in mind.
disismausanam thanked brandon7 TN_zone7
disismausanam
Original Author
8 years ago
Ok, thanks Brandon. I didn't realize how much light these little seedlings need. Would it work to use two, 6500k, 40watt, 3300 lumen, CFLs per shelf?
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brandon7 TN_zone7
8 years ago
Each of my grow bench shelves are twice as big as your shelf, and I use 6 T-12 bulbs per shelf (that gives me about 15,000 lumens per shelf). So, yes, if you had the right kind of reflectors (to give fairly uniform light over the entire shelf), you'd be fine with just two of the larger bulbs.

Note that not all lumens are equal when it comes lamps for growing plants, but for our purposes (with the bulbs you specified) using that measure should give us enough to go on.
disismausanam thanked brandon7 TN_zone7
disismausanam
Original Author
8 years ago
Ok, cool! Thanks again!
fbx22
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I use 4 T12s per shelf using 2 "lights of america" shop light fixtures per shelf which seems to work fine altough they are the specific plant and aquarium rated tubes(I have a variety of all top 3 brands. Phillips, GE, and Sylvania). My shelves are also 4ft by about 18 and the back side thats towards the wall has foil with the reflective side facing the plants. Rather than use CFLs it would work a lot better if you can find some 2 foot fixure or multiple fixtures that would hold 4 to 6 24" plant/aquarium lights. I pondered the idea of having a smaller 2 foot unit like yours when I started running out of room on my 4 foot shelf but after trying to research fixtures and bulbs I found it difficult to find this sized light fixtures in local stores. I could order them and pay a lot for shipping but not readily easily found in my local stores. I could find plenty of 4 foot and 18 inch lights and fixtures but not 24 so I just ended up getting a 2nd 4 foot mini green house. I suppose thats for the better since I still have another 4 feet length worth of shelving to expand even more in the future :) and I can fit 4 trays on each shelf

Starting seeds indoors - light

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Starting seeds indoors - light

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