How many T5 lights for tomato seedlings?
g r
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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kudzu9
4 years agoRelated Discussions
T5 fluorescent tomato and california wonder pepper, need help
Comments (6)Hi all. I really should have been better about updating this thread. Thanks to the advice I received from Underground I currently have two HUGE pepper plants in full bloom right now. These things have leaves much larger than my hands, and have 10-15 peppers of varous sizes set on each plant, with more flowers emerging daily. As the thread title indicates I am growing California Wonder peppers. The plants are approximately 15-18" tall and stout. They are currently under a 400W Sunmaster Warm Deluxe( which they are getting prime lighting from), and a 250W High Pressure Sodium (getting excellent side lighting, nearly primary lighting from this lamp as well) hung side by side. Of course I do have a question. I am not sure what the appropriate amount of food to give pepper plants that are fruiting profusely. Once the plants started putting out flowers about 6-7 weeks ago I started using the GH 3 part bloom formula of 3-2-1 Bloom, Micro, Grow. I have worked my way up 650 ppm fertilizer strength, which is what they received yesterday. I fertilize every other watering, occasionally every third watering. However, I only give them what I would assume to be small amounts (in volume) of fertilizer. I am anal about overwatering and even fluid distribution so I water with a shot glass. When I feed I usually give them 4-5 "shots" of my pH'd RO water, then 4-5 shots of fertilzer, then another 3-4 shots of pH'd RO water to wash it in. I typically keep my peppers on the dry side, not bone, but let the top layer dry before I water again(typically 2-3 days). So my question is am I feeding them enough in ppm? in volume? The reason I ask is that one of the plant's fruit is not enlarging at the pace I figured it would (They are getting larger, just not that fast). Do I need to flush at all? I am trying to avoid flushing. After flushing the plants seem to take forever to dry out, and sometimes attract fungus gnats. The plants are in 3-4 gallon pots, so it would take a considerable amount of water to achieve runoff. On the days the plants receive plain water I typically water relatively deeply (probably about 15 shots) to soak in any fertilizer that may have accumulated on the top layer of soil. If you all are interested in seeing my plants I'm sure I could figure out how to post pictures in the next day or two. So far I'm amazed at how well they are doing, much better than my typical effort outdoors. Sorry about the longwinded post, just wanted to be thorough. Thank you for all your help, any further input would be greatly appreciated. Ballplayer...See MoreT5 HO/Tomato seedlings?
Comments (2)That is roughly 20K lumens. As long as you can keep the light concentrated and close to the seedlings, that should work fine for producing nice compact growth. You can probably grow as many seedlings as you can fit directly under the light fixture -- so however many you can get in a 4' by, say, ~18" space....See MoreHow many pepper plants? How many tomato plants?
Comments (5)last year I did around 500 tomato plants and around 450 pepper plants. This was for 2 farmers markets and a farm store. I will do around the same this year as I am dropping one farmers market and replacing it with a CSA. I am also counting on the peppers doing a lot better this year. Last year 95% of the plants did not get ripe fruit on them before the first frosts. they were about 5 weeks late in setting fruit and I have no idea why. The 100 peppers in the hoop house produced early as they were supposed to but over 75% got sunscald and than bacterial rot. I grow mainly sweet peppers with a mix of hybrid green to red bells (by far the best seller) along with green to orange, green to yellow and purple to red bells. i also do some funky heirlooms for those who like an adventure in food because the taste is generally better than the hybrids. I also do a small amount (less than 25 total) of hot peppers, mainly jalapenos and cayennes as those sell the best for me. Last year I did 27 different types of tomatoes, mainly heirlooms. Red maters are the mainstay but I also do purple, black, white, green, yellow, orange, etc.. I also do around 50 cherry tomato plants (do not go hog wild on cherries as they take a lot longer to harvest than the big maters)...See MoreNew LED lights to raise tomato seedlings
Comments (2)Most of the neutral greenhouse research I have read seems to find little benefit for the plants over MH or HPS. No detriment but no documented benefit either. So I don't think I'd buy into the "LED grow lights might offer quite a few advantages and will take over the state of the art status from High Intensity Discharge lights, so called HID lights" statement quite yet. :) The heat from MH and HPS also provides a supplemental benefit depending on your location/weather. Sun Systems offers various set-ups for much less than $500-800 you mention and bulb life expectancy all depends on how you use it. So personally I still find both MH and UPS systems more cost efficient for me than the current costs of comparable LED systems. Hopefully over time the LED systems will come down in cost as the novelty falls off and the demand rises. JMO Dave...See Moreponcirusguy6b452xx
4 years agodaninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
4 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
4 years agokevin9408
4 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
4 years agoScott K
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)