NoTillPhil
Well-Known Member
Whatever you can fit in 2sqft will be good for a couple weeks IMO.
What's the interest in growing with retail store LED bulbs?
- Thread starter brotherjericho
- Start date
NoTillPhil
Well-Known Member
Likely fine for the first couple weeks.Thanks for the answer but I did not understand anything.
The Growbox is 80x80x160. One fabric pot and 35 cm above 2 x 15w LED 6400k
Is it ok for couple of weeks?
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
You need to STOP thinking in terms of "equivalent watts" - its an absolutely useless metric that will lead you astray. Its a comparison to incredibly inefficient lights that literally no longer exist, and were never, EVER used for growing plants. Put it out of your head.
You need to go by the ACTUAL WATTAGE of the light, which if I recall is 10 watts.
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@NoTillPhil I hope so. txn you
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
For the first two weeks of life, yes that will probably be enough light.
Flanigan
Well-Known Member
Yes that's correct which is why I'm just putting under them 2 weeks
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
500W in a 3x3 is going to be way more light than is needed.
Flanigan
Well-Known Member
I thought so but didn't know if it can be used. Thanks
NoTillPhil
Well-Known Member
Personally I think you could make it pay off if you brought the extra 200 watts down the sides and used them to increase canopy depth.
Flanigan
Well-Known Member
This is of course something else I have been wondering about? If I could put lights on the sides of the tent to increase light on the branches instead of from the top can you enlighten me more about it?
Flanigan
Well-Known Member
Also I wonder if you might have to answer this question? I am thinking about buying a shed that is 5 foot by 6 foot all right and getting a tent that is 5 foot by 5 foot do you think I would have any issues putting it in there since it is the same size except for on the one end where it's pop fit there is an extra foot since it is 6 ft wide one way? Hopefully you understand me
tstick
Well-Known Member
I didn't read all the posts on this thread yet, so I apologize if what I'm going to say is redundant, but here's my take on the original post:
There are quite a few brands of LED lightbulbs out there now...but, for the most part, the ones that are fairly reasonably priced, are the 9.5 watt (equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent) bulbs. So, those are the ones I will refer to hereafter in this post...
From what I can tell, most of them are either a 2700K (warm white) and a 5000K (daylight) temp.
Convenience is the advantage to any bulb because everyone (almost) knows how to screw in a bulb!
Availability is another advantage to LED and CFL bulbs...You can get them anywhere! Even the grocery stores sell them! If one goes bad, it's not a panic to replace it.
Ok...that being said....The light-globe of an LED bulb doesn't get hot so the bulb can actually be placed extremely close to the plant -which is great for seedlings and small plants! A 23 watt CFL bulb in the same application, would fry the seedling in minutes because the twist of the CFL gets very warm. However, back the CFL off the plant a bit, and the plant will love the warmth.
I went to Ace Hardware one rainy day....saw a drip-pan made for catching the oil when you change the oil in your car and bought a couple of them to be inverted and used as reflectors....Then I ordered a couple 4-bulb light sockets online...drilled a hole in the center of the drip pans, attached the 4-bulb sockets to the pans, spliced a couple of old extension cords...drilled a couple more holes to attach some clips to hang them...voila!
I can mix and match the LEDs to get a "full-spectrum white" and place them right on top of the plants without overheating...and due to the fact that the orientation of the lightbulbs is horizontal, the direction of the light is focused and almost encapsulated by the drip-pan reflectors so the intensity is pretty good, I think. Of course, the intensity will drop incredibly-fast when you back the fixture off even a few inches.
BTW, a bulb-fixture like this, also enables me to add UV bulbs if I want....or any other kind/color of bulb that I might want to mess with! And I can also hang them, on-end, along the inside walls of my tent to add side-lighting.
I think the drip pans cost about $10 dollars apiece...the bulbs I bought in those four-packs that go on sale all the time (one pack of each color)...I don't remember what the price was each, but it was under $10 for the 4-pack...The extension cords and electrician's tape I already had...the 4-bulb sockets were under $5 dollars each...So these fixtures were cheap and easy-to-make.
There are quite a few brands of LED lightbulbs out there now...but, for the most part, the ones that are fairly reasonably priced, are the 9.5 watt (equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent) bulbs. So, those are the ones I will refer to hereafter in this post...
From what I can tell, most of them are either a 2700K (warm white) and a 5000K (daylight) temp.
Convenience is the advantage to any bulb because everyone (almost) knows how to screw in a bulb!
Availability is another advantage to LED and CFL bulbs...You can get them anywhere! Even the grocery stores sell them! If one goes bad, it's not a panic to replace it.
Ok...that being said....The light-globe of an LED bulb doesn't get hot so the bulb can actually be placed extremely close to the plant -which is great for seedlings and small plants! A 23 watt CFL bulb in the same application, would fry the seedling in minutes because the twist of the CFL gets very warm. However, back the CFL off the plant a bit, and the plant will love the warmth.
I went to Ace Hardware one rainy day....saw a drip-pan made for catching the oil when you change the oil in your car and bought a couple of them to be inverted and used as reflectors....Then I ordered a couple 4-bulb light sockets online...drilled a hole in the center of the drip pans, attached the 4-bulb sockets to the pans, spliced a couple of old extension cords...drilled a couple more holes to attach some clips to hang them...voila!
I can mix and match the LEDs to get a "full-spectrum white" and place them right on top of the plants without overheating...and due to the fact that the orientation of the lightbulbs is horizontal, the direction of the light is focused and almost encapsulated by the drip-pan reflectors so the intensity is pretty good, I think. Of course, the intensity will drop incredibly-fast when you back the fixture off even a few inches.
BTW, a bulb-fixture like this, also enables me to add UV bulbs if I want....or any other kind/color of bulb that I might want to mess with! And I can also hang them, on-end, along the inside walls of my tent to add side-lighting.
I think the drip pans cost about $10 dollars apiece...the bulbs I bought in those four-packs that go on sale all the time (one pack of each color)...I don't remember what the price was each, but it was under $10 for the 4-pack...The extension cords and electrician's tape I already had...the 4-bulb sockets were under $5 dollars each...So these fixtures were cheap and easy-to-make.
Flanigan
Well-Known Member
That's a very good DIY project that certainly doesthe trick. At first in this feed I believe it was mostly about house led but I tried for seedlings and small plants a few 60 watt or 180 total but 30 true Watts so enough for a square foot then put inside a square foot size fabric black bag with 3 lights fixtures through the top of a small cage placed inside the bag then used the ties of the bag to close up pretty tightly around the lights and for 30 true led Watts those 3 little plants done better in 2 weeks than they have in 2 more outside but not very sunny. I would definitely incubate as many plants that would fit in a square foot of peat pots like 6-8 for a couple weeks and with 30 Watts true they all had started their 3 red sets of true leaves but were very short like I have saw before with a lot stronger lights for the ageI didn't read all the posts on this thread yet, so I apologize if what I'm going to say is redundant, but here's my take on the original post:
There are quite a few brands of LED lightbulbs out there now...but, for the most part, the ones that are fairly reasonably priced, are the 9.5 watt (equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent) bulbs. So, those are the ones I will refer to hereafter in this post...
From what I can tell, most of them are either a 2700K (warm white) and a 5000K (daylight) temp.
Convenience is the advantage to any bulb because everyone (almost) knows how to screw in a bulb!
Availability is another advantage to LED and CFL bulbs...You can get them anywhere! Even the grocery stores sell them! If one goes bad, it's not a panic to replace it.
Ok...that being said....The light-globe of an LED bulb doesn't get hot so the bulb can actually be placed extremely close to the plant -which is great for seedlings and small plants! A 23 watt CFL bulb in the same application, would fry the seedling in minutes because the twist of the CFL gets very warm. However, back the CFL off the plant a bit, and the plant will love the warmth.
I went to Ace Hardware one rainy day....saw a drip-pan made for catching the oil when you change the oil in your car and bought a couple of them to be inverted and used as reflectors....Then I ordered a couple 4-bulb light sockets online...drilled a hole in the center of the drip pans, attached the 4-bulb sockets to the pans, spliced a couple of old extension cords...drilled a couple more holes to attach some clips to hang them...voila!
I can mix and match the LEDs to get a "full-spectrum white" and place them right on top of the plants without overheating...and due to the fact that the orientation of the lightbulbs is horizontal, the direction of the light is focused and almost encapsulated by the drip-pan reflectors so the intensity is pretty good, I think. Of course, the intensity will drop incredibly-fast when you back the fixture off even a few inches.
BTW, a bulb-fixture like this, also enables me to add UV bulbs if I want....or any other kind/color of bulb that I might want to mess with! And I can also hang them, on-end, along the inside walls of my tent to add side-lighting.
I think the drip pans cost about $10 dollars apiece...the bulbs I bought in those four-packs that go on sale all the time (one pack of each color)...I don't remember what the price was each, but it was under $10 for the 4-pack...The extension cords and electrician's tape I already had...the 4-bulb sockets were under $5 dollars each...So these fixtures were cheap and easy-to-make.
Ok for 110 lum/watt I guess......I didn't read all the posts on this thread yet, so I apologize if what I'm going to say is redundant, but here's my take on the original post:
There are quite a few brands of LED lightbulbs out there now...but, for the most part, the ones that are fairly reasonably priced, are the 9.5 watt (equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent) bulbs. So, those are the ones I will refer to hereafter in this post...
From what I can tell, most of them are either a 2700K (warm white) and a 5000K (daylight) temp.
Convenience is the advantage to any bulb because everyone (almost) knows how to screw in a bulb!
Availability is another advantage to LED and CFL bulbs...You can get them anywhere! Even the grocery stores sell them! If one goes bad, it's not a panic to replace it.
Ok...that being said....The light-globe of an LED bulb doesn't get hot so the bulb can actually be placed extremely close to the plant -which is great for seedlings and small plants! A 23 watt CFL bulb in the same application, would fry the seedling in minutes because the twist of the CFL gets very warm. However, back the CFL off the plant a bit, and the plant will love the warmth.
I went to Ace Hardware one rainy day....saw a drip-pan made for catching the oil when you change the oil in your car and bought a couple of them to be inverted and used as reflectors....Then I ordered a couple 4-bulb light sockets online...drilled a hole in the center of the drip pans, attached the 4-bulb sockets to the pans, spliced a couple of old extension cords...drilled a couple more holes to attach some clips to hang them...voila!
I can mix and match the LEDs to get a "full-spectrum white" and place them right on top of the plants without overheating...and due to the fact that the orientation of the lightbulbs is horizontal, the direction of the light is focused and almost encapsulated by the drip-pan reflectors so the intensity is pretty good, I think. Of course, the intensity will drop incredibly-fast when you back the fixture off even a few inches.
BTW, a bulb-fixture like this, also enables me to add UV bulbs if I want....or any other kind/color of bulb that I might want to mess with! And I can also hang them, on-end, along the inside walls of my tent to add side-lighting.
I think the drip pans cost about $10 dollars apiece...the bulbs I bought in those four-packs that go on sale all the time (one pack of each color)...I don't remember what the price was each, but it was under $10 for the 4-pack...The extension cords and electrician's tape I already had...the 4-bulb sockets were under $5 dollars each...So these fixtures were cheap and easy-to-make.
tstick
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I don't even know how good it is in those terms, but the bulbs are a super convenient and readily available....and pretty inexpensive when you get them on sale. If you're a small-timer, like me, then the cost and/or efficiency aspects really aren't an issue. Young plants and seedlings seem to love growing under them -like I say...IF you keep them very close and have a way of "steering" whatever lumens to the plant via some kind of reflector. I'm sure I could improve my DIY bulb fixtures even more by spray-painting the reflectors with some white paint.....which I probably will do when I remember to buy a can (or get a can in a free-pile at a yard sale lol).
OGHomeslice
Active Member
So these days literally no lights can be more efficient in a lumens/watt ratio or whatever? That seems to me hard to believe. If one's #1 priority is getting the most lumens (or is something a better measure of light output) per dollar spent over time (watts), seems I could not argue with that.