best flourescents for seedlings, cuttings

Hi all.

I live in the uk and was wondering what lighting do people use for there cuttings. I am looking at a sunmate for £65.
http://www.hydroponic-shop.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_24&products_id=558

Is there anyone who has used this light, or what do people use for there cuttings?

Thanks

it would be better to use a mixture of cool white and warm white together for good results

I use and very much like T5s, HO bulbs in both blue and red spectrum, I use them the whole way through a grow.

what exactly are T5s, HO bulbs??? And if i use warm white and cool white, does that mean one light cool and one warn or do i need two lights?

One they are ready for trasplanting I aim to transfer them to an atami wilma 8 pot with a 600w hps in a grow tent with a carbon filter and fan setup!!!!

Just need help in the seedling cutting stage!!!

A T5 bulb stands for tube fluorescent 5. The 5 is the diameter of the tube in 8ths of an inch. So a 5 is 5/8 of an inch in diameter. A T8 will be an inch in diameter. T5 are typically more efficient and no one uses those thick tubes anymore. And before you bring it up, I hate this standard system also. I wish it was in the metric system.

I assume(so dont take my word for it) that a HO bulb means High Output bulb.

Cool white and warm white means the color of light the bulbs are. This is done on the Kelvin scale. 2700K bulbs are warm white and 6500K bulbs are "daylight".

^^^ right so you use all or mostly blue in veg then switch to 75% or so red in flower. The T5 HO gives you more lumens per watt than any flouro and produces no more heat.

Illegal Smile said:

^^^ right so you use all or mostly blue in veg then switch to 75% or so red in flower. The T5 HO gives you more lumens per watt than any flouro and produces no more heat.

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What LPW does your T5 run. Cause I think I have a fluoro that beats it. Granted its a compact fluoro.

iron joint said:

What LPW does your T5 run. Cause I think I have a fluoro that beats it. Granted its a compact fluoro.

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I don't remember the numbers and I base that completely on a source I read that said by design a spiral cannot match the HO tubes. It gave the lumens per watt which for cfls averages 64/watt. the T5 was somewhere above that, if I recall about 1/3 of the way between the cfl and hps, but without the heat.

I recently switched out CFL's for t5's in my mother/clone cabinet. I dropped about 30% of the wattage but you wouldn't tell by looking at my mothers and clones, they look healthier for it.

I think there are some serious spectrum differences between cheap household CFL's and t5 HO lamps. More then just lumens per watt, the t5 bulbs seem to have a much better PAR rating. Watt for watt, I wouldn't be surprised if CFL's produce only 60% of usable light compared to t5 lamps.

Too bad t5's cost so much more then CFL's. Definitely worth the extra cost if you have heat issues though.

Illegal Smile said:

I don't remember the numbers and I base that completely on a source I read that said by design a spiral cannot match the HO tubes. It gave the lumens per watt which for cfls averages 64/watt. the T5 was somewhere above that, if I recall about 1/3 of the way between the cfl and hps, but without the heat.

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i have a 100W CFL that puts out 10500 lumen. so thats 105 LPW. I still cant decide if a T5 would be better though. They are around 92 LPW but they spread the light(and heat) around so much better, the plant might make far more use of it.

Hi all, just to let you know last night I ordered the fllowing;-

1 x Sunmate Fluorescent Unit Complete () = £65.00
1 x Root Riot Organic Propagation Cubes - 25 Bagged () = £3.75
1 x Grodan Rockwool Cutting Cubes - 36mm Half Tray () = £3.25

Was gonna germinate my northern light seeds in paper towel/water. Then place tap root seed in the rockwool. Once sprout and leafs start to show put them under the light.... If that doesnt work, Ill thn try putting tap root in the root rot cubes!!! WISH ME LUCK!!!!!

good luck! and have fun

can anyone check out the following link for me
http://www.hydroponic-shop.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_24&products_id=558

This is the sunmate that i have purchased, and it is 2x 55 watt cool tube fluoro. Is this powerful enough to start seedlings or even cuttings. Also could I use the power of this light for vegging and flowering. The idea is if i could do the whole thing from this light, then i would get a male to pollinate a female. Then i will be ok for a while with seeds!! Then buy an 8 pot wilma for the real fun to begin!! Any help would be grateful... Could I also changed one of the cool tubes for a warm white and use both a warm and cool tube at the same time whilst growing the male and female???

Again many thanks to all