Starting Seeds With Grow Lights

[BobEwell]

Hello anyone out there who wants to help me,

I was wondering what type of fluorescent bulb that's good for growing tomatoes indoors. I have a desk lamp that has an incandescent bulb, but i know you should use only fluorescent light bulbs.

Thanks,

Bob


P.S. I know it may be a little too early in the season to start growing indoors but i was just wondering.

[fortyonenorth]

I use a 2-tube fluorescent fixture with one warm white and one cool white bulb for raising transplants. If you're looking to grow tomatoes beyond that, you'll need to look at a HID or other high-output fixture. I'm sure you'll get feedback from others, but I know Worm's Way carries a full line of lighting and other accessories. You might want to peruse their website.

[franzb69]

I use 2 48inch floros that are 6500k. I only start them there then it's on to the windowsill. =D

[BobEwell]

oh yea the windowsill good idea

[HoosierDaddy]

I use 48" long T-8 fluoresent lights, 5000K light temp (or is it called bulb temp?). I hang the lamps side by side with little to no space between light fixtures. 14 hours of lighting per day.

[feldon30]

http://www.settfest.com/2010/06/starting-from-seed/

It's on the comprehensive side...

[Barbee]

I use some old flourescent fixtures we had in the barn to start mine. They are 4 bulbers and I use 2 fancy grow bulbs (pink) and 2 regular old bulbs (white) in each fixture..alternating the fancy bulbs and the plain ones.

I change all my bulbs each year. Some say that's overkill, but I can really tell a difference in my plants if I try to reuse the bulbs.

[TZ-OH6]

The 6500K daylight tubes put out more blue light for growth. As color temperature goes down, (5000K, 4000K) more yellow, less blue light is produced. Fluorescents put out mostly green light (especially cheap cool whites) because that is what the human eye is most sensitive to. The pinkish plant lights have boosted red (for flowering) and blue, so for the price, are wasted on seedlings IMO.


If you can't find the 6500K tubes the more common 5000K tubes work well. Ignor the word "Daylight" and look for the color temperature number printed on the end of the tube or on the box. Although they work, the old combo of one cool white one warm white economy tubes are a waste of energy putting out light the plant can't see.


The 48 inch fixtures are cheaper in the long run because they are mass produced in higher numbers than others. They are also better because the shorter fixtures (24") etc don't put out enough light. Surrounding the area right next to the seedlings with reflective material (foil or white) really boosts the light as well.


Some additional info

K stands for degrees Kelvin (the absolute temperature scale) and refers to the temperature of a of glowing material (the tungsten of a an incandescent filament might be the standard). White hot (more high energy blue wavelengths) is a higher temperature than red hot.

To confuse things, "warm" and "cool" descriptors are just the opposite. Warm white tubes have more warm cozy feeling yellow light, and cool whites have brighter white light (more green and blue).

Because fluorescents rely on phosphors that glow at specific wavelengths when UV light hits them (there is no hot filament), color temperature for fluorscents is an approximate comparison to a full spectrum, whereas "daylight" is an advertizing word and refers to what the light looks like to the human eye (a "daylight" bulb will make your kitchen look like it is lit by window light rather than a sickly green industrial cool white tube).

I once bought a "Daylight" tube that was 6500K "arctic white" (talk about hot and cold!). It was a stark white light, much less cozy feeling than the Daylight 5000K I was trying to replace. At the time I didn't know that there could be a difference in "Daylight" tubes and I didn't look at the color temp until later.

[feldon30]

Thanks for that TZ-OH6. I'd rather have correct information backed up by science, then the same info that gets repeated forever. I will look at updating my article.

[OneoftheEarls]

Here is a system I built and I grew literally hundreds in these last winter...I thought I could link photos, this link takes you to a thread with instructions, photos and what I used...but you have to join the site...this is actually my site. IF I have time later I can hot link photos as they are in a storage with url link up.
http://seeds.★★★★★★★★★★.org/new-indo...stand-t42.html