grow light bulbs

[buckhunter]

do 48" grow light florescent tubes go bad after a few years . My peppers are getting yellow under them but my tomatoes are under regular florescent tubes are doing fine .

I had the same problem last year but never had this problem in many years prior to that .

the florescent tube grow lights seem to be much dimmer than regular bulbs and have a greenish light .

should I get new tubes ?

[Gardeneer]

Yes, like everything else they have a life span. That depends on the number of hours used.
I have had mine just for growing seedlings for 4 seasons ( 2 months/season) and they are good as new.

[slugworth]

the color depends on the K rating.
Check the ends of the bulbs for black marks where the filaments are.
If they are too black, time for new bulbs.

[dmforcier]

Don't buy "grow lights". They inevitably cost about double what they should. Just get the cheapest tube with color temperature from around 5600°K to 6500°K - the blue end of the range. These provide higher energy than the red, warm end of the range.

[jtjmartin]

Will lower light cause seedlings to yellow? Or is it something else?

My seedlings seem to just get leggy and light green if there is not enough light.

[rhines81]

This does not sound a light problem to me; more like your plants are getting root bound, which seems to make peppers get yellow leaves. If you aren't going to pot them up soon, give them some extra water with 1/2 dose of fertilizer to perk them back up.

[Worth1]

I dont want to insult anyone that has (((grow))) lights but they are a total scam.
Companies take something and put another name on it or use and jack the price up big time.
Take Zippo lighter fluid for example.
It is naphtha the same stuff in the paint section used as a drier for oil based paint for one heck of a lot less money.
I could go on forever with products like this.
If you plants are leggy they are not getting the amount of light they need AKA wattage per square foot.
This should be no less than 50 100 is optimal.
This energy falls off fast the farther away the source of the light is.
In other words the higher the wattage the farther away the lights can be.
With around 50 the light has to be right on top of them practically touching.
This is the draw back of tube lights they have a very narrow range of wattage.
The only real way to jump up is T 5 tubes, this way you can add more tube for a given amount of space/square feet.
Bright daylight is the way to go 65 K.
Sometimes these will be listed as for active spaces.


Worth

[buckhunter]

will LED lights work

[Worth1]

I think the high wattage bright daylight would up in the 100 watt ((equivalent)) range.

These lights made for people have an added green LED along with red and blue to make what we see as white light.
The (grow) LED lights do not have the green led just red and blue.
So on large scale you will get about 1/3 energy cost savings without that added LED.
If you want to see what kind of color spectrum a light puts out do it at night with no other lights on and let it reflect off of a CD.
I need to buy a prism for this but have not yet.

[daylilydude]

I made my own "grow light" out of leftover pvc pipe from my little grow/green house...



I had noticed then that it wasn't enough light to cover them the way I wanted so I just added to this one and made a 2 system light...



I'm glad I found this thread so I can ask about the bulbs I have for these, they are T8 bulbs 1"bulbs that use 32 watts and it says it uses more towards the warm tone 4100K , and they worked alright for me but should I have gotten something else?? I will tell you that the reason I bought them is because i'm cheap they are only 10 bucks with some change, they come with the lil chains, hooks and already wired with the plug, all you have to buy are the bulbs...anyhow should I have gotten other bulbs? Oh just to show the lil grow/green house I made for around $125.00...

[PaulF]

The 'leggy' part makes me think the light bulbs are not close enough to the plant tops. I keep the light bulb about an inch from the plant.

The yellow part is a question. I have used fluorescent bulbs for up to five years with no noticeable problem. I do replace bulbs every time they have the black ends just to be certain. My fixtures are the really old and outdated shop lights with T-12 bulbs. My next replacement fixtures will most likely be LED fluorescent style tubes.

[Worth1]

Richard here is the deal on lights and light spectrum in my opinion.
A T12 light is 12/8ths a T8 is 8/8ths and a T5 is 5/8ths in diameter.
That is how they get that number if anyone was wanting to know.
The bright daylight is the color spectrum of the noon day sun so to me it is a no brainer to use that spectrum.
This whole deal about blooming and red light is hog wash and a way to sell more stuff people dont need.
It isn't even so with the weed growers it is night or dark hours that makes weed bloom.
If the dark time is interrupted in the night it resets the time again and they wont bloom.
This is how they force poinsettias to bloom.
Tomato plants are happy at 16 hours of daylight no matter what even if interrupted.
They are not photo sensitive.

Worth

[slugworth]

I use a mix of lights;5000k and 6500k plus aquarium lights from goodwill when I can find them.
I really should get a prism to test lights I buy used that are unmarked, K wise.

[dmforcier]

Originally Posted by daylilydude

I'm glad I found this thread so I can ask about the bulbs I have for these, they are T8 bulbs 1"bulbs that use 32 watts and it says it uses more towards the warm tone 4100K , and they worked alright for me but should I have gotten something else?? I will tell you that the reason I bought them is because i'm cheap they are only 10 bucks with some change, they come with the lil chains, hooks and already wired with the plug, all you have to buy are the bulbs...anyhow should I have gotten other bulbs?

Here's thing about fluorescent tubes - they radiate quite a wide spectrum. The bluer ones just radiate more blue. If you have 4100°K tubes and they're working for you, then keep using them. Not worth the $$ to replace.

will LED lights work

WAY too big a question. Some will, some won't. If you mean "LED replacement" lights that are designed to replace incandescents, halogens, fluorescents, then they are designed to radiate the same spectrums - something close to daylight. Yes those will work. I was at Lowes yesterday and saw a LED panel like a flat 4' shop light. Nice white color, excellent intensity. No price marked. I'd use it if it was reasonably priced.

OTOH, LEDs let you customize, and for greatest efficiency that's the way to go. How dedicated do you want to be? The plants may love purple light - but I don't.

[slugworth]

light chart