Lights for growing tomato plants indoors

[kurt]

Originally Posted by KarenO

Set your shelf up in front of the biggest south facing window you can and then supplement the window light for 16 hours a day with plugin t12 fixtures. Works for me. Expensive lights are for growing things other than tomatoes in blacked out rooms and closets IMO.
KarenO

For just getting a jump start for seedlings and keeping them alive till the plant goes in hole in springwould be the lessor of the complete cost of a full seed/clone growout,harvest regime.You will be talking mega ducats($$$$)1000-2000 grand for a nice setup.

[PureHarvest]

Let's get back down to the question at hand.
Can you grow two dwarfs to full fruiting indoors (if I remember the op correctly).
Starting seedlings, getting a plant to flower etc is one thing.
Harvesting fruit (plural) that are close to the genetic full sizedness requires light intensity.
You either need tube fixtures along the sides of the plants vertically and one over top horizontally, or one big HPS or MH overhead.
I'd rather just buy one big one for over head and be done than have to buy 3 fixtures per plant plus tubes and engineer hanging/standing then up.
As far as heat, my 430 hps never heats up the room. It is not a closet, but in a basement. I do not even use a fan. The heat just dissipates into the rest of the basement. I'd say the ambient temp down there is 65.
As far as cost to run, I don't see it show up on my bill during the months it's on versus off.
Then again, I also only own one tv which is rarely on, don't leave computer and lights on, and keep the ac at 77 in summer.

[dmforcier]

Originally Posted by FarmerShawn

Question, for those using fluorescent bulbs. Do you use them until they die, or do you replace them periodically? That is, do they produce the same quality of light for their entire life, or do they degrade over time?

Yes, fluorescent tube will degrade over time. They will accumulate dark deposits near the ends as they start to go. But I've used this fixture for two seasons now and the tubes look brand new.

IIRC, the determinate of incandescent lamp life is total burn time. The determinate of fluorescent tube life is the number of start cycles. One cycle per day is pretty light "wear".

[KarenD]

I ended up purchasing a Lithonia Lighting 1284 grd re T8, 4 foot fixture from Home Depot.
Wish I knew how to send a link, but that's a lesson for another day.
It has an outlet in it so it can be linked to another fixture in the future. I also purchased daylight deluxe 6500k tubes. I am hanging the fixture horizontally above the tomato plants.
Now my question is how close should the lights be to the top of the plants?
Thank you all so much for all the great information. I'm learning a lot here on Tomatoville everyday!!!

[dmforcier]

As close as possible without touching. Give yourself an inch or more since (one presumes) they're still growing.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by KarenD

I ended up purchasing a Lithonia Lighting 1284 grd re T8, 4 foot fixture from Home Depot.
Wish I knew how to send a link, but that's a lesson for another day.
It has an outlet in it so it can be linked to another fixture in the future. I also purchased daylight deluxe 6500k tubes. I am hanging the fixture horizontally above the tomato plants.
Now my question is how close should the lights be to the top of the plants?
Thank you all so much for all the great information. I'm learning a lot here on Tomatoville everyday!!!

That is the fixture brand/type and tubes that I have, purchased from HD couple of years ago. I am getting ready to set up as my seeds are about to germinate any day now.
How close ? I never measure but just eyeball it. I would say 1 to 2 inches.. The fixture gets a little warmer on the ballast side .Otherwise it run real cool. And in a room at 65F it won't build up heat anyway. Especially if you run a small oscillating fan.

[Black Krim]

Originally Posted by schill93

These are the 6500 K light bulbs (tubes) that I buy for mine (except I buy them in the 12 pack.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/SYLVANIA-2-...-94-in/3203535

This is the two light fixture they carry that I use:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-L...-13-in/4013485

I would prefer the 4 light fixture, but metal hood is in a dull grey color (dumb).

If you mix your light bulbs, you would use one 6500 K and then a warm one which promotes flowering. However, as I mentioned I get flowers with just my 6500 K bulbs.

How do I know the bulb is "warm"? What is the labeling?? Im serious, not trying to be a pain. The labeling on the bulbs I have looked at do not say "warm".

ANd to OP, definitely a fan!!! I have less damping off problems and less visible mold....I assume the mold spores are there as small patches will develop if the fan is not effective. ie not on enough hours a day.

[schill93]

Originally Posted by Black Krim

How do I know the bulb is "warm"? What is the labeling?? Im serious, not trying to be a pain. The labeling on the bulbs I have looked at do not say "warm".

ANd to OP, definitely a fan!!! I have less damping off problems and less visible mold....I assume the mold spores are there as small patches will develop if the fan is not effective. ie not on enough hours a day.

A 2700 K warm light like this will work. I don't see any smaller packs listed online at Lowes, and they don't need to be dimable but it won't hurt. Usually anything between 2700K and 3000 K will work fine. Just make sure it says "warm". It will produce more of a yellow light as opposed to the bright white light of the 6500 K.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/SYLVANIA-30...-78-in/4686435

or this one: https://www.lowes.com/pd/SYLVANIA-30...-78-in/4564472

Look at Home Depot to see if they sell them in smaller quantities.

[dmforcier]

Originally Posted by Black Krim

How do I know the bulb is "warm"? What is the labeling?? Im serious, not trying to be a pain. The labeling on the bulbs I have looked at do not say "warm".

It's being used in two ways here. First is the actual temperature of the surface of the tube. T8s in direct contact will do things to your seedling leaves that you don't want to see. (T5s are worse.)

Second is the terminology of color at the product level, e.g. on the display. "Warm" means, when compared to "cool" or "daylight", that the light color is more yellow orange red.

Now, this is completely the opposite from the temperature description of color on the label. 6500K refers to a spectrum of something glowing at that temperature, Kelvin. Lots of blue compared to 4400K, which is the spectrum of something glowing at 4400° Kelvin - considerably redder. But 4400K is considerably cooler than 6700K, not warmer. Huh?

Welcome to the wonderful world of lighting.

[Black Krim]

Im still unclear about the labeling on the tube. My question remains, what is the labeling on the packageor bulb to know it is "warm"? Plugging in the lite while at the store is not an option, so if I look at the bulb only, what info is printed on it?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Black Krim

Im still unclear about the labeling on the tube. My question remains, what is the labeling on the packageor bulb to know it is "warm"? Plugging in the lite while at the store is not an option, so if I look at the bulb only, what info is printed on it?

Do you mean warm as in light spectrum or heat given off by the lamp?
You could do a lot worse than just using the 65's and be done with it.
Trust me and many other people on this.
Even then you have tubes mix them but you need that blue spectrum in the 65 range for growth.

[PureHarvest]

Plenty of indoor pot growers get top vegetative growth with red spectrum lights and get tons of flowering with blue spectrum lights. It the intensity that matters...

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

Plenty of indoor pot growers get top vegetative growth with red spectrum lights and get tons of flowering with blue spectrum lights. It the intensity that matters...

I like the bright daylight because the plants look better.

Worth

[PureHarvest]

"Plants will grow under monochromatic red light. Plants grow faster with a little blue light (with the same total light power). Plants grow slower under monochromatic blue light because the same power produces fewer photons. Approximately 25% of the power in blue light appears to be best, but probably varies for different circumstances and plants."

"Warm white bulbs emit most of their light in the red part of the spectrum with only a small amount of green and blue light. Standard cool white (4100K) bulbs emit more blue light, but still more red than blue. "Daylight" 6500K bulbs emit roughly equal amounts blue and red light power, which still means about twice as many red photons as blue photons. So any of these tubes emit a lot of red light and some blue light, the difference is in the details."

"The new generation of T5 fluorescent tubes is extremely efficient and compact, both desirable features for a grow light system. They are as efficient as some metal halide bulbs. Unfortunately they are mostly being sold as premium items with a premium price tag and often with expensive custom fixtures. For the same money, a good HID setup (metal halide or high pressure sodium) would be better and for less money you can get the same light from standard fluorescents."

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I like the bright daylight because the plants look better.

Worth

Mine are 6500k "Daylight Deluxe". which is more towards the blue side of the spectrum. As I understand, this range of spectrum promote more root development and less flowering. (vegetative stage )

I have been using them for 3 seasons and I am quite satisfied with the results.