LED fixture recommendation

[Billm302]

I am in the process of restructuring my seed starting fixtures. I currently use T5 HO 48” fixtures for all shelves. I need to set up a new area for my larger seedlings, mainly tomatoes in 4” pots.

I want to start changing over to LED lights. The areas I have identified are 2’ x 4’ shelves. I could mount the new fixture(s) up to 48” above the next lower SHELF.

I have read the threads about LED lights but am more confused than enlightened. My first crack at a plan is to convert 4’ Fluor fixtures to use LED bulbs. But then I thought I should look into other LED fixtures since I have to purchase new fixtures either way.

So what I am looking for is specific fixture/bulb recommendations for how to best cover areas configured 2’ x 4’.

Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts.

[Milan HP]

I'd say that LED grow tubes may be the answer. I can't recommend a specific product as there are quite a few. I'd go for those with inbuilt UV LEDs and full spectrum.

Milan HP

[ClarkB]

I'm certainly no authority on the subject, but I can at least share my experience. I started my seeds a bit too early in 2020 and had about 50 tomato plants and a handful of peppers in my living room with a little sunlight and a single 150W Mars Hydro TS1000 grow light (3'x3' recommended coverage) to support them. Most of the tomatoes were in 0.7 gallon pots and were 12"-24" tall with a couple taller cherries in early May when we still had snow coming down here in upstate NY (photo is on May 8). I had the pots all on plastic bin tops and rotated 4 groups of plants on 4 hour intervals during the day giving each one the prime spot for one interval and peripheral light for the other three. I then moved the light over a 5th group for the 8 hour overnight period. There were a couple varieties that didn't thrive, but most did quite well and grew into huge, healthy plants in the garden. I had ripe cherries on 6 varieties before 7/1 after planting out around 5/18. Thinking I'll pony up for a couple more this year to avoid the shuffling. I'm sure there are other similar lights that will give similar or better growth, but I was quite happy with the results under these conditions.

[Greatgardens]

I've had poor results from LED tubes that are replacements for 4ft. fluorescent bulbs. I have had very good success with 1 T8 Daylight + 1 T8 Growlux bulb. I've also had good luck with these:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The one thing I'd add is that I don't like the 2ft lengths for my setup. I need 4ft, and joining them does not work out very well, since the joint is not rigid. I use two of these joined along with a T8 daylight bulb. I don't try to grow plants beyond 8-10 weeks, so I have no experience with trying to get fruit from them.

[snagged]

I recently got one of the new XS series lights from Viparspectra (to replace my CFL bulb setup). Have just been testing it so far, but am pleased with it. They seemed to have the best bang for the buck among LED lights right now. You can also find promo codes in YouTube video reviews. Their website has maps showing coverage area for their different light options.

[SQWIBB]

for your setup I would start out with some 6500 k LED bulbs, fairly easy to mod a shop light, and I will explain why at the end.


I started with Fluorescents, then 6000k leds then went to some Roleadros then Viaprspectra 450's then Viparspectra 700's to be honest the Led tubes were just as good and had good coverage.
I ended up with the 3 Viparspectra 700's only because they were for an indoor grow tent and I didn't want to get rid of them so I installed them on my Seed Starting Bench.




2016

• 4 Fluorescent tube shop light modified with 4 additional Led Tubes.

• I also added some ribbon led's 4 ribbons.

• This is before I replaced the Fluors with Led's

2018

• Then I went to some Roleadros.

2019

• 2 Viparspectra 450's

2020

• Two Viparspectra 700's

2021

• And just yesterday installed another Viparspectra 700 positioning them differently. It seems like overkill but the coverage is much better and since there are three dimmer switches on each 700, I can dial back the intensity of each color, (3 channel spectral control), Red White Blue and also adjust the 700's up or down.

• I also have an overflow area that has a Modded four 6500k Led fixture. this is an adjustable shelf on ratchet straps.

My point is, everything I have done from Fluorescent to Led Tubes to Led Grow lights has worked. I like to tweak as you can see by this post. The only drawback about using Tube Led's on a one shelf setup like mine is that you may have to adjust the height of the plants as some may grow quicker than others this is why I like the 3 separate led grow lights as they can be adjusted independently by moving up and down and dimming each grow light.


Again this is for a one shelf setup, you have multiple shelves and I would look into cheap 4 fixture shop-lights or 2 bulb shop light fixtures for each shelf and some LED bulbs and mod them yourself.
You could do three shelves for what it cost me for one Viparspectra 700.


I think I have a post somewhere here on how to mod the shop lights to led's


Found it
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=SQWIBB

[Milan HP]

Hello SQWIBB,
this is amazing. You've solved the coverage excellently. It's the key problem. It must have cost you a fortune though. I wonder if the Viparspectras also have UV LEDs built in. I am almost sure they do.

Do you grow tomatoes for fruit under them, that is apart from the plants visible in your photos? That's what I have been doing for 3 years, but my means are terribly primitive compared to yours. I just have a cable/wire system of fluors, LED bulbs and LED grow bulbs. It only has one advantage: it's easily adjustable as the plants grow unevenly. And I have them on window sills, so they also get some daylight. Not really much this winter.
Milan HP

[SQWIBB]

They do have IR built in.









My main issue was when I stared my seedlings for the outdoor garden, they were immediately ravaged by aphids. I was washing the seedlings every other day, never again.











Plus I had a mice problem because of the indoor grow, they really loved the Bok Choy.













I did learn a few things and thought this was interesting.

[Milan HP]

Hello,
you really have a green thumb. That's impressive. I had to look up Bok Choy and that's one thing that I'll never grow. And the same applies to Nappa Cabbage as it was just food for earwigs and they didn't leave anything for me last year.
Actually, there aren't any UV LEDs. Not even NUV - Near Ultra Violet (400 nm). I was asking because I believe for growing seedlings UV is helpful as the plants don't get badly sunscalded when they finally go out. That's why I still use fluors despite their much lower efficiency. It's visible that Viparspectra works well though. Do you shade the seedlings when you transplant them in your garden?
And aphids? Even my home is infested with them. Strangely enough, they don't like my tomatoes.
Milan HP

[SQWIBB]

I harden off for a week or two by placing under the deck. I get an evening sun and this "lazy" way has worked out for me the last 4 years or so.


I'm not really sold on the UV yet, but I am still researching it.


I started looking into the UV lights, (UVA AND UVB) I already have the UVA and UVB bulbs for the the turtle tank, but want to see if I can incorporate them into the grow table as led's.


What do you think about these? 395nm - 410nm
https://www.homedepot.com/p/UV-LED-2...L240/309569447

[biscuitridge]

Could you use something like these? I have the individual ones on my light set-up.

[Milan HP]

What do you think about these? 395nm - 410nm
https://www.homedepot.com/p/UV-LED-2...L240/309569447

I've been denied access. I don't really understand why.I think the best UV LED should have at least UVa and a little UVb.

Milan HP

[Shapshftr]

Originally Posted by SQWIBB

I harden off for a week or two by placing under the deck. I get an evening sun and this "lazy" way has worked out for me the last 4 years or so.


I'm not really sold on the UV yet, but I am still researching it.


I started looking into the UV lights, (UVA AND UVB) I already have the UVA and UVB bulbs for the the turtle tank, but want to see if I can incorporate them into the grow table as led's.


What do you think about these? 395nm - 410nm
https://www.homedepot.com/p/UV-LED-2...L240/309569447

I've been researching UV-A and B also. I watched a video of a guy who did a comparison of a few different ones and his suggestion for the best one of that group was this one:

https://www.amazon.com/AgroMax-Foot-...EVC05E2702FH9F

And everyone says the UV's will burn up your plants, so you have to put them on a timer and only give them about 15 minutes, twice a day. Read the Amazon reviewers comments on that. Also it has to have a good metallic reflector, so I ordered this fixture for it:

https://www.amazon.com/GrowBright-Hi...2E79BHFYJD6PE1

Also note that LED's are directional, they send out a narrow focused radiation. So if you have one LED strip, your light coverage will not spread out sideways, it will shine straight down in a narrow band. In order to get good canopy coverage, you must have several of them side by side.

I've been following Dr Bruce Bugbee who is a scientist that has done research on lighting for NASA. He has many youtube videos you can watch. Here's a general discussion of his, with the guy that did the comparison of the UV Tubes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1O3OD-dI20

[Shapshftr]

It looks like those Viparspectras already have UV and Infrared, so you probably don't need to add more of either. Too much would be harmful rather than beneficial.

[NathanP]

The key if you are using LED tubes or bulbs that are replacements for old Flourescent tubes is that you need to get ones in the right color spectra. Either 5000k or 6500k bulbs, or a mix of both.


I've been using these maxlite 5000k shop lights for several years with great results. For a budget friendly option, you can't beat the price. There are also deals for these lights often at local hardware stores, often as low as $10-$15 per unit.

You can pack three of these above a 2' x 4' shelving unit, and get over 12900 lumens for 8 ft2, or 1600 lumens per ft2. At 32watts each, that is 96 watts for 3 per 2x4 shelf. Or 102.38 lumens per watt.

https://www.amazon.com/MaxLite-Linka...s%2C211&sr=8-5