Review: LED lights

 

So this year I had a some extra cash, and the metal halide light
I had been using for lo, these many years was due for a new bulb.
The time was ripe for a radical change.

I'd always been unhappy with the amount of power this used and
the dangerously enormous amount of waste heat it created.  Due
to all the heat, my tomato plants generally grew too tall too fast
and all the plants were always prone to wilting and water stress.  

My plant set up is a three-sided 'light box' lined with mylar and
draped with a  half-length mylar sheet on the open end.  I use
an oscillating fan blowing in on the plants (and had another on
top of the light trying to keep it cool).  I typically grow up to
40 plants in re-used 32-ounce yogurt tubs (arranged in staggered
rows for maximum density).

This year I decided to go high-tech, and did a bit of research and
some fairly serious spending.

My set up this year used two LED light fixtures.  The main light
source was a LightBlaze 400 LED grow light roughly centered
in my light box.  Behind it I hung a second LED light fixture,
a GlowPanel 45.

I still used the oscillating fan blowing into the box, but as
everthing was running so much cooler, I laid another sheet
of mylar across most of the front of the box.

I'd have to say the whole thing was a sucess.  My tomato plants
are much shorter and more robust looking, as are the peppers
and eggplants.  

It was strange how black the plants look under the LED lights,
but that is a sign that most of the light was actually being
absorbed by the leaves and very little was being reflected, which
is a good thing.

The weirdest thing to get used to was how odd *the rest of the
world* looked after fussing over the plants a bit; everything took
on a distinctly green after-glow.

The LightBlaze 400 puts out more light than the GlowPanel 45.
and is easier to hang and adjust, but I think if you put together
several GlowPanel 45 grow lights you could get the same results.

LightBlaze 400:
http://www.superled.net/ledgrowlights.html

Sunshine Systems GlowPanel 45:
Available from Amazon.com and other sources.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI
    
"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..."     --Largo Potter, Valkyria  Chronicles
 
email valid but not regularly monitored
  

 

wrote:


Very interesting.  I will keep it in mind.

This year I got a late start on my tomatoes.  I started the bulk of
mine on 3/15 and a few more late arriving seeds on 3/27.  I started
the first ones in the house with grow lights and the second ones in
the greenhouse.  The first ones got leggy very fast and I moved them
to the greenhouse as soon as most of them germinated.  They all went
outside as soon as it was warm enough.  I set out the first block on
5/10 and the second one yesterday.  The ones that I started in the
greenhouse look much better.  Think I will bite the bullet and heat
the greenhouse next year and keep all of the tomatoes in it and not
try to start too early.  Maybe slower germination but better looking
plants later.

I am betting that the later starting plants will be more successful
that the others.  I remember reading somewhere that a healthy plant
resists insects better.  I am guessing they also resist diseases
better.

--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a

 

The Cook said:


Oh, yes, I agree that it doesn't pay to start too soon.  Better to wait,
and have plants that are smaller but unstressed and never checked
in their growth.  Which is one reason I'm happy with the LED lights,
as the plants avoid all the heat stress from the metal-halide lamp that  
I used to use.  

I started my plants on April 9 in Jiffy-9 peat pellets, transplanted
them into the 32-oz yogurt tubs on April 25 and took the tomato
plants outside for the first time on May 19, when our weather
finally broke mild again.  After a few days of hardening off they
may get transplanted out.  (Each year this depends on the way
the weather trends at the end of May.)

The peppers and eggplants won't be going out quite yet but they
can use the extra room under the lights now that the tomatoes are
outdoors.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI
    
"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..."     --Largo Potter, Valkyria  Chronicles
 
email valid but not regularly monitored
  

 

In article


Then there is T5HO florescent lighting, which I used this year, and am
very happy with.
4 Light T5 High Output Fluorescent High Bay Fixture
<http://www.prolighting.com/4lat5flhibay.html>
Features:

(4) 54W T5 High Output Lamps
5-Year Ballast Warranty

Specs:

20,000 Lumen Output
83 Lumens per Watt
95% Lumen Maintenance
20,000 - 30,000 Hour Lamp Life
98.7% Fixture Efficiency
239 Input Watts
120-277V 50/60Hz Programmed Start Ballast
-20? F(-29? C) Min. Start Temp

This for $119 vs $627 (LightBlaze 400 LED Grow Light)

<(Amazon.com product link shortened)
_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid74457331&sr=8-1>
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 

In article


 I went with this Jump start system this year.  Works!

(Amazon.com product link shortened)
ef=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=garden&qid74461880&sr=1-2

--
Bill  S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
     What use one more wake up call?