Anybody out there use grow-lamps?

 
Hi everybody


I'm new to these forums but I've been lurking for a while and they look
really informative. I live in the Cairngorm Mountains, in Aberdeenshire,
in Scotland, so the gardening conditions can be challenging, to say the
least


Because light levels here aren't great in the spring, I've always
started my seedlings off under grow-lamps. Does anybody have any
experience of the new LED grow-lamps, or do most people use the usual
high-intensity bulbs or fluorescent lights?


Any advice or opinions will be gratefully received!




--
northwards

 
I have no experience with the new LED lamps. However,

I use low 15W T-5 grow lights, just two feet long, cost $15 per light. I
have eight lights. I have one 72 cell or two 48 cell trays for each light.
Seems to work very well. However, I have not tried other higher powered
lights. I also have southern facing windows. I have notice my plants grow
better with the lamps over the windows alone. In spring I only get about 10
hours max of sunshine though the windows. Many days in the spring it is
very cloudy restricting the sunshine even more. So far I see no need for
the high powered lights. I just put the lights closer to the plants. I use
a small chains with small hooks to manually raise and lower the lights.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R  (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

 northwards wrote:

I use F32T8 fluorescent 2-lamp fixtures, just a few inches above my
seedlings.  They work great until the little plants outgrow them.
I'll start my first peppers in about a month, and tomatoes about April 1.

For big plants, I currently have a 400W HPS security floodlight in my
basement on a timer for about 12 hours a day.  The plants do OK, but
it looks ugly and uses a lot of juice.  I'm about to replace it with a
4-lamp F54T5HO fixture that I can hang from the ceiling and adjust the
height.
<http://relightdepot.com/fixtures/high-bay-fixtures/t5ho-high-bay/4-lamp-t5ho-full-body-high-bay-enhanced-reflector.html>

We're approaching the season when red spider mites appear out of
nowhere and kill half my big plants.  Got my fingers crossed...

-Bob

 

I have two 400W HID lamps, one high pressure sodium and one metal
halide.  In the fall I bring my non-hardy potted plants indoors and
place the flowering plants under the hps (more red wavelength light) and
the vegetative ones under the mh (bluer light).  I also have a board
with 4 twin 40W fluorescent fixtures bolted to it which I use for
starting seedlings.  High output fluorescents with horticultural tubes
are excellent, but hid lamps are far easier to manipulate, take up less
space and are, I believe, more electrically efficient.

 
Leaves cannot harm your vegetables in any way though it is very
important about what kind of leaves you are talking about. Walnut, for
example is toxic both to the soil and plants. I have a mature walnut
tree nearby my garden and I'm seriously considering about relocating the
garden because nothings seems to grow anymore near the walnut tree.




--
pascale