Grow Lites for Winter

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:10 pm

Is there such a thing as a compact fluorescent grow light?
I need to put a grow lite in the house for palms.

What type of bulb works best for you?

Barb

PALMETTOMAN · Post by **PALMETTOMAN** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:37 pm

Barb...

I use a spot grow light that is 150watt...Spotgro is the name...Philipps makes them and they are at Lowes or H/Depot..I use it in my garage greenhouse and regular greenhouse...

You'll need to keep it a foot or 2 from your plants..

I find my rosemary bush and oleander really dig it...

PalmettomanZ6-Ajax, On

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:12 pm

Great, thanks for the tip, palmettoman.
Barb

oppalm · Post by **oppalm** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:30 am

Barb - you can spend alot of money on a specific grow or plant bulb. 99% of my palms spend winter inside and I use regular old floodlights on palm trees in an upstairs bed room and the palms are perfectly happy. The first year I overwintered stuff I spent hundreds of dollars on grow bulbs, and switched to regular flood lights after reading some information. Experiment and see what works best for you.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:39 am

Thanks Wes, just thought with the myriad new bulbs available, there'd be a low-energy version produced for "energy conservation" folks.

I asked our electrical utility. Here's the customer rep's reply:

Re: Lighting for plants
Thank you for contacting BC Hydro regarding where to purchase a low-energy plant grow light bulb. Unfortunately we are unable to recommend any particular products. With regards to specialist lighting I would advise to check with your local specialist garden stores or electrical stores to find out what low-energy options are available. An internet search or a look in your local Yellow Pages will produce a number of sources and should provide a number of options in your local area, plus some further information regarding what to look for in relation to grow lights.

My point is: you think THEY'D know!

Barb

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:05 am

Barb,

I just string up some CFL bulbs for the winter, flourescents seem a lot cheaper to use than anything else.

Here is some info on CFL bulbs,

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/pr ... k7016.html

Here is some of the fixtures with higher output bulbs,

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/Pr ... ctId=65561

Steve

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:23 am

Thanks for those links.

So full spectrum compact fluorescent grow lights do exist!

I'll let the hydro folks know too

Barb

patrick620 · Post by **patrick620** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:22 pm

Hi, Barb. I use 30 watt full spectrum(daylight) CFL's along with a 175 watt 5900 Kelvin mercury vapor. I also have a 400 watt metal halide but it's a bit more of a light than what I need right now. From my research I decided a long time ago that it's just a waste of money to buy lights sold as "plant lights". The color (temperature in degrees Kelvin) of full spectrum(daylight) cfl's is just fine for what plants require to activate photosynthesis. Warm white and cool white 4 foot fluorescent bulbs together in the same fixture will also provide a good overall spectrum of light. I could go on and on with a lot of boring technical information but the short of it is that regular full spectrum(daylight) CFL's will be great. Plus, with fluorescents, you can put them much closer to the plants without the heat scorching them.

Patrick

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 9:23 pm

With all the new CFLs available, it was getting confusing.
And store employees aren't any help.

The 30 w full spectrum daylight CFLs are as hard to find as hen's teeth.

At 30 watts they'd certainly be cheaper than all the incandescents.

The area doesn't allow for a 4-foot fluorescent fixture, so I'll rely on one 30w CFL bulb in a regular fixture.

Thanks for the explanation Patrick.
Barb

patrick620 · Post by **patrick620** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:36 am

Hi, Barb. I'm not sure how you feel about ebay but I just found several listings by searching "daylight cfl" (more listings) and a few more listings under "full spectrum cfl". The one that stood out to me was http://cgi.ebay.com/2Pk-100-watt-eq-GE- ... 240%3A1318
Pretty much anything with a Kelvin over 5000K is going to be ok. I hope this helps.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:10 pm

Patrick, this is so weird.
I've looked and looked and NO SUCH product is sold here.

I've printed out the eBay link specs you provided...and I'm going to hit the box and specialty lighting stores tomorrow, and raise a little hell.

I darn well knew there'd be something like this available.
But why not in 30 stores in the Okanagan?
Something's screwy.

Thanks so much for that.
As soon as (if) I find any, I'm buying 4 packages!

Barb

patrick620 · Post by **patrick620** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:42 pm

I dont know if you have Wal-Mart up there but I think thats where I got mine. Lowe's or Home Depot probably has them, too.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:34 am

While I'm searching for 30w full spectrum CFLs, an old dresser mirror reflects daylight onto plants on an overcast day.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/306 ... 884bdd.jpg

The dust is protection against bright sunshine

Yet more proof we should never get rid of old stuff.

Barb

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:44 pm

Found it!

It's a Philips 23watt compact fluorescent bulb that fits my regular ceiling fixture in the front hall.
It says on the pack:
Incandescent soft white bulb, daylight, 1620 lumens 23 watt (comparable to 100 watts regular).
The literature posted on the wall explained it's 6500 Kelvin.

The light is AMAZING!
It actually does look like true daylight, bright and white, versus all the regular house lights that're yellowish.
Used the second one near a chair for reading.
Might throw my glasses away

Got it in a two-pack at Home Depot.

Thanks for the tips, folks.
Barb
PS--we'll see how the plants like it.