Re: Grow lights - Best results!
- To:
- Subject: Re: Grow lights - Best results!
- From: T*
- Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 08:12:48 -0400
You sure all you grow indoors is pumpkins? heheheheh, just joking. Your
techniques are good but if you can afford it get at least a 400W High
pressure sodium (red spectrum) for fruit growth and metal halide (blue
spectrum) for green or vine growth. You can also substitute Co2 to the
plants by mixing vinager and baking soda, I use a drip system to release it
over time. You will see a huge difference.
Warning! these lamps are much stronger and hotter than flourescents so they
must be kept at least 12 inches from your plants. They should be used with
reflectors mounted horizontally for best results. The light cycle should be
timed to when you will move the plants outdoors, or it wiill stunt the
plants growth if not done right.
Troy
-----Original Message-----
From: SteveS012@aol.com <SteveS012@aol.com>
To: pumpkins@mallorn.com <pumpkins@mallorn.com>
Date: Friday, April 16, 1999 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: Grow lights - Best results!
>O.K., I've done a lot of research on this. First of all you should NEVER
use
>incandescent bulbs! You can use just 2 COOL WHITE flourescent tubes (40W),
>which will provide the bluer end of the wavelength which is needed for
stocky
>growth.
>BUT, there have been many studies done, and the BEST combination is one
tube
>of regular 40 Watt COOL WHITE flourescent, and one 40W WARM WHITE
flourescent
>tube, (OR if you cannot find WARM WHITE, go with one "grow light" tube
which
>will provide enough of the warmer end of the spectrum, while keeping
overall
>balance towards the cooler end, which helps encourange stockiness).
>Next, make sure you use NEW tubes. After a couple weeks of use, take them
out
>and use them for regular lighting fixtures and use NEW tubes for the
plants.
>You may not see any difference, but the decreased output will be noticed by
>the plants.
>Next, the tops of the plants (especially seedlings!) need to be as CLOSE to
>the tube surface as possible without touching it, no more than 2 inches for
>seedlings (seedlings need more intense lighting than bigger plants), but
>probably not closer then an inch, since they can grow to touch the tube in
a
>few hours and touching the tube could cause some tissue damage because of
the
>heat).
>Next, place the plants in the MIDDLE of the tubes, do not place any plants
>under the last 6 inches on each end of them, since the light output is not
>intense enough and seedlings will be more spindly.
>NEXT, rotate the plants. Rotate 180 degrees every other day so that each
side
>of plants gets a balanced mixture of the different spectrums of light from
>each bulb.
>NEXT, KEEP THEM COOL. Even though flourescent tubes are relatively cool,
when
>they are close to the tubes, it definitely is warmer. Seedlings should be
>grown at no more than 70 degres F during the day, and 10 degrees cooler at
>night. This is harder to do than you might think indoors.
>NEXT, DO NOT keep the lights on all night! Some people think this is good,
>but it just messes up the plants natural system. It doesn't benefit them at
>all.
>Keep the lights on about 15 hours a day, and no more than 16. I always use
a
>timer to turn them on and off automatically, because there is no way you
can
>remember to do it ALL the time manually! Trust me! At night, make sure that
>the plants get darkness.
>Finally, keep the plants away from drafts, BUT make sure there is good
>circulation at the same time. Keeo them evenly moist, (I use a really
diluted
>Miracle Grow solution for watering about every other day. It keeps growth
>even. As soon as the first true leaves start to appear, it needs some sort
of
>soil nutrients.
>And of course, you don;t want to keep seedlings of A.G.'s growing like this
>for too long, since they don't take easy to transplanting. I personally
>prefer direct seeding becaus eof this, but if you really need an early
start,
>this method is the best.
>For other plants, this produces MUCH BETTER plants than could ever be grown
>in a greenhouse or outdoors!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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