Gardening under lights

[ellenrr]

I would like some feed-back on a system like one of these to provide supplemental light to my high-light requiring plants:

There's this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-JSV2-2-Foot-Start-System/dp/B0006856EQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1416888861&sr=1-3&keywords=grow+light

and this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-JSV4-4-Foot-Start-System/dp/B0001XLSGQ/ref=pd_sim_lg_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=12QM7NJ9QZE1FCZMHA24

Both have only one tube, from what I've been reading, two tubes are preferable, but I am trying to find something affordable.
And I just want to keep my plants alive over the winter, I don't have the resources to get a very elaborate system.

These 2 seem to be the best I have found after some research.
If anyone has any other ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

thanks!

[csziggy]

1. I used to just buy cheap shop lights and put in grow bulbs

Price the bulbs, then find a cheap fixture to hold them.

Back in the day when I had to grow my, er, herbs indoors four foot long shop lights were easy to find and cheap ($7-8 per fixture). I'd hang them from the ceiling on pulleys and put in four foot daylight bulbs. The shop lights held two bulbs each, so that was a lot of light.

For instance, Lowe's has 4 foot shop lights as cheap as $12, a pack of ten daylight bulbs costs $30. You can probably get the bulbs individually, but that's what they list online.

For self contained systems, the prices aren't bad on the ones you link to. The 4 foot one looks like a clothes rack with a 4 foot shoplight hung on it. Lowe's has a clothes rack for $52 so by the time you put together your own setup, you'd spend as much or more than that one and still have to rig everything.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. I hope you get some good replies. I've been looking at the red and blue LED setups, which

seem to cover a smaller area and are pricier upfront, but I assume would be cheaper to run over time.

[ellenrr]

3. well, I don't have the skills to hook up anything.

and I don't know what LED means. all this light bulb stuff baffles me.
I'm still using the regular old fashioned light bulbs.

I had bought a bulb, on rec. of someone-
ecobulb, daylight, 200W.
I thot I had a solution.
When I put it into the fixture, it blew.
even tho acc. to the product info, it is meant to be used in a regular fixture.

oh it is so confusing.
I started out, I was just going to get low-light plants, cuz they are in a north window.
(the only window I have)
but then - as it goes - I keep buying more plants, including some herbs, which definitely need supplemental light.

[Major Nikon]

4. A 1 bulb system is not sufficient unless you have very small plants in one row

A 4 bulb fixture will provide 4 times the amount of light and is sufficient for about a 4' x 2' area.

You can get a 4 bulb fixture for about $50 at places like Home Depot or Lowes:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-4-Light-Grey-Heavy-Duty-Fluorescent-Shoplight-1284GRD-RE/202968125

54 watt T5 bulbs cost about $10 ea and will work fine for wintering plants:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/ViaVolt-54-Watt-4-ft-T5-Fluorescent-Replacement-Lamp-VT54R/203891806

You can build the stand out of PVC:
http://www.google.com/search?q=pvc+light+stand

The nice thing about making a PVC, other than it's very cheap is that you don't have to use any glue and can disassemble it when not in use. Whatever you go with you'll want to adjust the lights so they are just about right on top of your plants. The closer the light is, the more efficient it becomes.

[ellenrr]

5. thanks for your input. As I said, assembly is not an option,

but I did find this 2-bulb one, which I think I'll go with.
It'll cost me more I know.

http://www.buyplantlights.com/tabletop-fluorescent-plant-stand-f2020l.html

It comes with 2 bulbs.

[Major Nikon]

6. That one will cover about a 2' x 1' area

So before you buy you may want to place your plants in a grouping and see how much lighting area you'll need.

[ellenrr]

7. that's perfect. Right now my plants take up 3' by 1' but I can reduce it, and some of them can

probably make it without the supplemental light.

And someone (maybe you) said to keep them close to the plants.
A couple of inches? 4-5 inches?

[Major Nikon]

9. A couple of inches is about right

The closer you get them, the more efficient the light becomes. You don't want to get them so close that they burn the plants, but with a 2 bulb fixture there's not much danger of that.

If you are just trying to maintain, and not grow the plants, you should be fine with leaving the light on one side and rotating them every couple of days or so.

[ellenrr]

10. thank you! I really appreciate your help...

this is my first try at an indoor garden
(I've had a wonderful outdoor garden for 13 years).

so much to learn.

have a good day.

[ellenrr]

8. Also, am I right in thinking that this contraption

with 2 long bulbs, will be much better than the ecobulbs I was trying to set up with?

[Major Nikon]

11. If you are not growing vegetables, the bulbs really don't matter

Light color becomes important if your plants must go through vegetative growth and production cycles, but with just maintaining mature plants this isn't an issue. The most important aspect is how many lumens you are getting on the plants. Just basic fluorescent lights are already pretty efficient, so you can just buy the cheapest ones that produce the most lumens. T5 bulbs are more efficient, but cost considerably more than T8.

[Elad]

12. I actually have both of these.

I use them mostly for starting veggies inside in the spring. They use T5 bulbs so they're more efficient and provide more light than you'd get from one traditional flourescent tube. I'd estimate one T5 roughly equivalent to two traditional flourescents.

The benefits of these guys are they're simple and cheap and effective for what they are. I can grow my veggies under them for about 4-5 weeks before they start needing more light and I move them to the greenhouse. Lower-light requiring plants could be grown under one of them exclusively. The adjustable height on the lamp is very useful.

The construction is kinda cheap, but mine's held together just fine for years. But they're wobbly and you have to be careful when you pick them up to move them.

If you're trying to supplement another light, they may not be the best because you have to keep the lamps fairly close to the top of the plants for them to be effective, and this would block out some of your other main light. If you're trying to supplement window light or something like that, they could work great.

[ellenrr]

13. Good to hear from someone who is using this. I will use it to supplement

window light - I have a north window.

I'm not growing vegies, only plants.

but since I've been researching, and asking on every garden forum that I'm on, about lights - so learned that people actually grow vegies indoors.
which I would not have thot was possible.

Of course one can get very expensive and very elaborate with light systems that cost $600.00 and up!