propagation chamber

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twysted1

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propagation chamber
« on: March 20, 2006, 23:41 »
this weekend i made myself a light box to propagate my more exotic plants. it is quite simply a 2 foot tall cardboard box lined with tin foil with a 100 wat daylight simulation bulb at the top, i have also cut flaps at the bottom to allow air to move freely and to stop heat build up. i put my tumbler tomato seedlings and one corriander seedling in there and they seem to have responded really well. i also have in there lithops, crepe myrtle, mixed cactus, pitcher plants and my venus fly traps which germinated this week.
i was getting frustrated with how bad the weather has been and how little sunshine my window sill is recieving. has anyone done similar or am i going in the wrong direction.
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John

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propagation chamber
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2006, 10:49 »
Wow - that looks really good.  One general point, plants utilise the energy in sunlight to power photosynthesis but we just use it to see. Because our eyes open in dull conditions humans aren't very good at measuring light levels.
Point is, you need more lights than you might think to duplicate daylight.

I'd guess you have it right because your plants are reacting well. Just a word of warning, show growers nearly always use arttificial lighting in greenhouses to bring things along earlier than nature would like. These silver foil covered, brightly lit greenhouses seem to attract both moths and policemen :)
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twysted1

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propagation chamber
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2006, 11:09 »
Apart from being mortified at losing my plants it would be quite amusing to see the police burst in and bust my cactus into jail  :roll:, when i say exotic i don't mean psychoactive but i guess they wouldn't know that from the outside.
 I was thinking of adding another bulb but i think the heat from them would be a little to much, what do you think ?
 I didn't intend to simulte daylight completely i just wanted a warm light environment for propagation, as we aren't forcast sunshine in the forseeable here in bedford.
 Right i'm off to my plot i have a lot of digging to do.

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John

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propagation chamber
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2006, 11:34 »
Well low energy bulbs, fluorescents , puch more energy into the visible spectrum and less into heat which is why an 11W low energy bulb is equivalent in light output to 100W incandescent, which sends out 90% of its energy as heat.

I'd take a look around for horticultural lighting suppliers and see what they have to offer. A lot of the NVS guys use sodium lights but some just use lots of low energy bulbs. You can get fluorecents in different spectrums in tropical  fish shops but they were pretty expensive.

Many years back I met a chap who had a smallholding in south Wales. He awoke one morning to masses of police who removed some 300 tomato plants from his greenhouses.  He said he was really pleased in the end as the compo was far in excess of his actual losses - but it was implied he'd better not appear in the press.

I expect the police are a little more sophisticated in their horticultural identification procedures nowadays!

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tublet

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homemade propagator
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2006, 11:21 »
hi, I think i may try your system. I can`t afford a bought heated propagator.  Did you know that you can buy daylight simulating lightbulbs. The were developed for embrodiary,so i now that you can get them in craft shop shops that sell sewing kits, i would also think they are available in the DIY stores. These bulbs may benefit the plants rather than just giving them light. tublet
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twysted1

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propagation chamber
« Reply #5 on: April 01, 2006, 18:47 »
that is the bulb i have in my box, a 100watt daylight simulation bulb. it cost me 3 quid.

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dave

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propagation chamber
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2006, 17:19 »
There's a firm called ecotopia which can supply a very close to daylight energy saving bulb ("ecobulb"); I use one for my home office and it is very close to the natural spectrum (I don't know how important the particular spectral composition is to the plant)
on the plus side- v natural, less heat (~9w if I remember rightly), less power/running cost
negatives- expensive to buy, less heat (if you want to provide it this way)

http://ecotopia.co.uk/

dave



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