Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: A Reyt Tayty on April 26, 2012, 21:12
-
What sort of light do they give out? Ultras violet? Infra red?
I ask because I've just found an old IV lamp and was wondering if it could be useful to give the tomato seedlings a bit of exposure, (just a few minutes at a time), given that they are not getting any proper sunlight on them for a long while now.
-
I don't know about tomatoes but it might be good for wacky backy.
-
Short answer is neither.
Both are at opposite ends of the visible light spectrum and are totally useless for growing.
You need a specific lamp designed to give out a spectrum close to daylight.
This applies to all plants.
-
Short answer is neither.
Both are at opposite ends of the visible light spectrum and are totally useless for growing.
You need a specific lamp designed to give out a spectrum close to daylight.
This applies to all plants.
That's saved me some lekky then. :)
-
you can use the energy saver bulbs but you need to have them as close as possible without burning the plants , like 1-2 inches away
or use a normal fluorescent striplight like youd find in a kitchen
-
Chlorophyll absorbs at the blue and red ends of the spectrum with the peak absorption in the visible region. That leaves (no pun intended) the green light to be reflected, hence leaves appear green.
-
Do a search for Grolux tubes (4 foot). Cheers, Tony.
-
I don't know about tomatoes but it might be good for wacky backy.
Whacky Baccy would also need very, very warm conditions too, so I believe after watching a prog about it.
-
Chlorophyll absorbs at the blue and red ends of the spectrum with the peak absorption in the visible region. That leaves (no pun intended) the green light to be reflected, hence leaves appear green.
I saw once in bbc a salad grower in scotland decorated ( :lol:) his polytunnell with red and blue strip light which you get for "C" decoration. didnt know abt the results though. I always thought growlights are for urban gardeners and its of no use for regular growers like us. I may be wrong though as I've always been.
P.S: everyone look into my eyes. You didnt see me mentioning "C" this early. :)
-
Do you mean IV or UV Tayty? (don't know what an IV lamp is!)
Anyone who tries to keep aquarium plants growing (me!) or has viewed websites about how to grow the sort of "herbs" best not mentioned on here (also me, but by accident! ::)) will know that you need full-spectrum lamps, or lamps colour-balanced for specific growing applications, and they need to be both quite powerful, very close to the plants, and switched on for a long time every day.
-
Do you mean IV or UV Tayty? (don't know what an IV lamp is!)
Anyone who tries to keep aquarium plants growing (me!) or has viewed websites about how to grow the sort of "herbs" best not mentioned on here (also me, but by accident! ::)) will know that you need full-spectrum lamps, or lamps colour-balanced for specific growing applications, and they need to be both quite powerful, very close to the plants, and switched on for a long time every day.
It's an infra red Jay. The sort you get for muscular aches and pains. Supposed to do colds good too. So that's another brainwave shot down in a blaze of glory! :(
-
you can use the energy saver bulbs but you need to have them as close as possible without burning the plants , like 1-2 inches away
or use a normal fluorescent striplight like youd find in a kitchen
No you can't, they give out the wrong spectrum of light.
-
I have the right type of light for growing not used it for some years now tho. What i do know about it is the bulb alone cost £40 and it is the type ok for before and after flowering. Never used it on veg tho as its very expensive to run so the 'herbs' have to be worth a bit when/if you sell them.
-
mmmmmmh?????? :D :D :D easy bruv! :blink:self implication is a convictable offence i believe! :D :D
-
There seem to be special lights for the blue end of the spectrum for plant growth and at the red end of spectrum to encourage flowering/fruiting. We're not talking red and blue bulbs, or ordinary florescent tubes.
Or it could just be a cunning plan to persuade poor gardeners pay £20 for a light bulb. ::)
So as has been said, an infra red heat lamp wont do anything for the plants but might be nice to stop you freezing while working in the greenhouse in this awful weather.
-
The spectrum of light from the sun changes throughout the growing season, in relation to how high it is in the sky. In the middle of summer, when the sun is at it's highest, we get the fullest range of light at it's most intense. As the year draws towards winter, the sun rises lower and lower. This shallower angle causes the different colours of light to be bent at different angles as it goes through the atmosphere, resulting in a light that is much higher in red frequencies than in blue ones. This is the same effect that causes raindrops to split white light into a rainbow.
So to summarise, if you show a plant a light source that is biased to the red end of the spectrum, it will think its the end of the season and flower / fruit as such.
-
So to summarise, if you show a plant a light source that is biased to the red end of the spectrum, it will think its the end of the season and flower / fruit as such.
Plausible, but wont you also get red biased light in spring when the sun is lower in the sky too?
-
the compact fluorescent bulbs come in different wavelengths
cool white is the more blue type and warm white is more red, both will work, or the strip light type
ive grown allsorts under them
or if you want to cover more area you can use something like a 70 watt high pressure sodium light or metal halide
metal halide would be better for starting plants early
just have the light on for about 16-18 hours a day and it shouldnt cost more than a quid a week.
-
HPS and other "professional" lights seem to cost the best part of a 100 quid, what with ballasts, reflectors and stuff. Which is way out of my price range.
But a cool white strip light (with a RCD) sounds more like my sort of gardening
-
you can get a 70w hps from toolstation for £26.51 under the commercial lighting section
-
I bought a 60w (energy saving bulb) grow light including reflector and hangers from ebay for £28.
Grow lights should be 6400K which equals daylight. Conventional 3000K lamps are too yellow. here some further reading on this toppic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_light)
The lamp installed at ~1.2m height will light an approx area of 1.5m x 1.2m.
I bought it because my flat is north facing and we have sunlight to our windowsills for as much as 1-2 hours per day. Our seedlings and plants are doing pretty well with the lamp.
Tomatoes are 40cm, courgettes got their first male flowers - both will move to the polytunnel next weekend.
-
My local weather stations records the intensity of the sun's radiation amongst other things, and at the moment (30th April, 0930 BST and sunny :)) it shows 554 watts/metre2, and in high summer it easily exceeds 1,000 watts/metre2.
That is a good clue as to why (apart from colour balance) that providing successful indoor plant illumination can be tricky, and also costly.
-
but light levels of bulbs are measured by the intensity at a certain distance, the smaller bulbs just need to be closer so will have less coverage