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| I have my seedlings in a 12 x 12 room in my house. Is there a one-room light that I can purchase, and if so, what kind and where can I purchase it at? I'd really like to have one light for all of my seedlings as opposed to several flourescent ones. I've read these postings and am really Confused. Thanks for all your expertise. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by dave_jam79 Ont, Canada (My Page) on Tue, Feb 15, 05 at 11:51
| fluorescents are your best option, however the light they produce is not intense enough to light a whole room. for most plants they are only effective when a very short distance away if you want enough power to provide light to plants anywhere in the room then you should look into metal halide or high pressure sodium lighting, these types of lights are expensive though and they produce quite a lot of heat. a 1000W metal halide will light a 6ft x 6ft space pretty well the cheapest/easiest option would be to get fluorescents and place them a few inches above the seedlings. hope this helps! |
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- Posted by shrubs_n_bulbs z8/9 UK (My Page) on Tue, Feb 15, 05 at 14:02
| You could paint the room white, stick mylar on the ceiling, mount a 1,000W metal halide lamp or two, and you're done :) Seriously, you could do this and grow stuff. Only fairly low light stuff though, seedlings maybe and jungle tropicals. For things like tomatoes (everyone here seems to grow tomatoes!) you'd need maybe 4000W to light the whole room well enough. Even one 1000W lamp can be a strain on standard household wiring. More than one needs special wiring and you will have to put in extra ventilation to stop the room melting! Fluorescent tubes are usually used for seedlings and placed very close to the plants. This cannot be done for tall plants but works well for plants only a few inches high. That way you can just light the trays instead of the whole room and maybe only use a few hundred watts. You should add a fan or two to move the air around even if you don't need vents to cool the whole room down. Commercial lamps are not cheap and you could end up spending several dollars a day just on electricity. Check out the link for examples, but there are loads of places selling the same sort of thing. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Grow lamps
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- Posted by kdjoergensen z6b NJ (My Page) on Tue, Feb 15, 05 at 22:01
| A 1000 MH light should be able to cover 100 sq feet (10x10) if you hang the lamp about 4 feet above the plants. You can put low light plants on the outside, or just make walkways/storage on the outside. |
Here is a link that might be useful: 1000 mh light specialty-light.com
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| If a 1000w MH is something your considering, check out the hortilux blue. It's not cheap, but a fabulous single light source! Also, if you do want to light a 10x10 area, I'd consider either a bat wing type reflector or a vertizontal...The light distribution will be much better. |
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