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sinfonian

Tight spot. Only 24 inch Lights work... Few Options. Need Advice.

sinfonian
16 years ago

After trying and failing at starting broccoli, cauliflower and onion seeds inside (they got too leggy stretching for our Pacific NW light), I've decided to try lights. Unfortunately, the only spot I can find in my house away from kids and cats is a 28 inch shelf. That leaves me to only using a 2 foot shop light. Home Depot only has one option that's not commercial and needs an electrician to install. It's a 20 watt T12 light with two bulbs. It looks like it's my only option and even that I have to rig up to be adjustable (maybe telephone books under the bins).

My dilema is the bulbs. I have read that one cool and one warm work just as well as expensive grow lights, but that didn't help much when I was in the store. My options for bulbs is as follows: (all are 20 watt T12 to work with the light fixture)

Phillips Natural Sunshine

Phillips Soft White Kitchen and Bath

Phillips Plant and Acquarium

Ott-Lite Natural Daylight for Plants (more expensive)

Ott-Lite Natural Daylight for Home and Office

Am I wasting my money to grow 8 each of broccoli and cauliflower and about 16 onions? Maybe even some lettuce, but nothing close to the thousands of plants I've read about here. It's one shelf, one fixture 2 feet long.

Thoughts? I'd like to set this up this weekend since I'm already late with the two sets I blew on the window sill.

Thank you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's Mistakes in the Garden

Comments (2)

  • grb1
    16 years ago

    Sinfo

    I canÂt help you with what bulb is better. But IÂm using the Ott-Lite Natural Daylight for Plants, with the 2Â 2 lamp strip T12 120 v lamp fixture from Home Depot. I believe itÂs the same one you have. Had to put it together myself plus I had to buy an 8Â cord for it as well. This is my first time using lights too. So IÂm in the same dilemma as you.

    Are you wasting money trying to grow 8 each of broccoli and cauliflower and about 16 onions? I donÂt know but that seems like a lot for only a 2Â light. IÂm wondering if my setup with the 2Â light would be enough to put an EarthBox under it to grow some veggies over the winter. Right now I'm using it to try to grow one tomato plant that I started about 3 weeks ago.

    I'ts a fixture made with PVC pipe that I hung chains from so I can adjust the height of the lamp accordingly to the height of my plants. ItÂs easy to assemble and PVC is cheap. You can see a picture of it on the link below.

    grb1

    Here is a link that might be useful: PVC Fixture

  • woodyguthriefan
    16 years ago

    My first year I started with the 2', 2 tube T-12 shop light. It works great for about ten 2"x2" pots. as my seeds started to germinate and grow I found I needed more light and more space. I bought some $6.00 clamp-type work lights at the hardware store and put $6.00, 42 watt CFL bulbs in them. They work great, are safe, are relatively inexpensive, require no special wiring or special ballast and they clamp well on flat surfaces that are about as thick as a shelf. The Daylight and Natural light you ask about emit a bluish color fluorescent light and the warm light is more reddish/orange/yellow.(remember Roy G. Biv) Plants utilize different wavelengths at different stages of life. To be sure look at the Kelvin rating on the package. For seedlings and early development you want blueish light which is approximately at the 6000 Kelvin range. For later plant development during the fruiting or flowering stage you want a Kelvin rating around approximately 2000 Kelvin which is more toward the red end of the spectrum. Plants could probably live with either but they use the light more efficiently as described. remember to keep the plants as close to the light as possible to prevent the stems from stretching.