| The cynic in me says the specialists add 50% simply for printing "plant light" on the side. The rose-tinted spectacles say that you do get quality equipment designed for the job in mind, even if it may sometimes be possible to source down the individual components yourself for less. Setting up lights on a budget, there is one thing that everyone forgets. The biggest cost is the electricity. If you don't pay for your own electricity then feel free to buy a metal halide garden floodlight for $30, or two if you need more light. You absolutely want to avoid overdriving if you are running on a tight budget, efficiency drops and the electricity used goes up. If you pay for your own electricity, then 1000W will cost you about a dollar a day to operate. Pretty soon you'll be wishing you spent a little more on a more efficient lamp to make that 50c/day. Still, the technology that makes a metal halide plant bulb is the same as the technology that makes a metal halide factory bulb, although there are many attempts to create special plant spectrums at added cost. Look for a digital ballast, the metal halide equivalent of the fluorescent high frequency electronic ballast, they are more efficient. Look for pulse start, again more light for less electricity. Consider how much light you really need, 1000W should be able to light up about 50 square feet for overwintering. Make sure you get the light onto the plants, an expensive reflector is one way, but white walls and a bit of mylar on the ceiling is virtually as good. And replace metal halide bulbs every year, the light output drops as they get old. Investigate whether your seedlings will be happy under HPS light, 750W gives about the same light as 1000W metal halide. |
