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aveo5

African Violets and AeroGrow Lights....

aveo5
12 years ago

Hi. Can anyone tell me if the 2 lights in the Classic AeroGrow Garden, which is 2 26 watt full spectrum bulbs,putting out 1450 Lumens each, is this to much not enough, or just the right amount to grow violets? I am growing 7 violets on one of my Classic gardens, and have the hood as far away from the plants as possible, only 6-7 ins. Most are growing and blooming, but some are burning and not blooming. Does anyone use their garden for this purpose? Or know if this is a good idea, or an I heading for all burned plants?

80% of them are growing and blooming, about 20% are getting tight crowns,reddish brown leaves,no blooms, that usually means to much light.

Should I take out 1 bulb? Or is this amount of light just right? I want to use my other 2 classic gardens to grow more of my violets, but want to know if I should cut back on the light, leave it as it is, and if some burn, take them out and try others? Or what? The lights are on for 17 hrs a day, that is the 'Flower' setting on the Aero Grow garden,for flower seedkits, like petunias....so i set it on Flowers for my violets. I dont know why some are 'burning' and some are growing like crazy and finally blooming, but i want to use all 3 of my gardens to grow and hopefully get blooms from some of my violets that havent bloomed in over a year. So...anyone have any idea about the amount of light,is it to much,or just right, or what? Thanks.

Comments (4)

  • taz6122
    12 years ago

    It certainly won't be too much. As far as being enough, try it!

  • aveo5
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well it has the 2 lights that are putting out 1450 Lumens each, at 6in away from the plants. Most are growing and blooming, some are showing signs of to much light, the tight browns,reddish leaves,brittle leaves....so i was just wondering if any one else had used theirs for this purpose, or for 'house plants'?

  • aveo5
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Guess no one has tried this. I am going to take all my gardens offline with gardens growing in them, dry them out, and put violets on the growtray on all 3 of them. The one that has violets under the lights already, like I said,seems to work for 80% of the plants...so...lets see which ones can take the light on all 3 gardens. I bought a bunch of mini violets the other day, and have no room for them. Hope mini violets arent more sensitive. These look really nice. Could get them all under the lights in 1 garden.

  • almax881
    12 years ago

    Hello Aveo,

    I grow AVs under lights too. They aren't in an AeroGarden likes yours though.

    You have several options to fix your problem. First, you could reduce the amount of time the plants are under lights. Try 10 hours for a few weeks to see how your plants respond.

    You could also move the lights further from the plants....like 12 inches or so. But, I don't think you're able to raise the lights any further with your system, right?

    Last case scenario would be to remove one of the lights.

    Typically, AVs that are grown under lights are grown in a 2-bulb fluorescent system that produces 4000-5000 lumens over 4 feet of space. The lights are about 10 inches from standard sized plants and 6 inches from semis, minis, and seedlings.

    FWIW, different plants do react differently to the intensity of lights. Plants with dark green leaves or with purple/red blooms can take more intense lighting than lighter bloomed flowers and light green plants.

    I hope this helps.

    Here is a link that might be useful: African Violet Brats Forum

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