Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
crazy8_gw

New to gardening

crazy8
15 years ago

Im looking to grow some (4) jalapenos indoors right now. They may end up in the garden come spring. i know im starting early but im looking to get some fruits over the winter to create hot sauce and salsa. Anyway Im looking at getting a four foot 2 bulb shop light. From what I have found out the Sylvania cool white plus bulbs are supposed to be pretty good and that anything that says High Output (H.O.) would also do very well.

So my question is this... Will these lights do well for me? Is there anyone in here more experienced with growing under the use of florescent bulbs that could offer some knowledge and advice?

Thank you all for the help and keep up the great work here.

Comments (3)

  • cannabisgrower
    15 years ago

    Since you appreciate peppers, and, shoplight is cheap, so I would buy 2. (myself, I actually use 11 for a 4'x6' garden.)
    Jalopenos will return the favor to you. I guess people can grow under just 2 lamps, but there is no substitute for intensity. 128 watts for 4 square feet - one plant per square foot - 32 watts per plant, seems more likely to succeed. It won't grow cannabis, but for peppers it should do. Also, get some pieces of nice cardboard, like a 1 foot width x 4 foot length. Carefully tape some foil to it, being cautious to keep it as smooth as possible, and fasten this to the outside of the fixtures. This will keep your light inside, and going down on your plants, instead of escaping out the sides. you peppers will appreciate it, you will see a big difference; if you have access to a light meter, you will have a measurable improvement. if you now overdrive the fixtures, you could even grow a small cannabis plant under this setup. Also, TCP lamps are much better than Sylvania. My perusal of sylvania lamps on the net shows very poor light output. buy TCP or Ushio. extreme high lumen tcp with 3400lumens go for 2.70$ at goodmart. they are available in various K strength - i might even buy a 3500K lamp because of the stronger red spins chlorophyll faster and the XHL lamp will still be putting out adequate amounts of blue, due to the high quality phorphorus in the TCP lamps. That, is ur recipe for nice hot sauce!!!

  • crazy8
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Well I got my light this weekend. The one I was looking at said it can produce 90% more light than a normal shop light and the one I got says it will produce 130% more and it looks nicer so I spent the extra $5 and got that.
    As far as lights go I ended up getting 2 Verilux brand lights. I don't know if you have heard of these or not but they are intended for growing and I do believe they are full spectrum, so I thought I would give them a shot.

    As for directing and reflecting the light I came up with an idea Im going to do that should work well. I have access to some reflective material 10X10 piece for only $16. So what I am going to do is cut it down to only 5' tall and wrap the material around the light and let it hang from it like a curtain. this way it will keep ALL or dang near all the light condensed into a defined area and also direct it onto the plants.

    As for now I may have to just start the plants off (Im starting from seed) with the one light since Im kind of tight on space where it is being placed. How ever I am thinking about cleaning out my "Under the stairs" closet and possibly set up the stuff in there when the plants get a little bigger and I have an area to hang more lights.

    Well if you or anyone else in here have any additional advice with all of this. it would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks a lot for the help.

  • crazy8
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    So im thinking about getting a 25qty box of some of those XHL lamps. Now considering I may get another light fixture, what specific bulbs would you recommend for growing my peppers or other vegetables?

    Thanks again