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thunderbolt39

Enough light for winter

thunderbolt39
9 years ago

I got 2 t8 light with 6500k bulbs. I got geranium Lavender, coleus, Cordyline, Rosemary and dipladena. The light say on for 15-16 hours a day do you think these plant will make it through winter til April.

Comments (8)

  • Pyewacket
    9 years ago

    I don't know about the Rosemary, personally I've never been able to keep a rosemary plant alive inside - but then maybe I'm just not talented that way, LOL!

    They will definitely do a lot better than if you had no lights.

    One thing that might help is to keep all the plants within a couple of inches of the bulbs. So that geranium down in the corner there - if you set it up on something to get it closer to the lights, it'll do better.

    Things may or may not flower, but they should at least survive given all their other needs re humidity and watering are met.

    I have a jasmine plant that has typically flowered all winter long, but it was getting pretty leggy with just being in a south facing window (in the midwest, not great light through the winter). No lights on it. Still flowered, AND survived. Its amazing how much abuse our plants can take sometimes.

    Put the plants with the highest light requirements towards the center of the bulbs, that's where the light is most intense.

  • MisterK
    9 years ago

    Theyll probably make it but some things will happen. They may shed leaves and grow different ones as they adapt to mcpuch reduced light conditions. Plant metabolism will become much slower, so youll need to back down on watering, and i mean a lot.

    Those lights are ok but weak. If you can afford an hps or metal halide lamp, that would be ideal.

  • Pyewacket
    9 years ago

    Oh my heavens, metal halide lamps for that little bit of plants? That's way overkill! We're not talking a marijuana grow here, just overwintering a few potted plants!

    A couple more fluorescent bulbs would be nice, but they ought to survive just fine as-is. No reason to go out and sink a ton of money into overpowered expensive lights that pump out a ton of heat!

    Thunderbolt, how are they doing so far?

  • cooperdr_gw
    9 years ago

    Some Rosemary plants are fine being indoors and others you have to take a cutting and put them in water. They grow roots in the water but the lights would still help.

  • SouthCountryGuy Zone 4b-5 SE BC
    9 years ago

    I agree with zens.

  • jedobaTX9b
    9 years ago

    Last year, I grew Adeniums (desert rose) under two 45 watt LED grow lights. It wasn't enough light to make them flower, but they did fine, and actually grew quite a bit. The setup you have now should be fine. Do I see a phormium there on the right?

  • ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
    9 years ago

    Is that fixture in the picture hanging from the ceiling? or from the side wall?
    My ceiling is 9 feet high. do they make them to accomodate that high a ceiling?

  • Pyewacket
    9 years ago

    You would just need extra length of cable or hangers to hang them from a ceiling. If you look at the picture you can see wire hangers that the chains are attached to. You can get those kinds of wire hangers for hanging bird feeders in trees, or just use a good poly rope or cable. You could either tie it directly through a cable link, or use an additional S-hook so you can easily adjust the light height by hooking it into different links.

    Or you could use a pulley system like this:

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pulley system to raise and lower fluorescent strip lights

    This post was edited by zensojourner on Mon, Dec 1, 14 at 22:23

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