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christy2828

African Violet Lighting

christy2828
17 years ago

Someone kindly gave me this 3-tier light cart, and I am using it for my African Violets. I'm not sure if the lights are appropriate, I would like to make sure. There are 2 per tier, and they are 4 feet long. The top tier has:

SunLite

F40T122TL

and the other 2 tiers have:

F40C50

Chroma 50

GE 40W

Thanks so much, :) Christy

{{gwi:378739}}

Comments (6)

  • ceedub
    17 years ago

    not sure of the light names. But I just use one cool tube and one warm tube per each 2 light fixture. Plant lights are expensive to buy and you need to replace the bulbs once a year. And Im cheap.

  • robitaillenancy1
    17 years ago

    I don't know these lights, either. You can just leave the violets at about 12 inches from the top of the plants to the bulbs. Do check that they are not burned. I don't know the intensity of these bulbs.

    We usually use the cheaper bulbs, one cool white, one warm light. When using new bulbs keep them on for only one hour as they break in per day. In a few days you can leave them on from 10 to 12 hours for African violets.

    I show my plants at a spring show each year so I do change one light bulb in each set per year. If you don't show your plants you can use the same bulbs until the get a brown spot on them or quit working altogether.

    Nancy

  • shrubs_n_bulbs
    17 years ago

    Assuming the entries on multiple lines all refer to the same tube, you have two types of 40W "daylight" tubes. The Chroma50 is a GE tube widely used by plant growers, but the Sunlite is essentially the same although often more expensive. They both have good colour rendering from a wide spectrum intended to closely mimic sunlight. This is a very common type of light used on AVs, partly because they seem to like it, partly because they don't need very high intensity lighting, and partly because the flowers (and leaves) look good under those lights. Watch out for short lifetimes, more importantly poor lumen maintenance where the ligh drops off after a few thousand hours, and the high replacement cost of the tubes (shop around to find them for about $6 each). If you like the way they look then I'd suggest comparing the brightness side by side with a new tube and replacing them if they look dim, otherwise you are fine.

  • christy2828
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks for the tips! I did find the GE bulb online and found out what it was, but had no luck with the Sunlite. So, I swapped and put one SunLite per tier, and one GE per tier. I don't know how old the bulbs are, the whole thing was given to me, but I will look for a brown spot. My AV's have been reaching for the light, so I did lower the bulb unit down some. Also, I made them all the same height by putting pots upside-down underneath some of them. So, thanks again! Christy

  • shrubs_n_bulbs
    17 years ago

    I think you have a typo in the name of the Sunlite tube, or misread it. It probably says "F40T12/TL", which describes a 40W T12 "true-lite" tube.

  • christy2828
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Ah!! Thanks! I'd given up searching for this lightbulb. I didn't even consider a simple typo :) Thanks again! Christy