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| I have approx 7'x2' area of various seedlings and container plants inside (fan palm, meyer lemon, banana, pineapple, ghost peppers to name some of them) near a west facing window. I'd like to supplement the light but I'd rather not drill into the ceiling or wall for a hanging T5 or MH setup. Plus the plants are different sizes and at various heights above the floor (they vary from 2-6' at their tallest points) so I figured an adjustable 5-bulb floor lamp setup with CFL's would work better so I can be more precise with focusing the lighting. I was thinking about getting two of the mentioned floor lamps (they're about $20 at Target) and a total of 10, 42w 6500k CFL's (maybe a few 2700k's mixed in for any future flowerings?). Each bulb is about 3000 lumens, so a total of about 30,000 if I did it this way. Does that sound like enough? Is there perhaps a better way of going about lighting such an area or is this fine? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| total lumen sounds enough, but will the light get directed onto the plants? i am wondering if the reflectors on those pole lamps are any good, but it is certainly worth a try, if you don't want to do any drilling etc. - paul m. |
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- Posted by delorean76 4b (My Page) on Tue, Dec 11, 12 at 17:07
| Yeah I wasn't sure about reflectors either so I may have to modify them a bit. I got the idea from an older thread that "jane__ny" posted in, I'll add the link below. It's about the 25th post down. In another thread from '09, she says she uses 40w cfl's in most of her floor lamps. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Thread link
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| I would still say fabricate a stand out of 2x4 wood, so that you can screw some shoplight fixtures to them. Shoplight gives the best most uniform light. You'll need a saw and some tools, otherwise, do what you suggest and see what happens. |
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- Posted by delorean76 4b (My Page) on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 12:36
| I ended up trying the floor lamp idea. I bought two 5-light stands and bought 6 42w 6500k bulbs and 4 40w 2700k. It's a total of about 25,000 lumens. I spent $125 total on the lights and fixtures. I also put tin foil around the bulb shades to reflect more of the light. Like I had said, the containers are at different heights so I'm not sure how a light source at one height would have done. We'll see how this goes. It looks extremely bright in the small room but I realize visible light isn't everything. |
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