Lights for Bonchi

[ronniedeb]

Hi. I hope to bonsai some chili plants this autumn. The one question I have is what type of light I need to get the bonchi to survive the winter. I presume that the Irish Winter will not provide me with enough sunlight. Do I need growlights or will a regular Energy Saving Fluorescent Bulb suffice? I seem to recall seeing one being used in one of Fatalii's pictures. I only need the plant to survive not to provide fruit. Thank you very much for your help.

Ronan

[CyberDog]

Normal CFL works. I recommend somthing above 30 watts and a good directing lamp "shade". I wold prefer higher color temperatures if possible.

[solari]

Just buy normal Energy Saving Fluorescent Bulbs and as powerfull(wats) that you can afford, it's better the more wats it got. And for your mental health I prefer over 4000k (colorwarmness?) so your room doesn't become ugly yellow.. :F
I have one 50wat bulb for myself and I'm planning to keep two bonsai chiles alive through the Finlands dark winter with that!
And don't waste your money to those "special growingbulbs" they ain't really any better than normal ESL bulbs, just more expensive.
I wish you luck for your bonchis!!!
If my english writing sucks, just watch Mika Häkkinen's interview video from youtube and you see the reason how good average finnish people is at that..

[ronniedeb]

Thanks for your replies guys. You're English is fine by the way solari, much better than my Finnish. So those "Cool Daylight" Bulbs would be ideal then wouldnt they? They are usually around 6500 degrees K.

[InkRose]

If you're going for ESL lights, then yeah, basically anything over 4000 Kelvin will be good. Probably the best would be to mix-and-match a bit to get a more even spectrum, but I'm not sure I'd bother.

For regular fluorescent tubes (or the u-shaped "mini" versions), going for the ones rated 954 (color fidelity grade 9 (sometimes sold as "full spectrum"), 5400 K or "true" daylight) might be your best bet. 36W tubes will cost less than 10 euros each, though you'll probably need a specialist lighting shop to get them (or buy online).

[ronniedeb]

Thanks InkRose. What about this: http://www.bltdirect.com/product.php?pid=5558&cat=1867

[InkRose]

Should be fine. 6500 K is IIRC the "midsummer clear sky" type of cool daylight, so it'll be noticeably blue to for example your camera's sensors. 5000-5400 is a more neutral tone, but obviously you should go for what's easy and good enough. There's no mention of the "color rating", but I'd be surprised if it's not 8. I haven't gotten around to sourcing any 954 tubes myself either, only have 840 tubes and 4000K ESLs that I can recall. The one T5 FTL I have might be 5000 K but who cares. Good enough for my plants is good enough for me.

[ronniedeb]

Excellent thanks for your reply. Have you uploaded pictures of your plants anywhere on the forum? I'd be interested to see them. Thanks again.

[InkRose]

There's a link to my current (ending) journal in my sig. Kausi means period, but in this context also season. It's all in Finnish, I'm afraid, but the names and pictures will be the same.

[ronniedeb]

Oh right. Thanks