Grow light basics

[pedro]

Hi,

I'd like some help understanding what the minimum requirements would be for indoor chili growing using grow lights.

I now have several plants in my greenhouse but want to experiment with a hydro (and soil based)  set up in my garage as well .

What is a suitable basic set up for chilli plants under artificial light. ?

Can I build something up myself ? using sodium bulbs etc ?  - I'm rather put off by the expense of commercial HPS lights with "ballast" etc.

cheers
Pete

[JartsaP]

Hi,

Cheap solution: Standard fluorescent tube or ESL (Energy Saving Lamp, miniature fluorescent) will do just fine. You may be able to obtain used fluorescent fixtures from a shop or factory, when they are renovating or replacing all fixtures. I got some from my work place for free, including tubes and all. Very cheap solution, indeed. Then you just have to make sure your plants are very close to the tube without actually touching it.

[pedro]

thank you , I'll try that

will the flourescent tubes give the right sort of light ? - I read about it not being the right spectrum - but , hey , if it works for you then I'm sure it will work for me.

Thanks
Pete

[willard3]

Hi,
Can I build something up myself ? using sodium bulbs etc ?  - I'm rather put off by the expense of commercial HPS lights with "ballast" etc.
cheers
Pete

Any gas lamp, either fluorescent or HID, requires a ballast.

HID lamps, either High Pressure Sodium (HPS) or Metal Halide (MH) run more efficiently than fluorescent.

[JartsaP]

thank you , I'll try that

will the flourescent tubes give the right sort of light ? - I read about it not being the right spectrum - but , hey , if it works for you then I'm sure it will work for me.

It may not be the best spectrum, if you use cheapest tubes available, some of them actually have very poor spectrum, but it will still do the trick much better than any incandescent lamp. So called "day light" lamps with continuous spectrum are probably best, but quite expensive. People here have had quite good results using fixtures with one "Cool white" and one "Warm white" tube in them, or one purple tube with one white. I use standard industrial tubes, type Polylux XLr F58W/835, the ones I got for free you know (four of them this last winter), and I have not only overwintered plants, but also grown seedlings and even harvested a little... like one tomato for Christmas and tiny sweet peppers in the middle of January. Chiles seem to set fruit any time of year, though they do seem to like having a short resting period after heavy cropping. I have even one jalapeño hybrid growing for its third year now, and it still had some nice pods ready a couple of weeks ago, after flowering inside under the fluorescent lamps. I also grow other seedlings, trees, bushes and vegetables, under the same lamps, and so far quite succesfully.