4 ft twin tube T8 light for AV's bad???

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james83 kincardine, Canada May 14, 2014

hi I need some advice ASAP. I have a nice expensive stand 48"Lx24"Dx74"H. I used to grow AVs under T12 4ft twin tube shop lights with amazing results! 10" from tubes I found after experimenting was the majical distance for maximum growth and bountiful blooms. now a days all that is available is T8 sadly where I live. I can only get twin tube 4ft T8 fixtures. I heard a lot of warnings from people all over online don't use t8 on violets unless you want bleached out plants, and deformed tight centers. Apparently this happens if you use 4ft T8 twin tube at even a foot above plants!!?!. Can anyone tell me if this is a myth, and if you do infact use the same set up? and ur experiences and results with this setup. how far above the tops of semi minis and standards should the T8 4ft twin tubes be? how many hrs per day?. T8 is all new to me and I need everyones advice. feel free to email me at jamesa83@live.ca with ur help. thanks!

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tommyr2006 Poughkeepsie, NY(Zone 6a) May 15, 2014

Sounds like BS to me. They should be fine. Get 6000k tubes.

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) May 18, 2014

T-8 bulbs are a bit more efficient at turning electricity into light, so raise the fixture a bit.
Even more efficient than T-8 are T-5 bulbs.
Even more efficient than flourecents are LED bulbs, but the right wavelengths for plants are still a little hard to find.

To figure out the best bulbs for plants look up PAR, a measure of how much of the light is in the Photosynthetically Active Range. That is, what wavelengths do plants use, and how much of those wavelengths are in a certain bulb.

If you have a high quality reflector then the light will be even more intense.

If you cannot move the fixture you might want to rig up some shade. Make a screen just like you would for a window (Materials available in hardware stores). Window screen is just enough shade to help out a bit in this situation.

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james83 kincardine, Canada May 21, 2014

yea I was thinking of using the screen idea. I have TWIN tube 4 ft T8 32W each tube, shoplights. going to keep the tubes about 12 inches from the tops of the plants with the screen right below the tubes to help filter/diffuse the intense light. probably gonna start at 12 hr days too. so mathematically if I take the intense light from T8 tubes, and use the screening (I read screening helps block light by up to 30%) coupled with the 12 hr day length at 12 inches from the light will probably equate to a western window exposure. which you can grow nice violets in a west window. Any one have any personal experiences growing violets under T8 twin tube 4 ft shoplights? if so was it a success and how did u achieve it?

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