I can not seem to find grow lights here in italy for my lilium seedlings. Could I use the normal ones instead?
Difference between normal flourescent lights and growlights
I know those who gave me advice...just used a plain old shop light, with regular bulbs. I do the same...so far they are growing like weeds. i would not take this as the last word...as i am new..just passing along what others passed to me. Want to trade homes for..o say a month or two ;-). others who see this might even be able to point you to threads with pictures. pam
I use normal shop lights. The grow lights are more beneficial if you are trying to bloom houseplants. Even so I have a pretty nice African Violet blooming profusely under my shop lights.
Last year I bought some grow lights for my orchids that I use in the basement in the winter. Educating myself on stuff like foot candle measurements was one of those things the growers used, that I was unfamiliar with. I bought a Tek Light T-5 System, while my mom was looking to do the same thing in her basement and used shop lighting. I can tell you the shop lighting is much cheaper, but I was worried a "homemade special" just wouldn't do the trick. I was wrong.
Here's a helpful site that helped me figure this whole thing out....after I purchased the big guy.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/strucs/2002053522022577.html
Actually I have been researching this the past week since my lily babies are sprouting. I ended up chasing down various measurements such as foot candles, lumen's/foot sq., lux, PAR etc. What I have been able to determine is that once you start looking at products that are marketed to a specific
segment of society the marketing hype and price goes way up.
There is a certain amount of scientific data behind the implementation of grow lights, but in the end the debate still rages over the benefits of such products. This is the debate in a nutshell: Chlorophyll reacts to certain light frequencies with the most efficiency. These tend to be blue and red wave lengths. Grow light products claim to be specifically engineered to emit light that plants need most. However in practice the cost/benefit ratio is not so clear cut. Lights marketed to be "Grow lights" can be substantially more expensive than normal Cool white fluorescents bulbs. I was seriously considering getting "grow lights" but have decided to go with a mix of 3000K and 6500K color temp standard fluorescents. 3000K means more yellowish and the 6500k is more blueish. If you want to go real simple just buy a Cool White bulb and make sure you have a decent amount of lumen's. The further away you get from the plants the faster the brightness goes down, and quickly. In general you don't want your fluorescent tubes more than 12'' away 6" if they are not to hot.
Here is a link to the Garden web forum where there are good discussions on the subject http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/lights/
I am sure I massacred this but I tried :*)...
Good day
My flourescent lights go as close as possible to the living subjects, within a few inches. Often plants grow right up in among the bulbs (and of course, touching them) without any detriment. And of course, this proximity cannot be used with non-flourescent lighting.
Rick
This whole subject was discussed here a number of years ago.
I found one thread. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/371007/
Anyhow, we have been using these plain old cool whites for years. We have overwintered bloomong plants under them also. They do great. Last winter we grew cuttings for the first time under lights. We got about 90% once we figured a few things out.(nothing to do with the lights).
I would never invest in the so called grow lights, just a waste of money.
Bernie
Thanks everyone.
This makes things pretty clear...the only question I have left is the measurement of foot candles...how would you go about doing that if you can't find a light meter? Would it be possible to measure these from the Watts measurement given with the lights?
Pam, great idea...DW thinks we might be visiting that area next year :) Perfect timing since the garden here will be almost finished.
Generally lumen's are indicated on the packaging. So if a light bulb says 1700 lumen's and you have 1 square foot to cover that would equate to 1700 foot-candles, assuming all of the light is hitting the area I want. The problem is the light spreads out very fast. Just moving the light away from the plants a couple inches can drastically change the light intensity at the plant even though it may look bright to our eyes. Good reflectors, and trying to get the lights as close as possible is the key along with a bright enough bulb. I am not sure how much light lily seedlings need exactly. I read that high noon sun in my area is about peak 8000 to 10000 foot candles! So if lily seedlings need shade to filtered shade they would obviously need a lot less than 8000, and the sun is not as intense in the morning or afternoon. Someone suggested 2000 to 3000 but since this is my first year growing them I am not sure exactly how much they need.
Later,
Andrew
This message was edited Oct 23, 2006 5:32 PM
I was just reading somewhere that for seedlings you need 750 foot candles
The post link I made above had light requirements in it. It does say 750 foot candles.