Lighting

[Gold3nku5h]

Incase you havn't had your questions answered, i am quite a junkie for lighting and willing to give my knowledge.

Metal halide and High pressure sodium (HPS) are High Intensity Discharge lamps (HID).
These are used for whole growrooms, like hobbiest growers, or people growing large amounts of weed.
They get very hot, and usually are about 2-4 feet away from the tops of your plants.
They need to have ventilation unless are in the largest of growrooms, or have alot of air movement.
These can come from 50 watts to 1000 watts. They all need ballasts which in themselves get hot.

Fluorescent bulbs are a good medium for high light and low heat.
There are many different kinds T12 T10 T8 T5 T4 and even T2.
The im not for sure what the T stands for, but the number after is eigths of an inch
so 12/8ths is 1.5 inch diameter 8/8 is 1 inch diameter and 5/8ths and so on.
There are regular, high output (HO), and very high output (VHO).
Thats not really necessary to know.
These also need ballasts, but with the new electronic ones, start up quick, are easy to use, and dont get
to hot.

Compact fluorescents, they are easy to deal with, but are somewhat bulky, like regular light bulbs.
They have all the same features as the linear bulbs, but are easier to deal with as, its just color spectrum
you really have to deal with.

And as its pretty new, but something to watch out for LED's
These are going to be GREAT for the future, but untill they are more reliable, easier to get, cheaper to afford,
and better suited for hobby growers, probably wont be seen for our uses for a while.
They are usually used in a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of Red:Blue.
If you are going to build your own setup you can add a lot of whites in there, to balance color out.

Ok, so now that you know a little bit about the kinds of bulbs, you need to know about color spectrum

Vegetative growth is mainly in the blue spectrum 6500K is about optimal
Flowering is probably optimal at 2700K but 2900K and 3000K is norm.



Metal halide - Varies alot, but usually 4000K to 5500K pretty much white.
HPS - Also varies alot because of gas inside the bulb cant be measured perfectly, but around 2200K to 2700K
Fluorescent - These can come in just about any color spectrum, but you want 6500K and 3000K.
If your going to get these from a normal hardware store or supply shop, look for Warm White (WW) and Daylight (D)
They should also be labled with the color spectrum or something like 841 835 830 or 865 the 8 is almost meaningless but 4100K 3500K 3000K and 6500K
A standard bulb can be labeled as F13T5 - 865 F13 means 13 watts
There can be any size F15 F24 F32 F36 F54, each meaning their wattage followed by T and their prefered diameter, then Color spectrum.
LEDs - These can be sold as wavelengths, which is different from K (Kelvin - Color temperature) Usually
Usually sold as a known color, red, blue, green, white, and so on, but can be found with nanometeres (nm)
662 nm OPTIMAL red and 430 nm is OPTIMAL blue.

[jpstod]

There is an Excellent article in the May 2009 Reptiles Issue on Lighting...

I highly recommend picking up a copy or going to a local Bookstore and reviewing the issue.

There are asspects of lighting that we have yet to begin discussing on here.

[beckdg]

Originally Posted by Gold3nku5h

If your going to get these from a normal hardware store or supply shop, look for Warm White (WW) and Daylight (D)

if you look for these words be sure to check out ge bulbs first. you can also look for sunlight which should get you a kelvin rating closer to 5500 which also isn't bad for growing, but not great to rely on. we have to remember there are many bulb manufacturers, and they mark their bulbs differently. i use ge bulbs mostly for fluorescents because they are cheap, so this guideline is basically what i go by myself. if you decide to go with a higher quality or more expensive bulb you cannot rely on the keywords (Warm White (WW) and Daylight (D)). instead, you will be looking for kelvin rating and/or lumens strictly. the reason being that not every manufacturer labels the same colors the same... and not everyone uses those words even.

also if a fluorescent bulb is meant for the kitchen it is probably warm white (red spectrum or 3000k). these bulbs are not good for growth (only flowering) and do not always sustain life by themselves (depending on the plant and maturity of said plant).