I was looking round for plant lamps. Ended up buying a Phillips plant and aquarium T8 tube. Been reading, but no really good info. I'm not growing a big crop, just seeds. I'm just trying to keep them warm right now. Got heat and halogen lamps. There are various CFL's and I have a few dozen myself, of different colors. I know you need UV of some sort. In the past I have used black lights, not for plants. there are at least two types of Black Lights or BL. One type is filtered, blue tube. The other looks like a regular florescent and when its on looks dim unless it fluoresces something. I know these have a good UV output since when I used them, would bleach out colors pretty good on objects close by, but is not the hazardous germicidal types. The only thing I know will work is metal halide arc. Maybe some automobile arc lamps ??
In years past, growing pepper seeds and stuff, just put them in upstairs windows. Basement is rather cool right now, and the seeds are not really working well. Is there any problem of seed being frozen through the mail ???
There are low energy LED lamps now available for indoor cultivation... They give out the right spectrum of light and generate no heat, which cuts the electricity right down.
The same mechanism that allows cannabis to grow (Chlorophyl + sunlight, carbon dioxide & water ---> glucose glucose --> cellulose glucose + ATP ---> growth) allows all green plants to grow.
Cannabis grows in dirt or with hydroponics. Is that any reason not to grow other plants that grow in dirt or with hydroponic?
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The Color of Plants on Other Worlds Scientific American April 2008 (Available at better libraries near you.)
pg. 48
The energy spectrum of sun light at Earth¹s surface peaks in the blue-green, so scientists have long scratched their heads about why plants reflect green, thereby wasting what appears to be the best available light . The answer is that photosynthesis doesn¹t depend on the total amount of light energy but on the energy per photon and the number of photons that make up the light.
***Whereas blue photons carry more energy than red ones, the sun emits more of the red kind. Plants use blue photons for their quality and red photons for their quantity. The green photons that lie in between have neither the energy nor the numbers, so plants have adapted to absorb fewer of them. ***
The basic photosynthetic process, which fixes one carbon atom (obtained from carbon dioxide, CO2) into a simple sugar molecule, requires a minimum of eight photons. It takes one photon to split an oxygen-hydrogen bond in water H2O and thereby to obtain an electron for biochemical reactions. A total of four such bonds must be broken to create an oxygen molecule (O2). Each of those photons is matched by at least one additional photon for a second type of reaction to form the sugar. Each photon must have a minimum amount of energy to drive the reactions.
The way plants harvest sunlight is a marvel of nature. Photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll are not isolated molecules. They operate in a network like an array of antennas, each tuned to pick out photons of particular wavelengths. Chlorophyll preferentially absorbs red and blue light, and carotenoid pigments (which produce the vibrant reds and yellows of fall foliage) pick up a slightly different shade of blue. All this energy gets funneled to a special chlorophyll molecule at a chemical reaction center, which splits water and releases oxygen. The funneling process is the key to which colors the pigments select. The complex of molecules at the reaction center can perform chemical reactions only if it receives a red photon or the equivalent amount of energy in some other form. To take advantage of blue photons, the antenna pigments work in concert to convert the high energy (from blue photons) to a lower energy (redder), like a series of step-down transformers that reduces the 100,000 volts of electric power lines to the 120 or 240 volts of a wall outlet. The process begins when a blue photon hits a blue-absorbing pigment and energizes one of the electrons in the molecule. When that electron drops back down to its original state, it releases this energy?but because of energy losses to heat and vibrations, it releases less energy than it absorbed.
The pigment molecule releases its energy not in the form of another photon but in the form of an electrical interaction with another pigment molecule that is able to absorb energy at that lower level. This pigment, in turn, releases an even lower amount of energy, and so the process continues until the original blue photon energy has been downgraded to red. The array of pigments can also convert cyan, green or yellow to red. The reaction center, as the receiving end of the cascade, adapts to absorb the lowest-energy available photons. On our planet¹s surface, red photons are both the most abundant and the lowest energy within the visible spectrum.
Or Aerogarden. I have one that I cycle through various herbs and lettuce. When I tried it with peppers and tomatoes the plants grew nicely but only produced a tiny number of fruit. No idea if it was for lack of pollen in the air. It's a small but effective product for its niche of small amounts of small plants. Great for flavoring soup in the kitchen.
Got one for Christmas and am growing the herbs. Figure it will cost at least twice as much for the electricity used as for the herbs obtained. It is cute though and makes a nice decoration for the living room.
Not price efficient. They give you fresh from the plant herbs for most of the year. My wife has suggested buying a second one so there is always at least one supplying fresh from the plant herbs. Herbs cut under a minute before putting in the food are so much more delicious.
Let me say first that it is feasible but unlikely that your seeds were frozen (damaged) in transit. Many toms can overwinter in freezing temps. If they are not germinating it can be for many reasons. your humidity, pH, temp. photoperiod,...Try The new seed-starters handbook, Nancy Bubel.
As for lighting, it is hard to give you the info you seek w/o knowing what type (i.e. HO),or wattage and length tube you have. You also need a bit of understanding on light spectrum as it relate to plants, not the Amazon book rip on biology billy is selling. If you have the T8 Phillips 865 fl you have a really good light, runs about 95 lm/w, that is more than adequate for germination. Most FL tubes are 32 w running 2000-2500 lm (( 50-62.5 lm/w). 60 lm/w is a good median to evaluate light preformance on. Just know the CRI and Color Temp info are not important except to split hairs. You do not need a BL, or any additional UV wavelengths nor the additional CFL or halogen you mention. If you are using the Halogen for a heat source, that is a waste of electricity and you need to watch drying out your grow media. Use a heating mat or some form of bottom heat instead. Certain CFLs are better than others, such as the Edison base ( standard household socket) 68 W CFL (
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Lumens) (~62 lm/w), as are the T5s ( 5000 lm per tube).
More info? just search for words like Photosynthesis light spectrum or Photo synthetically Active Radiation (PAR) and phototropic periods. Also look @ the ~400nm and the ~600nm. There are hundreds of charts and graphs around to help you and actually check what folks will tell you. If you want more info, just ask and I will try to point you in the direction.
Love the concept, size, etc, but IMO the Aero Garden lacks in performance, maybe better as LEDs come in to their own and prices drop. I do not however expect the price point of the A/G to drop. A/ G is more marketing than preformance. I believe the A/G uses the 2 pin flat CFLs in the range of 26w/ ~1500 lumen so depends on if your model is the 1-2-or 3 lights model as to how much electricity it used. This link has a power cost estimation chart to help you.
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a 2 light model would be ~ 60 ws, that should not cost much. To further save you can cheat the seed packs and the nutes to save on propriety costs.
OTOH the A/G is a bit like putting a 16 Horse lawn garden engine in a F150 and expecting it to pull a trailer at hiway speeds. Those little lights have no horsepower to do much, even with a high ambient levels and certainly will not penetrate to much of the lower levels of the plant. If a bit mechanically inclined , you can do a better setup for ~ same cost, perhaps not as compact or as pretty but have a real kitchen lettuce herb garden 24/7 365 in say a 2-3 sf space vs your 1 sf counter top.
Love the concept, size, etc, but IMO the Aero Garden lacks in performance, maybe better as LEDs come in to their own and prices drop. I do not however expect the price point of the A/G to drop. A/ G is more marketing than preformance. I believe the A/G uses the 2 pin flat CFLs in the range of 26w/ ~1500 lumen so depends on if your model is the 1-2-or 3 lights model as to how much electricity it used. This link has a power cost estimation chart to help you.
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a 2 light model would be ~ 60 ws, that should not cost much. To further save you can cheat the seed packs and the nutes to save on propriety costs.
OTOH the A/G is a bit like putting a 16 Horse lawn garden engine in a F150 and expecting it to pull a trailer at hiway speeds. Those little lights have no horsepower to do much, even with a high ambient levels and certainly will not penetrate to much of the lower levels of the plant. If a bit mechanically inclined , you can do a better setup for ~ same cost, perhaps not as compact or as pretty but have a real kitchen lettuce herb garden 24/7 365 in say a 2-3 sf space vs your 1 sf counter top.
I got 200 watts of light in mine. But it is essentially a worthless piece of equipment. Everything needs transplanted elsewhere or growth gets stunted. Everything eventually will get rot anyways. $30 electric bill a month for $2.00 worth of plants. And its a bitch getting the roots out of the thing.
Dog....Check your facts and ensure we are talking apples to apples. You maybe have 200 W equivalent from your A/G lights, a common marketing ploy for CFLs. The A/G models use 1, 2 or 3 flat CFL lights=85. But they are all the same light. This is their propaganda and their cost projections:
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as I said, you can do the math to figure your cost, 60 watts running 18/6 is not going to cost much as was pointed out. I=92ve been doing CEA since 89 and have a 400w HID I run that is half of your monthly cost claim and its on 18/6.
Again, do not get caught up with trying to equating the watts with the energy a plant needs at any one particuliar time. Lots of variables in the equation. Just know, it is the amount of energy( EV, FC,or Lms) that the plant receives that is important. IMO, unless you are really tricky and can manage your setup and plants well ,
200ws of reading light is not going to flower your Strawberries, Toms or your grass as it sounds like you have found out.
So despite their attempts to hide priority information so you have to buy from them, I have found other source bulbs for what the A/G use, google for a 2 pin, flat CFLs, rated @ between 21-27w ea and ~1500 lumen. See if that is your bulb. Please feel free to fact check.
Yes,I agree the A/G is essentially a worthless piece of equipment. IMO the A/G is a toy DWC or a baby bubbler, if you prefer. It can be build better and for a fraction of the cost.
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