I have a long counter that gathers junk, in front of large windows facing east and under a huge fluorescent shop light. Good place to grow plants, right? Is it feasible (and reasonable) to swap out the ballast and tubes in the shop light to turn it into a grow light? Or should I just get rid of the fluorescent light and replace the whole thing with a purpose made grow light?
If starting from scratch, what would you use?
Una
snipped-for-privacy@att.net (Una) wrote in news:iakjch$gko$ snipped-for-privacy@doliolum.localnet:
See reply to other thread. If gro-light tubes fit the ballast and fixture why buy a new fixture?
Agreed It is usually a regular F40 style lamp with a "Gro-light" phosphor.
no ballast change necessary. just put in the tubes and go!
The florescent light may keep a plant warm, when height is adjusted closer to the plant. Not ideal for "growing", IMHO.
Look into the color spectrum of a grow light:
Kelvin Temperature Chart.jpg
I'd wait until you find out whether Proposition 19 passes in California.
Put some plants under it that resemble pot and sue the cops when they break down your door and stick machine guns in your face.
TDD
You should be able to just change the tubes and grow. I currently use the same fixtures that I formerly used as grow lights in my shop. All I changed was the bulbs.
Now keep in mind that this was for starting garden seedlings. If you want to grow something you can smoke you may need something different.
I had an aralia plant sitting near the door entrance to my apartment one time. The landlord asked me why I was growing marijuana.
pic:
Ask your local dope dealer.
Four decades ago when I was a college student, one of my classmates who was one of the biggest pot heads I knew, had a brother who was head of the city's narcotics unit. The stoned hippie freak visited the office of his brother and noticed the big pot plant on display there. One day when his narc brother wasn't around Goofy decided to strip the leaves from the plant and stuff them down his jeans. I don't think his brother ever figured out who defiled his office plant. The stoned hippie freak is probably a senior government official now. 8-)
TDD
Some florescent light will work but I agree with the guy that said ask a dope grower.
You should check for temp, humidity, light concentration and spectrum. In-door plant growing is a science. In the case of 420 you have to check for a lot more. (Like cops):(
Jim
Leaves? He missed the basic concept ... but I guess the cops took all the good buds.
BTDT- I didn't change anything. I bought 'warm' lights and supplemented with a 60 watt incandescent. Some time before the advent of gro-lights I read it was supposed to provide the ends of the spectrum that fluorescents lack.
I've grown tomatoes, herbs, and cannabis with no problems from legginess or lack of chlorophyll. My problems in my basement have been more involving temperature and humidity.
Jim
I am tired of growing pot herbs (heh) that mash themselves against the window.
This fixture has just 2 light tubes, and not much in the way of a reflector. I'd like to keep it up high, out of my way, which means it has to put out more light. The ballast in it now makes a noise that is annoying, so I almost never use the light. I need to know more about these things; I don't know if this one has a "starter" or not.
Waste heat in the room is good because the room needs supplemental heat most of the year. Lights differ in how much of the heat they put out is radiated down on the plants.
Fluorescent light conversion kits are for converting shop lights to grow lights?
Una
I worked a prison that had a Vo-Tec horticultural class. Staff found a leafy pot plant and confiscated it, and put it in a window in the supervisors office.
Went to work one day and somebody had stripped the leaves off. Maybe they got selfish, and never let the buds grow out. At least they could have thrown out the stalk and container. Nobody arrested!
If it was a male it probably didn't matter.
Yeah. Can't depend on a prisoner, even when you need to.
For tubes: Get same-length (probably 4-foot) grow lamps, available at home centers and some hardware stores, likely also the usual online sellers including bulbs.com.
For ballast: (Assuming 4-foot F40) If the ballast is rated for F40 lamps and it is of the longer of the two sizes ("commercial grade"), then keep it. If it is of the shorter "residential grade" (stool specimen) or it is not rated for F40, replace it with a "commercial grade" one rated for F40, preferably one rated for both 40 watt and 34 watt "lamps" (bulbs) used in pairs.
Better still if the ballast is an electronic one. Pay attention to the wiring diagram - electronic ballasts often have different wiring diagrams than old-tech ballasts have, sometimes even different from other electronic ballasts. Make sure you have your ballast configured for the number of "lamps" (bulbs) that are connected to it, with compatibility for both "true F40" and 34 watt "energy saver F40".
If the grow bulbs are 2-footers (F20): Most "preheat-start" ballasts (need starters) only deliver about 16-17 watts to those. (They tend to also be compatible with 15-watt.) Many "trigger start" ballasts easily get "cranky" and/or (often both) appear to me to often underpower
20-watters, especially if they are also rated to be compatible with 15-watters. However, replace such ballasts only if you can get a good electronic one rated for 20-watt. If you have an electronic ballast option (including a wiring option) good for 20 watt and not any wattages less than 18 watts, use that. Otherwise, live with the existing ballast. If you have a 2-footer ballast for 17 watt "lamps", then replace it with something good for 20-watters. (Unless it has a wiring option that makes it compatible/rated for 20-watt and not with/for 17-watt.) Ballasts for 17-watters will significantly underpower the usual 20 and even 15 watt long-existing fluorescent bulbs, except for ballasts with an option for wire connection change to power the more-current-hungry 20 watt ones. An electronic ballast (even if distinguished by wiring configuration option) that is compatible with 20-watt and not 17-watt should do well.
Spectral utilization of plants is not a good match to either any usual solar or daylight spectrum nor the spectral response of any mammal's eyes, nor that of most non-mammal animal eyes.
Strangely enough, many fluorescent lamps are surprisingly nearly equal in usefulness to many plants. One reason is "quantum efficiency" - red wavelengths where plants work best is where fluorescent lamp phosphors have higher "Stokes loss", and blue wavelengths where plants second-best-utilize (according to some sources only slightly better than less-utilized green) are counterbalanced by lower "Stokes loss". If you want to use ones designed for lighting purposes, my favorites are lower color temperature ones of "triphosphor" formulation and color rendering index rated to be in the 82-86 range. Higher color temp. whiter ones waste more output in green, but also better-utilize a wider range of UV mercury radiation to produce slightly more photons (low-luminous-efficacy blue ones that plants can use). I would use 82-86 CRI rated 3000 to 4100 Kelvin, higher towards 4100 when blue requirement is greater, 3000 for lesser-moderated growth (preferably with blasting with lots of light that may largely satisfy any blue light requirements), 3500 to "split the difference".
I discuss this more in the following web page of mine:
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.