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-   -   CFL Growlight (http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1818)

Amigatec 10-30-2010 08:45 PM

CFL Growlight
 
3 Attachment(s)
I bought a 125 watt CFL Growlight and am trying to grow tomatoes with it.

furniture@finewoodstudio. 08-13-2011 11:32 AM

Think you will need more light and 2 spectrums
 
I tried to grow tomatoes with a CFL 200W grow light. Would get buds but they would never open. Learned that tomatoes grow and finish at 6500K, but bloom/ set fruit at 2800K. When I added a CFL 125W 2800k light the buds openned within one week and fruit set. I also added another CFL 200W 6500K to produce enough light so the fruit would ripen.

jamromhem 08-13-2011 02:22 PM

Something I would check with your CFL is whe K value of the bulb. You want it at 5000-6500k to let the plant grow. (6500k being a little better)

You don't need 1000Watts for a tomato plant :P

You could eaily get by with about 200-300W in flouresent tubes, and as the flowers start to set you just add some 2700K bulbs to the fixtures at about a 1/3-1/2 mix of 2700K to 6500k. (1 2700K per 2 6500k or an even mix)

crad 09-06-2011 10:59 AM

I do not know if it is cost effective for CFL as it takes to many lights I am struggling with my setup. but I am trying to grow several plants and I am trying it in a mixed setup. I am building new setup and going to grow tomatoes in one and peppers in another.

Derek 09-08-2011 02:26 AM

Hey Guys,

I'm having a similar problem with my tomato plants.

It has grown to a tremendous size, but its like "stuck in veg". The basil plant I have right next to it is doing great, but the tomato just puts out "pre-flowers" that just sit there. I'm going to have to do some major pruning, I don't have any space left in there for more useless greenery!




I was wondering if you guys know what color spectrum (like nm) the "bloomer" 2800K light mentioned above is?

I thought it was my light cycle (I've been running the lights 24/7. ) but do you guys think its the color spectrum? I've got 620,660,460,and 720 nm going.

GpsFrontier 09-08-2011 02:49 AM

Do you have any pictures of your setup? How big are the tomato plants? How old are the tomato plants?

crad 09-08-2011 11:21 AM

derek here is a link to some useful info for you.

https://eee.uci.edu/programs/gchem/RDGVISSpec.pdf

now you should only be running your lights 16 hours a day for grow and 12 hours for bloom. I am having trouble with the intensity of my light. I have six cfl and 1 t-8 on my plants and same as you described, I am ordering a MH HPS combo light setup this week so i can drive my light 5 ft. Cfl are only driving 18 to 20 inches and t8 is only driving 16 inches. neither are the correct light for my system.

Derek 09-08-2011 01:55 PM

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback!

There are sorta-recent pics of the plant on my other post here:

http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/for...o-attempt.html

There is a basil plant growing amidst the tomato, but it shouldn't be hard to tell them apart...

The plant is maybe 2 months old.

I got a 24 hour timer today, and I'll rig it up tonight and report back, hopefully with some flowers!

GpsFrontier 09-08-2011 10:02 PM

I cant see much in the pictures. As for lighting all I see is one LED light panel, and I don't see any florescent lighting at all. I was hoping to be able to see the placement of the light fixture/s in relation to the plants. If the one LED is your only light source, that's likely just not enough light for the plant to be able to do enough photosynthesis. Fruiting plants need more light than foliage plants. And both LED and florescent lighting are only effective within about 18 inches max. Any foliage farther away than 18 inches from the light source isn't getting enough light to do photosynthesis with. It's like trying to grow a plant that needs full sun, but putting it in a place that gets 70-80% shade.

Derek 09-08-2011 10:42 PM

Hi GPS!

There are no light fixtures other than the 144W LED panel pictured.

Its intensely bright, more than any other led panel I've seen, so I'm interested in seeing its solo performance.

I just finished pruning the crap out of everything in the grow closet, and have purchased a timer to begin running the lights on 12/12. I've been running them 24/7 and I'm getting the notion that that was a mistake.

If after a few weeks of 12/12 I still get no flowering action, then I'll add more lights!


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