Quote:
Originally Posted by halfway
I am a rank amateur,
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...and I'm a higher ranking Amateur! (or is it lower ranking!)
Either way halfway probably knows a bit more about it than I do, but I do know about growing vegetative only plants with High Output T5
lights underwater ;-) Figure that one out...
You need to figure out how many watts total you are running above your plants, add all the lightbulbs up multiply by 32 and you will get your total wattage for the system, now guesstimate how much wattage each plant is getting. T8's don't put out that many lumens (I think that's the term), or rather the amount of light they can direct at an object. We spend boatloads of money on
bulbs and the housings which direct the light to maximize plant growth. A couple hardware store shop lights just waste over 50% of the light they create.
Trust me I understand the not wanting to invest in an expensive lighting system. Consider how much you have invested so far, for non-fruit producing plants. All is not lost though...you can supplement the light you have using additional spectrum. Now I am not sold on the
led panels quite yet myself, I think they need a few more years until they really get good. Though I have heard some running the red spectrum LED light to add the beneficial spectrum of light. Quite recently in fact...though not for tomatoes ;-)
I would guess you might have to double your lighting, add additional spectrum of bulbs, Add some reflectors, take GPS's advice on your
nutrient program, and plant some basil to go with the yummy tomatoes you will be eating later this season.
FYI, I use the G.H. FloraMato nutrient for flowering and it may be used as a single part nutrient mix. I have had great results. That said, I still add additional supplements on top of that.
Good luck, and let us know if you get a picture of your setup.
Todd