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Hi Jake

I'm using an envirolite in my indoor growing area, not sure if you have them over on your side of the pond though?? There are various different types of lighting you can use but envirolites do have the advantage of not giving off too much heat.

As for your selection of plants, since vfts and some sundews require a cold dormant period they are not really suitable to be grown under lights all year round so it might be worth having a good think about the plants you intend to put in your grow room.

Hope that helps........

EDIT - forgot to say there's quite a few topics on lighting in this section so it would be worth reading those or try using the search facilty to bring up relevant topics.

Heather

Edited by LJ
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Hi Jake

I'm using an envirolite in my indoor growing area, not sure if you have them over on your side of the pond though?? There are various different types of lighting you can use but envirolites do have the advantage of not giving off too much heat.

As for your selection of plants, since vfts and some sundews require a cold dormant period they are not really suitable to be grown under lights all year round so it might be worth having a good think about the plants you intend to put in your grow room.

Hope that helps........

EDIT - forgot to say there's quite a few topics on lighting in this section so it would be worth reading those or try using the search facilty to bring up relevant topics.

Heather

I know about the dormant period and got that taken care of!!!

Thanks for your help

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  • 3 weeks later...
I Use a double fixtured "Base" with two coolwhite bulbs in mine. The fixtures you can get for under ten bucks, and the lights are like, four bucks a piece.

Heres the kind I use

http://www.aeilighting.com/T8EM.htm

CODY

Do you get a nice coloration with your 2 coolwhite bulbs? I've changed mine to warmwhites cause I think they give more lumen hence more coloration. Or am i mistaking?

Veek

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I am trying to build a grow room for Cephalotus, sundews, helis, and some vft...

Thanks Jake

Hi Jake,

How large is your grow room? The reason I ask is because it may influence the sort of lighting you require. Fluorescents are very good for growing plants under - as long as you choose the correct wavelength, but the light from them does not travel very far, therefore it does not cover a very large area. If the area you wish to illuminate is larger than could be covered by fluorecents then you may want to consider metal halide lighting. Metal halide will flood a large area with intense and penetrating light. The disadvantage with metal halide though is the heat the lamps produce so it is often necessary to extract the heat away from the growing area - especially in an enclosed space - as they can soon raise the air temperture considerably.

Do you get a nice coloration with your 2 coolwhite bulbs? I've changed mine to warmwhites cause I think they give more lumen hence more coloration. Or am i mistaking?

Veek

Hi Veek,

Colouration is influenced by the intensity of certain wavelengths of light. Blue light has the strongest effect on plant colouration due to its influence on anthocyanins. I don't know if the lumen output from warm white tubes is higher than coolwhite - is that something you perceive or have you checked the specifications for the tubes? The blue output is almost certainly higher in coolwhites.

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Hi Veek,

Colouration is influenced by the intensity of certain wavelengths of light. Blue light has the strongest effect on plant colouration due to its influence on anthocyanins. I don't know if the lumen output from warm white tubes is higher than coolwhite - is that something you perceive or have you checked the specifications for the tubes? The blue output is almost certainly higher in coolwhites.

Hi mobile,

I'm currently using 2 Philips 4' 36W 827 Warmwhite Lamps. The package says it gives 3350 lumen a piece. I don't know how much the Coolwhites give. (So it's my perception :biggrin:) I'm searching on the net for the answer as we speak.

However since I installed these warmwhites I do get more coloration then with the coolwhites. They don't color like I want to but still they get more reddish then before.

Edited by Veek
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Hi Veek,

The reason I asked if it was your perception is because the human eye is more sensitive to some colours than other - with green being the colour they are most sensitive to. I'm not being cheeky :biggrin:

I know that there are a few growers in this forum that use a mixture of warm and cool white fluorescents. In theory, the red spectrum encourages flowering and the blue encourages growth. Personally, I've been experimenting with metal halides (4000K colour temperature) - which means there is quite a high level of blue - and I've found that I get good colouration.

Edited by mobile
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Hi Veek,

The reason I asked if it was your perception is because the human eye is more sensitive to some colours than other - with green being the colour they are most sensitive to. I'm not being cheeky :tu:

I know that there are a few growers in this forum that use a mixture of warm and cool white fluorescents. In theory, the red spectrum encourages flowering and the blue encourages growth. Personally, I've been experimenting with metal halides (4000K colour temperature) - which means there is quite a high level of blue - and I've found that I get good colouration.

I just checked mine only have 2700K colour temperature. So by using bulbs with an higher colour temperature I probably get better growth and more colouration all together. Gonna check this one out.

Cheers

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Hi Veek,

The reason I asked if it was your perception is because the human eye is more sensitive to some colours than other - with green being the colour they are most sensitive to. I'm not being cheeky :tu:

I know that there are a few growers in this forum that use a mixture of warm and cool white fluorescents. In theory, the red spectrum encourages flowering and the blue encourages growth. Personally, I've been experimenting with metal halides (4000K colour temperature) - which means there is quite a high level of blue - and I've found that I get good colouration.

First of all sorry for partly hijacking this topic.

I went to the store today and found something that I'm trying right now. (Just wanted your expert opinion on this. :thank_you2:)

I've found Philips Aquarelle bulbs which have 10000K. Like it states on the back: Natural light - 10000K - Allows plant photosynthesis - Stimulates oxygen production - High energy in the blue area of the light spectrum - Outstanding colour rendering.

What do you think about these? I now have 1 warm white and 1 of these on each setup. I think that'll do the trick.

Veek

Edited by Veek
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I've found Philips Aquarelle bulbs which have 10000K. Like it states on the back: Natural light - 10000K - Allows plant photosynthesis - Stimulates oxygen production - High energy in the blue area of the light spectrum - Outstanding colour rendering.

What do you think about these? I now have 1 warm white and 1 of these on each setup. I think that'll do the trick.

Veek

I've never used a lamp with a colour temperature above 6500K (daylight) so I don't know what the effect on growth will be. Generally speaking, these higher colour temperature lamps are used for aquarium lighting as they simulates the colour temperature found at water depths. I don't know of any CP growers using lamps at this temperature so be sure to post your findings.

I found a datasheet for it here:

http://www.akva.sk/pdf/neon_philips_aqua_5278.pdf

Edited by mobile
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  • 1 month later...
Yes that is the one indeed. I'll surely post my findings here and if anyone has some experience with these bulbs, feel free to comment. :yes:

Hi Veek, just wanted to know how things worked out with your setup. Do your plants get a nice colour?

I'll have to buy some lighting too for the coming winter, and still don't have a clue what lamps to get.

Mine will be to keep my seedlings growing through the winter(VFT and Sarrs.)

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