Artifical light...

[trixie7777]

I was just wondering of anyone knows how many watts to use and what type of bulbs for artifical light. I want something that you can screw into a fixture and plug it into the wall.. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jenny

 

[Vertigo]

27w spiral compact fluorescent. $10. Will screw into a standard light socket. It can get a little warm, just remember.

This would be ok to start out with if you have a few plants or as supplemental lighting.

More than that and you would have to use at least two, or a different light.

Btw, did you figure out which one's you're going to grow to start out with?

 

[Cynic81]

Try the Other artificial light thread in this forum. There's also a good Lighting thread in the greenhouse forum.

From my own experience, my Leucos and VFTs have been happliy growing under a 1750 lumen 100watt equivalent Compact Fluorescent bulb (forgot what the actual wattage is). These are the energy saving bulbs you see sold in dept/hardware stores. They give the same amount of light as regular fluorescents in a smaller area, using much less energy and giving off much less heat. If you go with these, which I recommend as they fit into most regular 40-60 watt lamp fixtures, then get the highest wattage possible. Also keep an eye on the lumen count, the higher the better. And a good rule of thumb is that quantity of light is more important than quality.

Hope this helped, and good luck!

 

[jacko]

Also, try to get a 'Daylight' or 'Cool White' CFL, if possible. See the thread about compact flurocent bulbs ...