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Ott Lite... anybody familiar with them?

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
I came across this product at Home Depot. It is only 13 Watts, but supposedly good on the spectruam end of things for plants. Here's piece about it, from the website I Googled:
Planting the Seed

Houseplants are attractive, fruitful and constantly changing decorations that add softness and provide you with a touch of nature, indoors. However, because plants use light to produce sugars, starches and other substances needed, inadequate lighting will limit their evolution. We’ve got a solution – OTT-LITE® Natural Light Supplement™ products. Without burning leaves or blooms, or drying out soil, these specially formulated lamps give you the benefit of natural daylight indoors without the damaging heat. Only Mother Nature knows the difference.

Grow With Us

Benefits of daylight without the heat
Adjustable clamps and stakes for easy mounting
Telescoping shaft and flexible neck
Low heat won’t dry soil or burn leaves
Naturally balanced lighting
Testimonials

“We have been using OTT-LITE® (TrueColor™ lamps) in our plant growth laboratory for nearly 10 years now … OTT-LITE® (TrueColor™ lamps) are a must for healthy growth of all indoor plants!”
Gary D. Campbell, Laboratory Manager, AgriEnergy Resources


“Within two weeks of using the plant grow lamp it was obvious that even with one tube tied behind its back, the OTT-LITE® (lighting) clobbered the competition by growing nearly twice the size in the same time under the same overall conditions.”
Peter Benjamin of The Nursery News


Anybody familiar with it?
 
My mom has like five tall ott lights for her knitting. It's no better for plants than any other PC bulb, and if anything is overpriced.

It is REALLY nice for reading and knitting but it's nothing special. One 13 watt lamp isn't much anyway.
 
Hey jim =). I have seen these, but have never personally used it for plants. They seem relatively expensive, and small. I suppose it might be suitable for a small single plant with low light requirements, but the light is nothing special. My mom has one for her work area, and it isn't all that impressive. Hope this helps. What was the cost of the one you were lookin' at?

-Daniel
 
According to the site, there are a variety of uses and different products. Obviously, I'm only interested in CP's, as opposed to reading or knitting or crafts...

Home Depot sells it for $50.
 
Ott-Lite makes at least a few different bulbs. They're most famous for their craft lights, but they make plant lights too.

One of my terrariums is in a south window which is shaded by the neighbor's hedges. (bright, but very little direct light.) above the tank I have a 24" fluorescent fixture, with two bulbs: one is an Ott-Lite plant bulb and the other is a GE plant & aquarium bulb. I don't think I paid too much for the bulbs...not more than $20 each I believe. Anyway, with that set-up, no additional reflection, and a heating pad now that it's getting chilly, the plants inside are doing quite well: N. bicalcarata, N. rafflesiana, N. Judith Finn, couple Cephalotus, N. singalana, D. falconeri (not as red as it could be, but incredibly dewy), and D. scorpioides. I had P. moranensis, D. spatulata, and D. prolifera in there until recently, and they all looked good, too. D. madagascarensis had to be taken out; it wasn't getting enough light and got really leggy. (fairly odd combinations of plants, I know...I'm very low on space.)

one thing I think is interesting is the GE bulb has a sort of pink-purple hue, while the ott-lite has a blueish hue. regular fluorescents appear yellow compared to these two.

So, I don't know how well they work by themselves, but at least in combination with the GE bulb, they seem to work well for supplementing a window with dappled sun.
 
Warren & Emily: Thank you for the input! The mention of purple bulbs is reminiscent of an aquarium bulb called a Grolux bulb, that was specifically used for aquatic plants. I've been out of the tropical fish hobby for so long that I don't know if they exist anymore. I'm still fact-finding and plan to visit decent petshops to see what they all have. The Ottlite at Home Depot has been reduced to $50. I don't plan to use them for VFT's, but for Petiolaris Complex plants and Neps. I'll have to PM Vraev and see how things have gone since then.
 
well....apparently the ott-lite that I had was a regular one (not the one with a plant light bulb)...i.e., the bulb was changed by my dad after a year or so. The end light was yellow rather than the bluish white that you get from a full spectrum light.

Even then the best VFT colour and success I got was from using another table lamp: Lights of america full spectrum sunlight desk lamp. It gave my plants insane colour. The ott-lite was very feeble and not at all sufficient.

If you are looking for smaller lamps, I would suggest the philips daylight CFL bulbs. they are waaay better than the ott-lite. However, if u can spend 40$ on a lamp to just rip apart the stand and use the lamp thingy alone, get the lights of america sunlight desk lamp. AMAZING lamp indeed. :)
 
Do they sell them at Home Depot?
 
  • #10
I actually found them in costco. ;) :banana2:
 
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