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Small Light for seedling tray...

Ok... I've gonna plant some S. flava, and some D. anglica seeds together in a seeding tray, near thebeggining of september, so that they have the winter to germinate, and grow a few leaves, and then I can give them fresh air, outside, in the spring and summer... That should give them a good start.

I was wondering tho. All of the seedlings that I've had were not very vigerous, and I know its kuz of poor lighting. If I stuck a cheapo plant bulb into a desklamp, and directed the light STRAIGHT at them... Would that suffice till spring? It would be the lamp and the seedling tray, one on one... I could place it as close or as far as i wanted from eachother... Its incandescent, but its blue or sumthing, i can get those from my work... There are also bulbs though, that are regular bulb shaped, but they are silver...

Anyways. What can I do with a desk lamp for a single seedling tray? Oh yea... Itwill also keep them warm...
 
The consensus among plant growers seems to be that incandescent grow lights don't work. Even if they produce the right spectrum of light, they will be too hot to put the plants close to.

You can get compact flourescent bulbs that fit into incandescent fixtures and provide better light with less heat. I've used one before for lighting a try of utrics (of course) and they did really well. Certainly better than if I'd used an incandescent bulb.

Another option is one of those disposable flourescent fixtures made by GE. They make a plant specific one, but you would proabably be just as successful with the cheaper general purpose one. They are around CDN$15 from Canadian Tire. I used these in my first terrarium, and the plants grew well.

Of course you can always go down to the home despot and get a full-on shop light for about CDN$16, plus a couple of plain cool white bulbs for CDN$1.50 each. If you have the room, then this is the by far the best option.
 
Ok thanks.
I'll be getting some shop lights soon, but i just want this for now, for my seeds. I'll try the mini flourecents...

thanks alot!
 
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