Shop light set up
 

Hi all I'm setting up shop lights and I need to know what wattage I need? I know I need one warm and one cool but what else do I need to know?

Thanks so much!

Janie

I use 40 watt T12 cool white and the plants grow great.

Hi Janie,

This can get to be a real complicated issue. It varies for just growing transplants versus actually "growing plants indoors". There are a lot of good posts on this subject if you search for "shop light grow lights" you'll hit a number. The wattage is pretty much determined by the type and length of tube.

Flourescent lights have changed a bit in the past several years. The regular old four foot T12 fixtures and bulbs are still around, the least up front expense and a lot of people have grown a lot of great transplants just that way. Four foot units are 40 watts per bulb. You can get a cheap T12 shoplight at Lowes for about $10 and two Daylight spectrum bulbs for about $8. (Plenty of folks use regular cool white but I chose Daylight as I also plan to culture some aquatic plants for my aquariums.)

The newer T8 and T5 units are a better choice (unless up front money is really tight) with better power efficiency. That same four foot unit in a T8 will use 32 watts and actually put out more light than the 40 watt T12s. T5's can tend to get pricey and I only use them over aquariums.

Just this evening I set up two four foot T8 units from Lowes with GE daylight bulbs (2700 lumens at 6500 Kelvin color range). Cost to get two fixtures with , 4 bulbs (covers four flats of plants) was about $54 including tax. I addded another $8 for some 2x2s and bolts with wing nuts and washers to fashion my frame for suspending them. Total for my whole setup was right at $62. ;)

The T8 setup cost about $16 more total than it would have cost to use T12s but I think the T8s are well worth it. I'll try to get a picture and post it tomorrow evening.

Thanks for your replies. I only have 1 raised bed that I grow 6-7 heirloom tomatoes in. The lights are just for seedlings and I only need about a 36 inch light fixture. Will that hold lights that are strong enough? I want to go as cheap as possible.

Thanks so much for the info!

Janie

Sure will Janie. I suggest you have at least two bulbs in a fixture though and make sure you can hang your light/prop your plant trays so the light is really close (within a few inches) to the top of the seedlings...

Cheap as possible would be 2 fluorescent fixtures with 4 daylight bulbs. Total cost should be $40 more or less.

I bought 24 of the 4 ft electronic ballast shoplight fixtures from Home Depot several years ago when they had them on sale for $7 each. They have worked flawlessly in my light stand. I use 6 bulbs over 4 trays of plants with 6 levels on the light stand which gives me a total of 24 trays that can be in the light at a given time. By swapping the trays, I can run a total of 48 trays if I choose by putting 24 trays under the lights for 12 hours and then swapping for the other 24 trays.

DarJones

This may be the first thread on lights that I can actually understand. Thanks!

If you're only growing 6-7 starts you might get by with compact florescent daylight spectrum bulbs. I do and I use 2 of them about 2 ft apart on drop cords and I keep the bulbs 2 inches over the leaves as much as I can. These bulbs use 25 watts of elec and make equivalent to 100 watt incandescent light. All I have is a small garden of containers, so 1 each of 6 tomatoes and 2 peppers is about all I start. Might add a ground cherry this year. Good luck and happy gardening in 2012 whatever you decide. :)

Thanks everyone I will print this out and take it with me when I go to Lowes tomorrow!

Happy gardening!

Janie

There is no reason to buy the more expensive bulbs to start plants. Cool white work perfectly.

FWIW: [url]http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/anr/HGA-00432.pdf[/url]

Chrisk is quite correct that cool white will do fine for growing transplants. Definately skip anything calling itself a "Grow light".

Get "Cool white", "Sunshine" or "Daylight" ... any of those will do fine, just get the light close (within a few inches) of the plants.

I bought shoplights a couple of months ago, and I was told that the 40 watt fixtures are being phased out - not sure if that means you won't be able to get bulbs for them in future. The ones I bought at Home Depot are the new 32 watt 2 bulb fixtures 4 feet long, basic model for $18 apiece plus bulbs. One of these would be plenty to start plants for your size of garden. I hung mine in the windows, so the plants get some natural light as well, and that seems to work great. They give off a lot of light! I don't even bother with the overhead lights any more.
For some wierd reason, the four foot fixtures are a lot cheaper than short ones. I notice that the three foot fixtures in dedicated plant stands are shocking expensive, and the two footers at Home Depot are more expensive as well!

1" PVC light rack inspired by many other designs on the web. The top bar is not glued to the uprights so it breaks down into 4 pieces (plus the lights) to store. the entire thing is 2' deep x 50" long. Height can be whatever you choose. Lights are adjustable with the chain. This could be expanded by splicing a few more sections in or reduced to one light if you are starting only a few plants.

20' of 1" PVC
4 tees
4 elbows
4 caps
All purpose PVC glue

Drill 4 holes in the cross bars to slip the chain through. Use a nail through the chain for height.

Measure and cut the PVC carefully and lay flat while gluing so the angles of the tees are not all wonky.

Thanks for the photo....have been thinking of a stand with PVC and this really simplifies things. How many hours a day to you have your lights on? Thanks Chris.

My best think i had saved is old lights saved from 1970s in the celler They were only 24" long with 2 tubes in each. Perfect for a small growing area. They of course they use the old tubes Cool white. I did buy a new 6ft for another shelf. I only 3 sheets of plants.