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bower · April 5, 2018

hi SQWIBB and Loulac,

It hasn't been as simple as I expected, just to swap out an LED shoplight for the fluorescents. Greens were fine under them but had trouble with tomatoes when I moved them under the LED. The problems are explained in the research linked in this post:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....4&postcount=59

Tomatoes (and several other horticultural crops) have been known to react badly to the narrow spectrum in LEDs. So says the research on the subject. (there is variety susceptibility as well, so some may do better or worse than others).

So unless you invest in specifically horticultural LEDs - which are still quite expensive and out of my budget range - a simple shoplight swap out won't do it. I think there's further work to be done on the LED scene for hort, and also time for the price to come down. So I'm still waiting...

My tomato plants incidentally have recovered since I moved them under the old T8 fluorescents instead, although those that had the most damage are still a bit behind at 5 weeks. I was planning to use LED bulbs in those old fixtures, but our HD didn't have a suitable replacement in stock. In the circumstance, I'm relieved that I got the fluorescent bulbs after all.

April 5, 2018	#36
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	hi SQWIBB and Loulac, It hasn't been as simple as I expected, just to swap out an LED shoplight for the fluorescents. Greens were fine under them but had trouble with tomatoes when I moved them under the LED. The problems are explained in the research linked in this post: http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....4&postcount=59 Tomatoes (and several other horticultural crops) have been known to react badly to the narrow spectrum in LEDs. So says the research on the subject. (there is variety susceptibility as well, so some may do better or worse than others). So unless you invest in specifically horticultural LEDs - which are still quite expensive and out of my budget range - a simple shoplight swap out won't do it. I think there's further work to be done on the LED scene for hort, and also time for the price to come down. So I'm still waiting... My tomato plants incidentally have recovered since I moved them under the old T8 fluorescents instead, although those that had the most damage are still a bit behind at 5 weeks. I was planning to use LED bulbs in those old fixtures, but our HD didn't have a suitable replacement in stock. In the circumstance, I'm relieved that I got the fluorescent bulbs after all.