by Dan Belkie
Do I need a Window?
6:09 pm in Uncategorized by Dan Belkie
Hi guys!
I have been doing some reading on this site. Pretty cool stuff!
One question though….. I dont really have a big window….. any change I can grow with LED lights? If so does anyone have any links or resources I can look at?
Thanks
Dan
LED Grow Lights are still pretty experimental. None of the really big suppliers carry them and any you do find are usually from companies that dissolve in a few months. You could do your own DIY, plenty of resources on the net, but I would rather invest in CFL or Halogen. You basically need a bulb, ballast and reflector and you could grow it in a closed space like a basement.
The window farm design is really supposed to be used in a window, in conjunction with supplemental lighting. The lighting methods mentioned are not meant to replace natural sun light.
@hardwarejunkie Halogen?!?!
As HWJ said; LED’s are really not a great option yet. Even if you make a DIY one, the cost will be very high for a big enough set up to grow one mature plant.
The basic WF design is a simple way of using light from a window. If your growing from a bulb, you should build your set up around that (plus that’s easier to do).
How small are your windows. It wouldn’t be too hard to make a smaller WF for yourself. From there you could add a little light with some CFL’s or some T5′s.
Definitely do not use halogen, or any incandescent for that matter, they are wildly inefficient. Ballasted gas discharge is definitely your best current option accessibility-wise, CFLs are the least costly in terms of set-up. Sylvania or GE have 55w CFLs at any store that sells bulbs that are currently your best bet in terms of luminosity per watt. They put out about 70 lumen/watt, compared to 64 l/w for a 42w, and the efficiency goes down with wattage. And any higher wattages tend to require a different socket, are down in the ~50-65 l/w range, and cost 3-4x as much. The 55w bulbs were like $12-13 where I looked. You would need a few of this for a windowfarm, probably at least one with a reflector per plant or two if you are only using electric lighting. CFLs are better for a vertical garden than standard fluorescents, because they give more flexibility in where you can place them, and the light source is better contained so you can more easily direct it. And if you have a little more money to spend, you can get 150w HPS lamps for < $100. And those do ~110 l/w, but they get a lot hotter than CFLs so you need to mount the fixture further away, and (without going too into detail) the HPS lamps are somewhat less efficient per lumen than CFLs. If you do not plan to use any window light at all, I would recommend constructing a small reflective box for your garden, so as to utilize as much of the light from the lamps as possible. If you have interest in LEDs, the commercial ones are not quite there functionally, and particularly pricey. Though LEDs are far more efficient. And if you have interest in building your own, do some research and go at it, I plan to look into it soon, I have been supplementing with LED light ropes, but presently have no way of knowing if they are helping at all, haha. I found the research done here (http://myfolia.com/gardens/13966-experimental-lighting-garden/journals) to be pretty helpful. Good luck!
Sorry I meant Halide not Halogen. Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) are what your looking for. Typically they are more expensive then CFLs though.
@hardwarejunkie Oh good. You can grow under halogen or incandescent, but there are much better options. i remember a book I read many years ago, in some university library, the book was published a long time ago. It was clear that florescents hadn’t been around for all that long and mercury vapor (MV) was a brand new thing that they hadn’t tested yet. Anyway they did many growth studies with huge inconsistent lights in water cooled hoods.
@jamesnutter I’ve played with some HID (high intensity discharge) lights (the family of lights including MV, HPS, & MH). From my experience HPS’s are far better than MH which are much better than CFl’s which are better than T12′s. The HPS results in slightly more stretchy plants than MH, but the plants grow faster under the HPS (I’m quite sure of this, though I have not done anything resembling scientific testing yet). The intensity of an HID is something you just can’t get from a CFl, which is hard to quantify.
But then again,when it comes to practical use; I have 8 four foot floros in use now, and a 400watt HPS in a box in the cellar collecting dust.
You can get a 70watt HPS security light for about $40 at home depot, and Lows once sold a 150watt HPS security light (and may still). I made one of the 70watters into a little grow light with a crude custom hood. It can bring a small tomato plant to fruit with no natural light, and with no singes of stress. Similar wattage of CFL’s could do the same, but I suspect much slower.
Still trying to get all of the components together to get my 1st wf functioning. A comment on the CFL bulbs they very dangerous if broken release toxic mercury into your house with an associated $30,000 hazardous clean up fee. The politicians have outlawed incandescent & after 2012 or sometime you will not be able to buy regular lite bulbs. I’d rather pay for the electricity as I can’t afford the clean up robbery!
Seeks
I have broken CFL lights and was unaware of the mercury. Since then I have done some research, and read about some ridiculous fees for clean up. I am of the opinion that as long as you air out the room for a bit, there won’t be a problem. There isn’t THAT much mercury in the bulbs.
I really don’t think people should shy away from these bulbs just because of some horror stories.
Also, I do have some experience growing food without windows. I have a mini shower garden that I start my seedlings in and I have been growing some broccoli and swiss chard. They are basking under 6 cfls. You can purchase inexpensive shades and sockets for them that have a clamp on one end which makes it really handy to arrange them. I am using a shower curtain rod with the lights clamped onto it, and I can raise and lower the lights as necessary. Also, using aluminum foil to seal in as much light as possible is really important.