This year I cannot brag about the wonderful warm sunny conditions for outdoor growing here in northwestern Vermont. We've had a week of temps in the 40's and precipitation ranging from constant drizzle to absolute downpours. In fact, Lake Champlain has reached an all-time record of three feet above flood stage and many roads in the area are either closed or traffic is reduced to one-way. I'm OK here, as the property is several hundred feet from the shore, but many neighborhoods and even entire communities are virtually isolated and impassible due to floods. Frankly, therefore, I am increasingly envious of everyone else's wonderful displays of colorful desert blooms, while my entire collection is protected indoors but is showing no signs of a 'spring awakening' at all. This is what has led me to consider a huge splurge on an indoor grow light system. Here is a link to one that seems to accommodate the most plants, but before I spend the $$$, I need some confirmation that this will help cacti grow and bloom? I'm particularly interested in this one because it's made in VT and I'm into supporting local businesses.
http://www.gardeners.com/T-5-Light-Gard ... lt,cp.html[/url]
Advice on grow lights, PLEASE
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fanaticactus
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Advice on grow lights, PLEASE
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
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fanaticactus
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PapaBearJay
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fanaticactus
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- Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:44 pm
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Are they that much better? Is it the difference in wavelength or what?PapaBearJay wrote:Just wait for the near future when LEDs come down in price, then grab those.
@Andy_CT--You make me feel a bit better, as I consider you to be one of the 'benchmarks' of New England cacti. Patience is getting to be a scarce commodity, tho!
@Ian--I had a feeling someone might suggest that, but it's a question of expense now. I've followed several of the threads on greenhouses & I can see they are time-consuming and expensive for anything that's durable. Anything cheap will be ripped apart & be blown across the lake in some of the winds we have up here. Further, I've just finished having a 20' x 30' addition built on the house. Not ready for more construction right now.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
LEDs will be better than fluorescents one day, and probably cheaper too. Right now they (the ones you can buy) aren't better and they (ones remotely bright enough) definitely aren't cheaper. You might want to try them on a small tray of seedlings which is an ideal application.
Ironically, the linked growing shelves show one of the reasons why LEDs are often claimed to be better than other light sources. The fluorescent tubes are doing a very good job of lighting up the wall, so imagine how little light is actually landing on the plants
Ironically, the linked growing shelves show one of the reasons why LEDs are often claimed to be better than other light sources. The fluorescent tubes are doing a very good job of lighting up the wall, so imagine how little light is actually landing on the plants
--ian
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*Barracuda_52*
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Iann i know you try to discourage folks from growing under lights but the fact is if someone has no other way of growing the plants (AT THE MOMENT) and wants to help them do better they can be grown under lights if the correct lighting is provided. Now i have grown for yrs all sorts plants under lights, yes they do go outside durring spring summer and fall months to recive natural light but there is many months i cant have the plants outside, when ya run outa room in the windows or ya have windows not facing the way ya need um to for good lighting then the alturnitive is grow under lights till something better can be provided. Durring the winters sometimes my plants need to be indoors for more than 6 months due to our drastic craptastic Michigan weather i use fluorescent lighting, certain combo's of grow and daylight bulbs, sometimes a mix of grow and coolwhite, i keep the lights as close to the plants as possible, im not rich so cant afford fancy setups and diffrent lighting. But for me what i have done and used for YR's now has worked fine, i get growth, blooms and healthy plants. So insted of outright saying you cant grow under lights, try to point folks in the right direction and yes the plants are far better off in natural light, but point to the right combo of lighting to help folks GET BY till they can give the correct natural light outside.. Some folks have no backyard for a greenhouse, some folks have no balcony to place them on, some folks dont have enough room nor windows that they need, but does that mean we should tell them they cant grow plants to enjoy and care for when in reality they can. 
Just my 2 cents worth on growing under lights.. 
Just my 2 cents worth on growing under lights..
Last edited by *Barracuda_52* on Sun May 08, 2011 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A rescue dog is never to old to learn to be a real dog.
I start almost all my seeds under lights and I overwinter hundreds of plants under lights, but that doesn't mean that any old (expensive) light stand is better than putting them all in a cardboard box in OctoberIann i know you try to discourage folks from growing under lights
As for growing cacti under lights year round, you'll either need some very fancy lights or some very low expectations Where do I say you can't grow under lights? I've probably written more about growing under lights on this forum than most people have written full stop. Sometimes I will get the urge to spam the forum with the same hundreds of words all over again (maybe jumbled up a bit to look fresh), and sometimes notinsted of outright saying you cant grow under lights, try to point folks in the right direction
Feel free to search out lights together with my name and you'll find far more than you ever wanted or needed to know 
--ian
I know this reply is coming kind of late, but I wholeheartedly encourage anyone who plans to grow under lights to invest in a 400+ watt metal halide fixture. The electronic ballasts especially are very efficient (even compared to fluorescent fixtures), and the spectrum is ideal for most cacti and succulents. You can supplement this light with a smaller high pressure sodium lamp to simulate the onset of fall, and encourage blooms in those rare fall-flowering plants. I still suggest avoiding LEDs for the time being, as each one puts out a very specific wavelength of light. Generally LEDs for growing purposes will have to be arranged in a large, multicolored array to ensure the plants get a variety of wavelengths.