In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Billy wrote:
In article
,
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

The Cook said:

This year I got a late start on my tomatoes. I started the bulk of
mine on 3/15 and a few more late arriving seeds on 3/27. I started
the first ones in the house with grow lights and the second ones in
the greenhouse. The first ones got leggy very fast and I moved them
to the greenhouse as soon as most of them germinated. They all went
outside as soon as it was warm enough. I set out the first block on
5/10 and the second one yesterday. The ones that I started in the
greenhouse look much better. Think I will bite the bullet and heat
the greenhouse next year and keep all of the tomatoes in it and not
try to start too early. Maybe slower germination but better looking
plants later.

I am betting that the later starting plants will be more successful
that the others. I remember reading somewhere that a healthy plant
resists insects better. I am guessing they also resist diseases
better.

Oh, yes, I agree that it doesn't pay to start too soon. Better to wait,
and have plants that are smaller but unstressed and never checked
in their growth. Which is one reason I'm happy with the LED lights,
as the plants avoid all the heat stress from the metal-halide lamp that
I used to use.

I started my plants on April 9 in Jiffy-9 peat pellets, transplanted
them into the 32-oz yogurt tubs on April 25 and took the tomato
plants outside for the first time on May 19, when our weather
finally broke mild again. After a few days of hardening off they
may get transplanted out. (Each year this depends on the way
the weather trends at the end of May.)

The peppers and eggplants won't be going out quite yet but they
can use the extra room under the lights now that the tomatoes are
outdoors.

Then there is T5HO florescent lighting, which I used this year, and am
very happy with.
4 Light T5 High Output Fluorescent High Bay Fixture
http://www.prolighting.com/4lat5flhibay.html
Features:

(4) 54W T5 High Output Lamps
5-Year Ballast Warranty

Specs:

20,000 Lumen Output
83 Lumens per Watt
95% Lumen Maintenance
20,000 - 30,000 Hour Lamp Life
98.7% Fixture Efficiency
239 Input Watts
120-277V 50/60Hz Programmed Start Ballast
-20? F(-29? C) Min. Start Temp


I almost bought one of those this year, but money is tight so I just
used my F32T8 lamps. (I also have a 400W HPS floodlight that works
pretty good, but I didn't use it)

Did you get one with a polished reflector, or bright white? (I would
probably get white to avoid hot spots)

Bob

By chance I got white. What do you mean by "hot spots". Irregularities
that focus the light onto spots? This looks like a regular shop light
with 4 florescent tubes. For lack of space, when I need to rotate trays
in and out of the light, the trays that are out will often get put on
top of the fixture, and there, they suck up a little heat as well.
A year ago these were about $200. In Jan. 2010, they were $149. Now they
are $119.

There's a comparison between florescent and L.E.D. at
http://www.verticalinteriorgarden.com/fluorescent-growing-light/
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html