In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

On 5/21/2010 11:01 AM, Billy wrote:
In article
,
Pat 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

This for $119 vs $627 (LightBlaze 400 LED Grow Light)

http://www.amazon.com/LightBlaze-400...2NSGA0G/ref=sr
_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1274457331&sr=8-1


Did you see that they have a 30000 lumen version for $149?

Bob

I don't know where you are going with this. How about (2) 20,000 lumen
for $238 vs. $627?
--
- 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

The weirdest affair to get acclimated to was how odd *the blow of the world* looked afterwards fussing over the plants a bit; aggregate took on a audibly blooming after-glow. The LightBlaze 400 puts out added ablaze than the GlowPanel 45. and is easier to adhere and adjust, but I anticipate if you put together several GlowPanel 45 abound lights you could get the aforementioned results.