Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Hortilux Blue MH?
Has anyone here used the Hortilux Blue MH lamps?
I have a plant stand on a south side window, the only available window for it in this house. It gets decent sunlight from about September through mid-April, then it loses it. I'm presenly using a dual F40T12 fixture to cover two shelves of gloxinias and one kalanchoe that someone gave me, but has never bloomed indoors due to the low light. The top shelf is doing ok but not the bottom. I'm thinking of switching to a 150 watt MH lamp and fixture. I read at http://www.futuregarden.com/lighting...ing_lamps.html that the Hortilux Blue is supposed to be really good, but do they make them in 150 watts? I don't think I need 400 watts, and all that expense, I can't afford it, just to cover a couple of plant stand shelves. ( a 4' long and maybe 14" wide area altogether ) Does Hortilux make the Blue MH in 150 watt? Or other cost effective suggestions for me? Thanks! -- - Mama Bear |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Hortilux Blue MH?
Mama Bear wrote:
Has anyone here used the Hortilux Blue MH lamps? I have a plant stand on a south side window, the only available window for it in this house. It gets decent sunlight from about September through mid-April, then it loses it. I'm presenly using a dual F40T12 fixture to cover two shelves of gloxinias and one kalanchoe that someone gave me, but has never bloomed indoors due to the low light. The top shelf is doing ok but not the bottom. I'm thinking of switching to a 150 watt MH lamp and fixture. I read at http://www.futuregarden.com/lighting...ing_lamps.html that the Hortilux Blue is supposed to be really good, but do they make them in 150 watts? I don't think I need 400 watts, and all that expense, I can't afford it, just to cover a couple of plant stand shelves. ( a 4' long and maybe 14" wide area altogether ) Does Hortilux make the Blue MH in 150 watt? Or other cost effective suggestions for me? Thanks! What kind of lamps do you have in the F40T12 fixtures? Especially in the bottom fixture. How old are the lamps? I recommend changing the ballasts in your existing fixtures to electronic ballasts for F32T8 lamps. Try to get one with a ballast with a ballast factor (bf) greater than 1. Don't confuse this with the power factor, which you don't care about in this application. The new ballast will cost you about $20. I've found that plants really like Philips ALTO 830 series F32T8 lamps, and they are cheap (like, $3 per lamp.) GE and Sylvania also make very similar lamps. The lamps should last over 20000 hours and unlike F40T12 lamps and MH lamps, they retain 90% of their brightness all the way to the end. Bob |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Hortilux Blue MH?
On Mon, 29 May 2006 16:26:32 -0500, Mama Bear
wrote: Has anyone here used the Hortilux Blue MH lamps? I have a plant stand on a south side window, the only available window for it in this house. It gets decent sunlight from about September through mid-April, then it loses it. I'm presenly using a dual F40T12 fixture to cover two shelves of gloxinias and one kalanchoe that someone gave me, but has never bloomed indoors due to the low light. The top shelf is doing ok but not the bottom. I'm thinking of switching to a 150 watt MH lamp and fixture. I read at http://www.futuregarden.com/lighting...ing_lamps.html that the Hortilux Blue is supposed to be really good, but do they make them in 150 watts? I don't think I need 400 watts, and all that expense, I can't afford it, just to cover a couple of plant stand shelves. ( a 4' long and maybe 14" wide area altogether ) Does Hortilux make the Blue MH in 150 watt? Or other cost effective suggestions for me? Thanks! I've used a generic 400W metal Halide the last few years to start garden plants in the spring. As the bulb was getting old I went with a new Hortilux blue. I've never had such sturdy plants. The jump from flouresent to NH was huge, but this was a big jump too. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Blue moon - blue moon.jpg | Garden Photos | |||
In my garden July 27 Honeybee Airways 123, now arriving on the Blue Concourse (actually a Blue Butterfly delphinium.JPG (1/1) | Garden Photos | |||
POE 2007 - Vanda Pakchong Blue 'Devera' - deep blue LARGE vanda | Orchid Photos | |||
planting blue rug juniper and blue star juniper | Gardening | |||
Blue Tomatoes/Blue tomatoe seeds | Edible Gardening |