Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 12/27/2011

Question
Dear Jeff, sorry about that inconviniounce about not giving you much info on those lights.However after read several articals about them i came to the conclusion that there are not what i need and are going back to the store. However i have one more question. i am feed up with messing with the compact lights because my grow rack which is 30 by 18 inches long which means there is alot of tangled cords and duck tape and it looks unprofesional and dangerouse. so in your opinion what is the best kind of floresent tubes so i only have to worry about a few cords insted of a jumbled mess i know that forty watt out put are good. however i have no idea about all this lumenes stuff. so in your opinion what is a good cheep nice looking way to light my rack. my spending limit is fifty dollars. Thanks For the Help. :)

Answer
Hi Robert,

What we use here in the nursery, and I have used for decades, are simple two-tube shoplight type fixtures.  These will give you four feet roughly of growing area, and work well with typical nursery flat trays.  In these fixtures you need to use either 40 watt, cool-white, T-12 type tubes, (48"), or 32 watt, cool-white, T-8 tubes. (48")  The T-8's are slightly less bright, but they maintain their intensity longer over the life of the tube.  T-12's are brighter at first, but dim after a couple of months.  T-12's are cheaper, however.  Here's some examples:  http://www.amazon.com/American-Fluorescent-Shop-Light-White/dp/B000KKNEYY/ref=pd  Here's the tubes for them:  http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-24400-40-Watt-Rapid-Fluorescent/dp/B000KKHTPY  (Notice they are around $1.00 each)  Here's some T-8's:  http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202504346/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&  (Be sure your particular fixture can use T-8's, but most will)

You'll probably notice I haven't recommend any special plant tubes.  The reason is they tend to be expensive, and just not as bright.  When talking about lighting, that is what lumens are all about; light intensity or output.  With carnivorous plants, that is the most important thing since most of them are high-light plants.  Cool-whites provide a good basic spectrum for most plants, and they have the most output per watt for a simple fluorescent without getting into the T-5, high-output tubes.(These require special ballasts just like HID lights.)  Spectral output gets more important with plants that are tricky bloomers.  Color Temperature is the figure used to talk about the spectral output.

In conclusion, you should be able to buy two fixtures, and tubes for them within your $50.00 budget.  That should give you quite a bit of growing space with high-quality light.  You can get most of what you need at places like Home Depot.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com