I guess this question has been asked many times before but I haven't seen it recently. What kind of fluorescent bulbs does everyone use? Are the Sunshine ones good. And how about the full spectrum, are they worth the price over regular daylight ones?
What kind of lights do you use?
For seeds? for the house? for a greenhouse?
Duh! For starting seeds in the house under lights. Sorry I wasn't more exact. Just the effect of being in a gardening state of mind and thinking the rest of the world was too. :-)
I'm using T5 fluorescent lights, supposedly much brighter and cheaper to use. I have one 2' high output from Hydrofarm. The others from Home Depot are 1/2 the wattage and they come with warm bulbs, which I replaced with cool. So far so good...
One warm, one cool per fixture. Haven't tried the latest ones.
T5's are supposed to be brighter.. but I already had T12's... as they burn out I am going to replace mine with T5's...I don't see a difference between the cheaper and more expensive bulbs
T5 bulbs need a different fixture, can't be Interchanged. Supposedly they use less power. But if you want to keep your fixtures, what about T8s? I don't know, just asking...someone here will know.
I bought the cheapest shop light fixtures... they don't last too long... the ballast goes and I toss it.. so when they are shot I will replace them with T5's ... sorry I was not clear.. was a long day
I wondered about shop lights, read a lot about them after I already had T5s and thought maybe I spent more than I needed to. Good to know they don't last! Time will tell about mine.
Im using T8 6500 cool bulbs in shop lights hung on chain. Once you have germination, you dont need the heat, you need the (sun)light.
I've been using T8 Sunshine bulbs and am going to try some full spectrum to see if there's any difference. I have egg plant started under the Sunshine; they're about 1-1/2" high now and are doing well. I started the seed on 3-8 with bottom heat in a seed starting medium.
Does anyone have anything to say about the Sunshine and full spectrum bulbs as opposed to just regular daylight bulbs?
I don't see a difference with any bulb
I just had to move things around again- running out of space again- the tomatoes that were under the high-output T5 from Hydrofarm are twice the size of the ones under the lower wattage! I think it's a daylight bulb. So now I've doubled up on the others, trying 1 warm, 1 cool, to see if that works as well.
Pam