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lighting Grow Lights?

Very interesting, Mike. LEDs are relatively new to the plant biology scene. Widespread interest didn't occur until the mid 1980s. Since then, there have been lots of studies done, to include quite a few on the effects of various LED light spectrum's on plants. You'll find quite a few studies concerning the Orchid industry due to it's high demand and costs/profit ratio.

Here's a link to a small, rather confined test that was done in the same venue as what you're attempting:
http://rms1.agsearch.agropedia.affrc.go.jp/contents/JASI/pdf/society/69-1294.pdf

The end result of most tests show that a mix of 75% red to 25% blue was the most effective in total plant growth. These results have been duplicated about a zillion times.

I hope that you would include a test that incorporates this ratio of light.

I think you'll find that it will be your final choice for your seedling process.

It would be very interesting to see the results of your testing with only peppers. The testing will show either a confirmation of the 75/25 LED ratio or perhaps something entirely new in the field.

I would strongly advise you to keep precise records of your testing. Others in the industry may be very interested in your results as well. If proper method is applied, you may even get yourself published.

Good luck Mike!
 
Nat,

I also have a red/blue lamp. 160 red, 65 blue. It occupies the third chamber.

Last year, when I bought the first panel, the ratio was the same but it has a much bluer look to it. I liked it for seedlings, including peppers. I didn't keep it as close to the plants but they still grew into stocky seedlings. Also, and I maybe it was luck, those plants had zero problems with aphids while I had to battle daily with those creatures on plants under fluros a couple of feet away.

I read through part of test you posted. Was interesting to read that tobacco responded best to blue light. When I was young, dad raised tobacco plus we always had a couple hundred tomato plants. He sowed them at the end of a tobacco bed and the plants grew the same in their early days, reaching about the same height and internodal lengths, with tobacco having slightly lower distances between nodes. I noticed last year that good, strong pepper plants were about like tobacco.

I'll try to grab some pictures this afternoon once the lighting improves. The plants, at least the ones under the all red and all blue are remarkedly different. There is not as much difference between the all blue and the red/blue though the blue ones have slightly arger leaves.

Mike
 
Okay, I tried to snap some pictures of the plants. Keep in mind they sprouted on Wednesday, October 22 and until today, it has been rather cool upstairs.

These are the three flats side by side: Red, Blue and Red/Blue:

112allthree.jpg


Just the red one:

112red.jpg


The blue one:

112blue.jpg


And the red/blue set:

112r&b.jpg


Mike
 
The 71% - 29% split you have should prove the point if all other factors are equal. Are you getting ready to transplant the little things up to their armpits again? The reaction to transplanting should be dramatic in a few weeks under your test lighting. It looks like they are a bit stretched. Is there any way to increase the amount of lux that each batch is receiving?
 
Nat,

Unfortunately, no as far as getting more lux to them. I have the tops of the plants as close to the lights as I can. Most of the stretching came in the first four-five days and I don't know if there is a way to avoid that. That's one reason I left quite a bit of room in the cells - so I can add more potting soil. But if you look closely, the blue only plants show the least stretching.

However, last year I grew plants in 36 cell trays and though they were sort of leggy, they transplanted fine.

Mike
 
What types of peppers are you going to grow within those 864?

I'm doing 288 plants, but only 8 types.

I intend to sell the produce. It won't be a huge amount, but it'll give me an idea of what I need to go on to a larger operation.
 
Nat,

First, I have some extra fluros (3) and CFL bulbs plus enough lumber to build another chamber to go with the one I just built and the one from last year. I should have room for upwards of 1200 plants, maybe as many as 1500.

Here's the list of plants:
Sikkim Cucumber

Toms:
Brandywine
Green Sausage
REd Zebra
Beefsteak
Golden Monarch
Some type of Cherry
Roma
Delicious
Illinois
Buckbee's
A tomatillo
Peppers:
Hot Wax
Habenero
Jalapeno
Hot Wax
Cayenne
Bhut
Bell
Banana

Basil:
Sweet
Thai

Maybe a few others!

My goal is to make enough from selling plants to get the 300 watt LED lamp from this site: http://www.livingapartment.com.au/Products/Salad-Greens-Under-Lights/LED-Grow-Lights-90W-300W-600W

With it, I should be able to raise a very small garden next winter (onions, a couple of toms, some lettuce, broccoli, a couple of cucumbers and a pepper or two).

There really is a method to my madness!

Mike
 
To see how the plants react to moving to a new home, I selected the best looking one from each group and transplanted them into 3" square pots, burying them to about 1/2 ich of the leaves. If this works, it solves a couple of major growing problems - the initial skyrocketing of the plant resulting in a long stem. Secondly, I was worried about germination and having empty cells in trays. If I can transplant from those 288 cell trays to either 36 cell or three inch pots, all will be well.

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
To see how the plants react to moving to a new home, I selected the best looking one from each group and transplanted them into 3" square pots, burying them to about 1/2 inch of the leaves. If this works, it solves a couple of major growing problems - the initial skyrocketing of the plant resulting in a long stem. Secondly, I was worried about germination and having empty cells in trays. If I can transplant from those 288 cell trays to either 36 cell or three inch pots, all will be well.
Click to expand...
Nice collection of plants you've chosen, Mike.

With adequate lighting, your newly transplanted seedlings should do great. The stems will develop roots throughout the areas of the stem that are below the soil. Are you using any type of rooting hormone? If not, it may help you to do so in your watering solution.

I'll watch your seedlings throughout their grow.

Good luck to you man.

Nat.
 
Nat,

Never thought about the rooting gel, and I have a jar upstairs. I'll have to try it with the next group, perhaps as early as Wednesday. I think I need to find a faster way of adding potting soil, such as filling the pot and then poking a hole that the plant can fit in.

These plants are also about 1/2 inch below the bulbs - as are the pots. I can probably sell just plants in small, six-cell packs, especially to those wanting 15 or more plants. But there are lots of growers who are looking for just 2-5 plants and they typically like the bigger pots.

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
I need to find a faster way of adding potting soil, such as filling the pot and then poking a hole that the plant can fit in.
Click to expand...
One method I've seen is using a "loader". That's a small tube that can easily be lifted over the seedling. The seedling is "loaded" into the tube by one person, then the seedling tubes are placed into the partially filled pots where the remaining dirt is rapidly filled into the pots with no compression of the dirt. The tube is gently lifted from the plant and the dirt will fall into the hole that the tube was blocking. With two people working, I've seen several thousand plants done by two people in one day using this method.

The tubes can be toilet paper roll size tubes up to large food can size. Craft stores sell the cardboard tubes.

This allows you to put the dirt into the pot around the tube at a much faster rate than without the tube without fearing harm to the delicate stems.

With only a one shot, few hundred plants, I'm not sure if this would help you or not. The only time I've seen it in practice was at a nursery with tens of thousands of plants to be done by full time labor.

Good luck man. Transplanting is one of the hassles of container growing. It's truly a PITA.

Nat.
 
I've chucked the plants in the original seed cells, partly due to lack of room but also because there is no doubt the blue panels far outperform the red and the red/blue ones. Unless I can find ones that are at least 3" tall so I can fill the cell with soil after the plant gets over its leg growth.

Pics tomorrow evening on the two week anny of the plants joining the earth!

Mike
 
Well ladies and gents I have been using my lights that I posted previously and have new growth both in leaves and peppers, but some areas of the plants are wilting as are the peppers, could it be a lack of fertilizer?
 
Pepper Belly said:
Well ladies and gents I have been using my lights that I posted previously and have new growth both in leaves and peppers, but some areas of the plants are wilting as are the peppers, could it be a lack of fertilizer?
Click to expand...
I tried to refresh my mind as to the output of lux or lumens per/sq/area of your grow, but couldn't find a reference in any of your previous posts that I found.

How much light per/area are you using? Is it all fluorescent?

If it's less than 3,000 lux at canopy level, then you'll see a degradation in growth and fruiting in relation to that of a grow with 3,000 lux at canopy level, or better.

Plants will survive with less, they just won't grow as well. Depending on how much less, the rate of growth in vegetation will lessen and fruit growth will stop at some point.
 
NatGreenMeds said:
I tried to refresh my mind as to the output of lux or lumens per/sq/area of your grow, but couldn't find a reference in any of your previous posts that I found.

How much light per/area are you using? Is it all fluorescent?

If it's less than 3,000 lux at canopy level, then you'll see a degradation in growth and fruiting in relation to that of a grow with 3,000 lux at canopy level, or better.

Plants will survive with less, they just won't grow as well. Depending on how much less, the rate of growth in vegetation will lessen and fruit growth will stop at some point.
Click to expand...


I am using three in a row .50 cm (1.5m total) flourescent lights and this is the data, they are directly overhead about 1.2 meters above the plants:

6482_1.jpg
 
Your lights are probably too far away to deliver enough lumens to the plants. Most people keep them an inch or so from their plants.

Mike
 
My 105 watt CFL lamp, the one that I just got Friday and have been running just 16 hours a day, died. It didn't come on this morning. I called the company and they are sending a new one, without me having to send the old one back (it probably costs them as much to recycle it as the cost to them for the lamp).

But I found something interesting - I bought this bulb from Bulbs4Less.com then when I decided to get six more, I found a different company, 1000Bulbs. But in talking with the sales rep today, he mentioned I had an order for six more in the warehouse waiting to be shipped. Yep, they are the same company, located in AJ's neck of the woods - Garland.

So now I will get seven bulbs, hopefully soon.

Mike
 
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