I'm searching for light of full spectum to grow indoor the hot peppers before put outside home. I need help with the lights, i've seen some advises to use full spectum light over 70W. The problem it's the budget, i see some optios over 70€ and i dont know if there are some "cheap" options.
Above the selection of peppers Seeds that i've adquire.
Thanks to all, and all the tips are welcome.
by Perezitosniper
6 Comments
The cheapest option is a regular LED light bulb. I use 12W 6500K bulbs (with the frosted domes removed) in regular light fittings. If you’re using it to bring on seedlings to plant outside then you may only be using it for a few months each year, so it’s not worth spending a huge amount. Also, I get great results with ordinary bulbs – so I don’t consider it as an ‘inferior’ solution.
Im going to brake the illusion, because that costs a lot of money at the beginning. Forget advertisement and buzzwords related to lights. Full spectrum light means it has decent radiation in a preferably 400-800+ nm range. So its like daylight. Mixed colour lights are not good, because on the spectrum they are just spikes. You see white light because your brain mixes the red and blue. Do not buy purple (blurple) lights.
What you are looking for is a led light, that has an actually “white” light using white light diodes. Make sure it has adequate cooling (aluminum baseplate, thick design). Try to buy a light that has a driver already, because pairing and dimming can cause problems if you are not familiar. Make sure it has dimming. Go for Samsung leds if possible, they are trusted and well documented. The cheap chinese lights work too, but you need to look at those case by case and they have a high probability to turn out not ideal. Keep in mind that the newer and better led diodes have highes efficiency than cheaper alternatives. So wattage only count as a comparison if you look at lights using the same diode.
Sansi was a cheap powerful brand a few years back. Would expect to see them in Europe too
For cost effectiveness, look for the highest K value and lumens. Grow with them and learn with cheaper lights. Once you’re feeling comfortable you can spend more but I’ve done great things with high K, high lumen garage lights.
Don’t over complicate and your peppers will be beautiful!
Good luck this season!
In the US you can get a decent 70w grow light for $40, which is fine if you just need to babysit some seedlings for a month or two until frost has passed.
For just trying to grow them to transplant out you don’t need that much light. Fluorescents (CFL or tube) are fine. Probably would want 50W or so. For $40 I got 2x 40W LED bars I use for starts and they’re good too.
If you want the plant to fruit indoors you will want nicer lighting.