Hmm, waiting for this plant to grow is taking forever, however I do check on it a lot during the day and every day it grows and moves a little bit. I ordered twenty more seeds from seedrack.com a few days ago, I hope they get here soon, I want to get at least five more plants out of them, but I think I can do better than that. If you need help on germinating seeds, don't be afraid to contact me, I will be happy to answer questions.
I think today I will write up another guide, but today it will be on light.
As most of you know household lamps are usually Incandesant, fluorescent, and halogen, however growing with these types of lamps will take forever, because they do not emit the correct spectrum of light.
The Sun emits every and all spectrums of light, so that’s why plants can grow just fine outside in any season, for indoor hydroponics or just indoor growing we have to try and find a light that mimics the sun as closely as possible to achieve maximum growing potential.
Fluorescent type lamps do put out some blue and red light, so you can grow with them, however they put out lumens (A Lumen is a measure of how much light a lamp produces) in a wide section and they don’t put out very many lumens per watt (I have two 80w 4' fluorescent lamps and I get about 8000 lumens, which sounds like a lot, but it isn't). Use fluorescent lights for cloning, young seedlings, and small plants, and you can keep these lamps about 4" from the tops of the plants, because they don't get very hot.
Grower's commonly use Metal halide and High Pressure Sodium lamps which are called High intensity discharge (H.I.D.) lamps. Their wattage can range from 150, 250, 400, 600, and 1000 watt. These lamps require a Ballast to be able to run, because house current doesn't supply the amount of amps to run one of these bulbs, so a ballast converts your household current and turns it into super duper H.I.D. current. Be careful when using ballasts and lights, a typical circuit breaker can distribute 15 amps, so if you plug in a 9 amp ballast, and a 3 amp fan, your still ok, but if you decide you want toast, and you plug in a 6 amp toaster, you are at 18 amps, and the fuse will blow or, the breaker will switch, shutting of the power to your lights. There are three parts to an H.I.D, the ballast, which plugs into the wall and allows you to use an H.I.D. The hood, which transfers the light going away from your plants, back to your plants, as well as a house your bulb, and of course, the bulb itself.
The Hood; no matter which way you place your bulb, vertical, or horizontal, half of the light is traveling in the opposite direction of your plants, the way you use all of that light, is with a hood. Hoods come in many sizes and shapes, choose one accordingly, if you are trying to serve many plants with one light, get a wider hood, if you are doing small plants in a compact area, get a hood that focuses light on a smaller area. Light increases coverage area, but diminishes in intensity the farther away it is, and increases with intensity but lowers in coverage area the closer it is. You will achieve maximum benefit of H.I.D.s if the lights are always 12 to 18 inches above the tops of the plants. So with that in mind, choose your amount of lights, types of hoods, and intensity of lights to fit your needs. The only other way of utilizing all of the light without a hood, is to place the bulbs lower than the tops of the plants, and in between plants, this is commonly used where many large are grown, and isn't really worth the trouble if your just growing at home, or growing small plants.
Metal Halide lamps are high in the blue spectrum of light, and are good for vegetative growth, because in vegetative growth, plants utilize more blue light than they do red/orange light. However metal halide lamps emit less lumens per watt than a high pressure sodium lamp. Preferably, you would want high pressure sodium and metal halide in all stages of growth, with an emphasis on metal halide for vegetative growth, and an emphasis on high pressure sodium during flowering.
High Pressure Sodium lamps are higher in the red spectrum of light, and are good for flowering, because in flowering, plants use more of the red spectrum of light than the blue spectrum. If you use a lamp with a higher red spectrum of light during the vegetative growth period, they will want to grow taller, meaning less places for flowers/fruits/seeds to grow when its time for flowering. These types of lamps tend to get extremely hot, keep the tips of plants at least 12"to 18" inches away from the bulb, and be careful not to get even one tiny drop of water on a hot bulb, or it may explode, and that goes for metal halide bulbs as well.
If you’re going to an H.I.D. use the proper cooling and ventilation, as they get very hot. Choose a reflective hood that will hold either ducting or a fan, to blow away hot air. In your grow room, have the intake of the ventilation system as low as possible, and the exhaust from the ventilation system as high as possible (heat rises, cold sinks). Keep your grow room at the correct temperature for your plants. More on ventilation later!
Do's:
Use the correct light for the correct phase of life of the plant.
Keep bulbs at least 12 to 18 inches from the plant tips.
Use proper cooling for these bulbs, as they get hot.
Use a nice hood, with a lot of reflective capability.
Use the proper hood, amount of lights, and type of lights for your space.
Don'ts:
Don't get any water on a hot bulb.
Don't overload circuits.
Don't keep lights too close, or they may burn your plants.
