Can I use a regular fluorescent light as a grow light? Guides for Marijuana Beginners
With a set of grow lights, you can grow many plants indoors, including houseplants, orchids, and even some fruit and vegetable crops. Grow lights are ideal for seed starting because they help ensure stocky, green seedlings. A wintertime harvest of herbs and salad greens can also be grown under lights. By learning how plants use light and about the fixture options, you can select an grow lights for weed that is right for the plants you want to grow.
About Fluorescent Light and Plants
Modern plant lighting has focused on the LED sources of light, but fluorescent lights are still widely available and easy to use. They are an excellent source of light for young seedlings and plant starts. Fluorescent lights don’t last as long as LEDs but are easy to find and install. Whether you use them vs. LED grow lights for grow tent epends upon the light requirements indoors that your particular crop or plant needs.
Fluorescent grow lights were once the “go to” source of plant lamps. They fell out of favor because they don’t last very long, are delicate, bulky, and don’t provide a high
lumen intensity. Therefore, the bulbs are not ideal for fruiting and flowering plants. Modern fluorescents, however, have increased the lumen output, come in compact bulbs and last longer than their predecessors.
In fact, new T5 lighting systems produce less heat than the old bulbs and can be placed closer to the plant without worrying about burning foliage. They are also more energy efficient and the light produced is readily used by the plant.
Can Regular Fluorescent Bulbs Be Used As Grow Lights?
Fluorescent lights are the best choice because they are the most economical. They are sold in tubes (like these, which are good for larger indoor gardens) or compact bulbs that go into a regular lamp socket. These are called CFLs and are best for a few plants or as supplemental lighting. They are the bulbs we will discuss from here on (everything we say goes for tubes as well, though).
If you don’t mind spending a bit more, you can get a specialized fluorescent bulb (like these) made specifically for growing plants.
These have an optimized color spectrum for plants (see the next few paragraphs to help with choosing the right color temperature) and they are also more powerful than regular fluorescent bulbs.
HYDROPLANET T5 FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHTS
The Hydroplanet T5 Fluorescent Grow Light systems use HO (high output) bulbs at a temperature of 6500k. This range provides a nice balance of orange to blue light spectral offerings to support healthy plant development, and help plants reach productive stages of growth. You can also control which bulbs are turned on with a switch control, meaning you may be able to provide a larger range of light spectrum depending on which bulb temperatures you purchase.
Since this setup is offered in various lengths and bulb quantities, this system is fairly versatile to better meet the needs of smaller spaces which can occasionally be limited in dimensions. The lights are considered cool running and do not put out too much radiant heat and are fairly lightweight and easy to move up or down in accordance to your plant needs. The bulb housings are reflective, meaning no light energy is wasted as it is directed downwards towards your plants, ensuring they are getting the full effects of what the system has to offer. Furthermore, multiple units can be daisy chained, or linked together, in order to provide more light where needed.
Keep in mind that your savings are dependent on numerous factors such as electricity cost, upfront investment, amount of use, environment, system size, etc. These factors can vary greatly from application to application, but if you will use them enough then you will save considerable amounts of money in the long run!
About Fluorescent Light and Plants
Modern plant lighting has focused on the LED sources of light, but fluorescent lights are still widely available and easy to use. They are an excellent source of light for young seedlings and plant starts. Fluorescent lights don’t last as long as LEDs but are easy to find and install. Whether you use them vs. LED grow lights for grow tent epends upon the light requirements indoors that your particular crop or plant needs.
Fluorescent grow lights were once the “go to” source of plant lamps. They fell out of favor because they don’t last very long, are delicate, bulky, and don’t provide a high
lumen intensity. Therefore, the bulbs are not ideal for fruiting and flowering plants. Modern fluorescents, however, have increased the lumen output, come in compact bulbs and last longer than their predecessors.
In fact, new T5 lighting systems produce less heat than the old bulbs and can be placed closer to the plant without worrying about burning foliage. They are also more energy efficient and the light produced is readily used by the plant.
Can Regular Fluorescent Bulbs Be Used As Grow Lights?
Fluorescent lights are the best choice because they are the most economical. They are sold in tubes (like these, which are good for larger indoor gardens) or compact bulbs that go into a regular lamp socket. These are called CFLs and are best for a few plants or as supplemental lighting. They are the bulbs we will discuss from here on (everything we say goes for tubes as well, though).
If you don’t mind spending a bit more, you can get a specialized fluorescent bulb (like these) made specifically for growing plants.
These have an optimized color spectrum for plants (see the next few paragraphs to help with choosing the right color temperature) and they are also more powerful than regular fluorescent bulbs.
HYDROPLANET T5 FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHTS
The Hydroplanet T5 Fluorescent Grow Light systems use HO (high output) bulbs at a temperature of 6500k. This range provides a nice balance of orange to blue light spectral offerings to support healthy plant development, and help plants reach productive stages of growth. You can also control which bulbs are turned on with a switch control, meaning you may be able to provide a larger range of light spectrum depending on which bulb temperatures you purchase.
Since this setup is offered in various lengths and bulb quantities, this system is fairly versatile to better meet the needs of smaller spaces which can occasionally be limited in dimensions. The lights are considered cool running and do not put out too much radiant heat and are fairly lightweight and easy to move up or down in accordance to your plant needs. The bulb housings are reflective, meaning no light energy is wasted as it is directed downwards towards your plants, ensuring they are getting the full effects of what the system has to offer. Furthermore, multiple units can be daisy chained, or linked together, in order to provide more light where needed.
Keep in mind that your savings are dependent on numerous factors such as electricity cost, upfront investment, amount of use, environment, system size, etc. These factors can vary greatly from application to application, but if you will use them enough then you will save considerable amounts of money in the long run!
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