Grow light addendum

[JohnAndSancho]

Ok. After a few years of growing indoors now and using a bunch of different types of lights, I figured I'd share what I've found. I didn't write down my numbers but I can if anyone wants them. 

 

First off, $1 grow bulbs on eBay are trash. Figures it goes without saying, but figured I'd mention it. I didn't even bother testing it. 

 

Bulbs are fine if you only need to light one or 2 plants, but the closer the better. The light drops off dramatically the farther away your plants are from your lights regardless. 

 

Shop lights are fine for a temporary overwintering setup or if you just want foliage. I'm having good results with the $16.88 Walmart Hyper Tough brand for colocasia of all things. 

 

Price and name aren't everything. If you've searched grow lights on Amazon, you probably noticed that your screen is absolutely littered with ads from Barrina. And they tout their specs over and over. Welp after testing with the Photone app, yes and no - yes their specs are great (you want PPFD, the amount of light plants can absorb. Lumens aren't totally useless but mostly useless.) Barrina DOES have an amazing PPFD output ------- from 6 inches down and directly down only. After that, the shop lights kill them. I ended up getting a huge refund after showing them my tests because apparently they'd rather eat the cost than pay return shipping and get negative feedback. So after doing some research I'm going to build a ghetto parabolic reflector and double them up and I should be happy. Fwiw I paid $95 for a 6 pack of 4 foot full spectrum tubes and got back 55 bucks so I got them for less than half price. 

 

But I was shocked that the best PPFD lights I have are some 25 dollar Boost LED lights. These are sold as Boost, Boostgro, and Dymond on Amazon and eBay. While it's true that the lines are lower than everything except the shop lights, the PPFD absolutely kills them and these are true full spectrum with red LEDs in addition to the white - so I snagged a 4 pack of 4 footers for 55 bucks, which is even less than the Wal Mart shop lights. The red LEDs will actually let things fruit and flower too, so there you go. They're cheap and they kill lights twice their price. 

 

Circling back to parabolic reflectors, this is a new area for me. You'd think I'd know more about lights than I do, but I don't. I'm trying to track down a couple of 55 gallon plastic drums to cut in half and hang above the lights - flat white reflects white better than anything, so instead of using the mini blind slats on the expensive Barrina lights (that's exactly what they are! And it's ingenious to save money and basically rig a lighting test so their tests aren't TECHNICALLY false, they're misleading), I'm going to cut these barrels in half and paint the insides white and stiffen them up with electrical conduit and run my Barrina tubes dead center through them allowing all of the light to get pumped back down onto my banana bench - on paper this should work out great since they wouldn't let me return them - but I did also get $100 lights for 45 bucks. 

 

Anyway, there you go. John is actually sharing useful knowledge for both of you who grow indoors. 🌈✨

[JohnAndSancho]

I guess when I go out there again I'll test the PPFD of the new 4 foot Boost/Dymond/DynaGro lights (all brands are the same thing) but I gotta say just looking at the mounting attachment I'm happy. There's a little flip out clip for your S hooks. That alone in and of itself makes me very happy. And the price was right. I'll do another video when I mount them too. Maybe I can bribe my brother to hold the camera so y'all can watch me sweat and listen to me swear while every measurement I take is off by like just enough to piss me off and bother me. I think at the price point, if you're overwintering enough stuff these might actually be a viable alternative to shop lights unless you're already in the market for shop lights. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Hey I was supposed to do this 3 months ago. 

The 2 foot Boost Lighting $25 deals on eBay KILL the 4 footers. The Wal Mart shop lights are actually wonderful. After doubling up my Barrina tubes I must have done something right because the bananas are gonna hit the ceiling, I just kinda hung them in a V pattern - I zip tied them in pairs and hung them from S hooks and chains. Mentioning this again, especially for the price point, the Wal Mart shop lights are wonderful - if you're not looking to fruit or flower, grab them. 

 

I also just snagged these. First and foremost, I want to say I do not like The Millennial Gardener. Something about him just... Just stop pretending you're poor and on a budget. You're not bootstrapping anything. Anyway, he was right about these lights. 

https://a.co/d/0gVKcpKn

 

I wanted something to fill out my new bench, it's 87.5"w (I'm using repurposed shelving so I get weird sizes) and I already hung a Wal Mart shop light dead center so a couple of 2 footers on either side of that should do great. Then I busted out the Photone app and holy poop on a stick

 

From 6" I got like 500ppfd. The 4 pack is $30 if you have Prime, I didn't need the timer since I bought smart outlets for all my lights. 500 ppfd for under $8 is insane. That's the same number I get from my doubled up Barrina with the shower curtain reflector (which believe it or not made a HUGE difference) - and the 6 pack of those is typically $130. 

 

The power cords are a little short but I'll just Mississippi something together. I'm gonna have some very happy plants over here. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I would also like to revisit bulbs. I took the pills so I'm not gonna get up and measure the ones hanging from the ceiling, but def gonna lower them. The 10w Sansi (I think I paid $10 for 2) I just measured 630ppfd from 6". The clip on lights I've been using for the philodendron on the shelf? Trash. Absolute trash. I got 45ppfd. So I'm gonna be doing some rearranging. The issue with bulbs of course is like, their beam pattern is trash. I've got an upright Barrina tube next to the Spindle and again, beam angles - kinda hard to get a good reading but it seemed to stay around 360. Not terrible but it's a $60 light and it's getting killed by $5 and $10 jobs. Soooo time to see when my return windows expired lol. 

 

Anyway I hope this is useful. I'm using the Photone app on an android phone for measurement and going from thumb tip to pinky tip which is just a smidge over 6". 

[SeanK]

For all the money you've invested, Sancho will have to work PT at Amazon delivering packages to cover the losses.

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, SeanK said:

For all the money you've invested, Sancho will have to work PT at Amazon delivering packages to cover the losses.

I don't wanna think about it, but if we're allowed to factor in the money I've made cleaning out the closets on eBay, and the money I've made selling plants, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds on paper. Am I breaking even? No lol. But have I found a closet full of niche items, sold a few plants, and managed to flip a few returns into nursery supplies? Yes. I am not The Millennial Gardener 😂 I've grown a few gifted plants big enough to where I can propogate and sell them, my seed grown Sabals sold pretty well, I found a market for 20 year old die cast cars and found a cabinet full of old lotion that apparently people are willing to pay $80+/bottle for that's been sitting here since at least 2007.

Anyway I'll break even this summer. There's not as much tied into it as it seems. 

[SeanK]

Glad to see your head's above water on everything. I'd hate to see Sancho as a Walmart greeter when he's 19 years old.

[JohnAndSancho]

37 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Glad to see your head's above water on everything. I'd hate to see Sancho as a Walmart greeter when he's 19 years old.

Honestly? I think I've spent more on perlite and coir than anything else. I bought some expensive lights on eBay and wanted to return them? 50% refund. Got some pillows off Amazon? Refund and keep them. I got a heating pad I didn't want for Christmas. Return. A couple lightning deals and a couple black Friday deals and we're set up with extras. 5 (now 6 after the new pup) of the bananas were gifted, 2 were freebies from Wellspring Gardens, and the 2 Javas I only paid like $15 ea for and one of them is 6 feet tall now. Most of what's in there is seed grown. I built all of the tables with 2x4s and repurposed shelving - like real wood shelving, not the particle board laminate crap. Buckets are $3 and change at Walmart. The big totes were $6 on Black Friday at Lowes. I found some exotic philodendrons on $5 clearance racks that look fantastic. I promise this is very much a ghetto amateurish operation. I don't know if I should be defensive right now or not 😂 Its all documented on YouTube and Instagram, man. 

[SeanK]

I'm on your side man. Just a bit of levity. 

We had a 17 year old yorkie-poo we said goodbye to 2 years ago. Take good care of your friend.

[JohnAndSancho]

4 hours ago, SeanK said:

I'm on your side man. Just a bit of levity. 

We had a 17 year old yorkie-poo we said goodbye to 2 years ago. Take good care of your friend.

I dread that day. It won't be the same but I'm trying to convince the rest of the fam that we need a younger dog around the house to be his buddy. He's lost a couple teeth and he's getting quite a few bald spots, but he's got his zoomies back again. I could never replace him, just - I guess supplement him. I think more for my mental health than anything else, really. I'm sorry for your loss and I... I just can't imagine.