[kanaloa]

Algis/JoAnn, do either of you know anything about or use Halide lights? I know they are more common up north.

I am considering putting them in the garage to help with winter storage (I'll just leave my car outside that time of year). But I know nothing about these lights. They cost a fortune. And apparently some folks get police attention by buying a lot of them, LOL - growing "alternative" plants.

[yeshuas]

alternative plants LOL I like that

[augie]

Algis/JoAnn, do either of you know anything about or use Halide lights? I know they are more common up north.

I am considering putting them in the garage to help with winter storage (I'll just leave my car outside that time of year). But I know nothing about these lights. They cost a fortune. And apparently some folks get police attention by buying a lot of them, LOL - growing "alternative" plants.

Hehe, alternative. OK, first things first, how much square footage of plants are you looking at, do they go dormant in the winter in their natural habitat due to less light, are they going to flower etc.? If you have say a 10x10 garage, can't remember the size of yours, I'd say one 1000W halide light on a timer would be sufficient.

The alternative, there's that word again hehe, would be to set up a bunch of fluorescent fixtures with GroLux tubes. This approach has its problems though as you have to hang the fixtures from the ceiling, arrange your plants by height, adjust the distance between fixture and plant, about 4", and your garage would be a mess and unusable as a garage. A lot of work and in the end would probably end up costing the same plus your sweat equity.

I don't know most of the plants you have but a good rule of thumb is: Halide for green growth and sodium for flowering plants, say if you want to grow determinant cherry tomato plants, the light is only good for a 3'x3 area, max 4x4. YUM! I'd say spend the bucks for a halide setup, much cleaner and way less trouble.

Side story about 'alternative' plants hehe. Mum grew all sorts of stuff, seedlings mainly, during the late winter under GroLux lamps, if you don't know they give off this pinkish rosy light, quite unmistakable really. Some upstanding resident of my very small area phoned the police and lodged a suspicious behaviour complaint. So they come knocking at my door, mum's tending her plants in the basement ATT, and I invited them in and asked them to say hello to my mum. You should of seen their faces and heard their apologies after seeing an 84 year old lady tending to her legal tomato etc. plants. Priceless.

[kanaloa]

LOL

Well you're post sounds like most of what I've read. I'll need the Halide because everything I'm growing in tropical in nature... the palm included. We'll be in Florida in another week, and I hope to bring back at least one Royal or Foxtail palm, which need lots of light. During the summer they can sit outside all the time. Winter is the issue (late Nov- early March).

Basically my plants are used to growing all year round. They've become semi-used to going dormant bc of lack of sun in our winter, but then again, the house is going to be a lot different than the apartment was. This winter once we'd moved, the plants almost seemed to pick back up growing immediately in the house, even in February. They had better light. But some of the plants will be too big or tall for the normal house. Hence why the garage (at least in part) will need to be used.

I am looking mostly at the 450W lights, which I think is 5x5. I doubt I'd need higher than 650, but I may just spend the money and get the 1000W. The light won't hurt the car if it's in there right?

The GroLux tubes I've never heard of, but it sounds like I don't want to mess with them. They sound almost like the florescent bulbs my brother uses for his seedlings.

So I guess I'll be going with halide. Do I need to hang them at any certain height above the plant, or does it even matter with them? Can't believe how heavy that ballast is. Wow.

Here's one I've looked at:
http://www.specialty-lights.com/400mhyield10.html

[augie]

The GroLux tubes I've never heard of, but it sounds like I don't want to mess with them. They sound almost like the florescent bulbs my brother uses for his seedlings.

That's exactly correct, the fixture is a standard fluorescent one and what I did was mix regular tubes with the GroLux ones, good for seedlings and small plants basically not bigger than a foot or two IMO.

So I guess I'll be going with halide. Do I need to hang them at any certain height above the plant, or does it even matter with them? Can't believe how heavy that ballast is. Wow.

You would have to hang it at the height that would give you that 5x5 area, but you're talking about tall plants so I'd put the fixture on the ceiling and go with the 1000W bulb and adjust the timer if they grow too fast. Ya, heavy ballast as there's alot of power going through there. I don't think the car would be affected at all unless those halides put out alot more of UV than the sun does.

BTW, spring the cash for a lens/diffuser as that will even out the light and not spot burn your plants. I'll talk with a friend this weekend who has way more experience than I do with this type of lighting.

[kanaloa]

Thanks Algis, this helps a lot already. I'll definitely keep the diffuser in mind. All of this is new to me, so I appreciate the help

Sounds like I'll have to put on suntan lotion to go into the garage, LOL.

[kanaloa]

How about this one Algis?
http://www.specialty-lights.com/901093.html

[augie]

Thanks Algis, this helps a lot already. I'll definitely keep the diffuser in mind. All of this is new to me, so I appreciate the help

Sounds like I'll have to put on suntan lotion to go into the garage, LOL.

Don't forget the sunglasses.

[kanaloa]

Put some beach chairs in there too.

You see my link above? That sounds like what I want I think.

[augie]

Put some beach chairs in there too.

You see my link above? That sounds like what I want I think.

I've seen the link now. As you can see, the price difference is not much and as I know you love plants as much as many people do their pets, go for it. Also, see if you can get advice from a nursery as these people would know best as to what's needed for what you want to do in your area in regards to the more exotic plants.

Oh, I just remembered, I don't know how handy you are but you can mount the light on a track and have all your plants on one side of the garage and the light moves back and forth. This way you may be able to use your garage year round. I don't know if there are any kits around for that, the one I saw a few years back was home built.

EDIT: hehe, didn't want to push the price up, not intentionally anyways.