Artificial lighting

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yorkshireal
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Artificial lighting

Post by yorkshireal »

Hi:-)

Recently visited a friend in Canada who has a large collection of succulents. He keeps many of his in a basement which has no artificial lights, but uses an overhead rack of artificial lighting under which his plants seem to very well for the 8 months of the year that they aren't outside getting natural light.

Does anyone have any experience of using such systems in the UK?

Thanks

Alan
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DaveW
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by DaveW »

It has been dealt with here before, but using the search box I could not find it now. However these may help:-

http://www.cactiguide.com/article/?arti ... icle17.php

http://www.cactusinfo.net/artificial_light.htm

http://www.kadasgarden.com/Clights.html

There are some here who use artificial lights though who have first hand experience of using them and can give you advice.

DaveW
Nottingham Branch BCSS. Joined the then NCSS in 1961, Membership number 11944. Cactus only collection.
chrisg
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by chrisg »

I started using them to over winter some of my plants last winter. I have two shelves with T5 growlights (the name may be wrong) I was impressed by how well they worked. I had mainly echeveria under them and they are prone to getting leggy. Under the lights they didn't get leggy at all. the trick seems to be to have the lights as close to the plants as possible.
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AnTTun
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by AnTTun »

Just search the forum on that term, we have talked a lot about it :)
TTcacti - C&S database software - http://www.ttimpact.hr/anttun/
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Phil Hocking
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by Phil Hocking »

I don't know if we have discussed how long to have them on and off. I have mine timed to more or less match the current day length at the moment. I don't know if there is any point in extending the day length if you don't want them to grow over the winter. I would prefer it if they didn't because they do tend to get etiolated if the light is not strong enough. What do you think?

Somerset Phil
Member of Somerset branch. I have a diverse mixture of small cacti plus a few larger survivors from a previous collection. I also like Stapeliads, Titanopsis, Anacampseros, and various other succulents. Now proud owner of many self-raised seedlings.
Mawa
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by Mawa »

I have used four 4-ft T8 tubes over 4 sq.ft area last winter. That gave me about 10 000 lux light level. This year in addition to those four T8 tubes I added four T5 tubes (over 5.5 sq.ft area), and light lever increased significantly, to 50 000 lux, which is pretty darn good. I was skeptical about the value of T5 tubes since they are twice as expensive, but it looks like they give proportionately more light per unit area. They can be spaced closer to each other. The only downside is that now I have to use fans, otherwise temperature rises to 30C.
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iann
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by iann »

Your measurements suggest that your T5 tubes put out nearly six times as much light as your T8 tubes. Now there are some pretty useless obsolete T8 tubes out there (and some pretty good ones too), but I still find this unlikely. Something else may have changed, such as the efficiency of your reflectors and baffles.
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Mawa
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by Mawa »

iann wrote:Your measurements suggest that your T5 tubes put out nearly six times as much light as your T8 tubes.
Hi Ian, you are my illuminance guru (I was going to say "lightning guru", but that sounds ambivalent). Your article "Growing Cactus with Artificial Light" was the most useful piece on the subject I have read. As you deduced, I have not provided full disclosure :) I have lowered the lights from 15cm to 7cm, which alone would give a 2-fold increase in illuminance (for a linear light source). I have also added reflective sides that increase illuminance by about 30% (This is my humble estimate. It is actually difficult to quantify since it depends on the distance from the edge of the shelf). After all these factors are considered, luminous flux for a T8 tube comes to 1850 lm, and flux for a T5 tube comes to 3850 lm, i.e. T5 gives 2.1 times more photons. Some (if not all) of this difference is purely mathematical and not physical and is due to the fact that T5 tubes are spaced twice as close to each other as T8 tubes. However, if the goal is to provide maximum illuminance, then it does not matter. Cramming more tubes in does provide more photons per unit of shelving area.

Ian, have you tried HID, MH, or HPS in home environment? I am wondering if this would increase illuminance to 100 000 lux and provide better spectrum. I am also worried about practicalities of such a set up at home (expense, fire hazard, etc.).
yorkshireal
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by yorkshireal »

Wow, those articles look great - just what I wanted! I will read them in more detail, but thanks for the steers!

Alan
yorkshireal
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Re: Artificial lighting

Post by yorkshireal »

Hi, I realise that this post is now a year old, but as the days shorten I have been giving this matter some thought again.

The documents linked earlier on (one is no longer available) discuss in some depth the different types of light and bulb, but don't seem to go into much detail of the types of fitting required. Can anyone direct me to any specific set ups in terms of the types of fittings that are best used in terms of bulb holders, reflectors etc?

Thanks

Alan
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