Effective indoor lighting for growing does not have to be complicated or expensive. I live in Michigan so if I want to grow all year round, I have had to come up with solutions. I've never bought any special grow light equipment. Everything I use came from the local hardware store. I have 3 set ups to show...each a little more complicated than the previous but all simple and cheap. Well, the third one wasn't quite cheap, but none of it required special "grow lighting".
First, the simple CFL set up. Pretty self explanatory. Grab a couple shop lamps at $5-$10 a piece and a 2 pack of 1600 lumen, 23 watt bulbs for $10. Place the lights above your plant as close as you can without burning them. A good way to check this distance is to place your hand over your plants. If after 30sec you only feel warmth on the back of your hand, you're good to go.
Second, fluorescent lamps over a book case, on a shelf, fireplace, any flat open surface. For six 6 inch pots, all you need is a 4 foot fluorescent shop light that holds T-12 bulbs. These run around $12 at Lowes with adjustable chains for height. Next, a two pack of T-12, 32-Watt 6,500K Daylight Fluorescent 4 foot tube for $11. Hang your light over wherever your plants are about an inch from the tallest plant. Fluorescent lights put out little to no heat so you don't have to worry about burning. If you have to, elevate any shorter plants so that the tops are all at the same level. If you're feeling frisky, you can put some aluminum foil under and behind your plants to reflect more light back at them. The cheap stuff from the grocery store works great.
Last, a fully enclosed, ventilated shop rack. I was going through some cabin fever last winter will all the crazy snow we had here in Michigan so I built this thing. This thing was built into a 5 tier adjustable shop rack. With that I made 2 levels, each level with two 4 foot light set ups. These are identical to the lights above, just more of them. Three of the four sides are removable panels covered on the inside with a highly reflective Mylar film. The fourth panel is not removable. On that panel I mounted 4 computer fans for ventilation, one for each light fixture. I put the Mylar film on the fan panel as well as the top and bottom of all surfaces so when it's closed its just one giant mirror. I bought a controller for the fans to adjust their speed and hooked everything in to timers.
First, the simple CFL set up. Pretty self explanatory. Grab a couple shop lamps at $5-$10 a piece and a 2 pack of 1600 lumen, 23 watt bulbs for $10. Place the lights above your plant as close as you can without burning them. A good way to check this distance is to place your hand over your plants. If after 30sec you only feel warmth on the back of your hand, you're good to go.
Second, fluorescent lamps over a book case, on a shelf, fireplace, any flat open surface. For six 6 inch pots, all you need is a 4 foot fluorescent shop light that holds T-12 bulbs. These run around $12 at Lowes with adjustable chains for height. Next, a two pack of T-12, 32-Watt 6,500K Daylight Fluorescent 4 foot tube for $11. Hang your light over wherever your plants are about an inch from the tallest plant. Fluorescent lights put out little to no heat so you don't have to worry about burning. If you have to, elevate any shorter plants so that the tops are all at the same level. If you're feeling frisky, you can put some aluminum foil under and behind your plants to reflect more light back at them. The cheap stuff from the grocery store works great.
Last, a fully enclosed, ventilated shop rack. I was going through some cabin fever last winter will all the crazy snow we had here in Michigan so I built this thing. This thing was built into a 5 tier adjustable shop rack. With that I made 2 levels, each level with two 4 foot light set ups. These are identical to the lights above, just more of them. Three of the four sides are removable panels covered on the inside with a highly reflective Mylar film. The fourth panel is not removable. On that panel I mounted 4 computer fans for ventilation, one for each light fixture. I put the Mylar film on the fan panel as well as the top and bottom of all surfaces so when it's closed its just one giant mirror. I bought a controller for the fans to adjust their speed and hooked everything in to timers.
