T5 lights?

[Taverna78]

I have a chance to get a great deal on a large T5 lighting system. Question is should I put the light over my cupped newly sprouting in bin cuttings? Or over my wonderfully growing 1 gal potted tree? Remember I'm in Chicago so the temps here are still 70's and under daytime and 36+ at night so I can't put outside yet.oh and how close should I have light over cups?

Grazie

[newnandawg]

I have T5 lights over all my cuttings, those that have rooted and some in 1 gal pots. I set the plants about 12 inches
below the light and have it on a 12 hrs on and 12 hrs off timer.

[Taverna78]

So more or less I just set light hood on top of bin? (About 11 inch off cutting top) I have 150W LED daylight spectrum flood light on them now with heat mat below bin at 24 hour light every other hour timer heat mat. Tis just on cupped cuttings in bin with glass top. 1 gal pots in garage with daylight tube lights.

[Needaclone]

Both, cuttings and trees!
Put them as close as possible without risking damage due to heat. (Fluorescent bulbs tend to be cool to the touch, but I don't know for sure about T5, so be careful. With T12 the leaves can practically be touching the bulb.)
I don't know if it is a viable solution for you, but in the past I have hung my light fixtures at an angle. I put shorter trees under the lower section and larger ones under the higher section. I adjusted the height/angle and tree placement as the trees grew.

[jkuo]

High output T5 bulbs can get pretty warm. Mine get hot enough to be uncomfortable, but fortunately not enough to cause burns if I accidentally touch them. You can let the leaves get pretty close to T5 bulbs, but don't let them touch. I had a few cuttings which had leaves end up touching a T5 bulb. Most of the leaves were ok, but there was a crispy edge on the leaves which grew into contact with the bulb.

[Taverna78]

So realistically if the tips of the rooted sprouted cuttings in the cups about 8 inches or more below the bin top I can just set the unit right on top of the bin...

[figherder]

I'm sure that would be ok but closer is better. The penetration isnt that great with the small lights. You can probably do a search on google to find out the penetration of t 5's. An inch away is probably about the right amount. Small plants probably arent going to grow that much in a day anyway.

[jkuo]

That might work, but I'd be careful with that approach. I assume you were thinking of setting the light right on the bin lid? I'd think you want some free airspace around the bulbs to keep them cool, and I don't trust unknown plastics next to heat sources. Personally, I'd at least put something non-flammable and non-meltable in between the lights and the bin.

[Taverna78]

Tis is how deep the bins are.. I was going to prop light on the bin lid off and small desk fan blowing between bin and lights for airflow. But then not too much humidity and because of the lamp heat do I still keep heat mat on 24/7 or at night when lights are off?
What is benefit of T5? Spectrum? Brightness? Seems pointless to have such a large bright light inches from the top of a baby plant... This is what I have... If is not worth it I'll return it for metal halide.

[Butts]

Keep the t5 above the bin, airflow will help keep heat to a minimum. (especially while using a heat mat) t5's stacks like that can build a considerable amount of heat in enclosed spaces. leaves reaching into the fixture will burn given enough time that close.

Heat coming from below helps encourage rooting. It is done in commercial greenhouses everywhere. So the heat mat is still the most beneficial way to control heat in your chamber. The only time it needs to be turned off is if the temp in your chamber gets too hot.

Lumen output on that fixture is 40,000. A 400 watt MH from hortilux puts out 39,000 lumens. With 2 drawbacks, it produces considerably more heat, and the MH bulbs are the most expensive of HID bulbs on the market. Quality MH bulbs start @ 100$

A side note, that fixture has 2 switches. So that you can turn on only half the lights if you don't need all of them.

[nepenthes]

You don't need a fan with fluorescent lighting. I don't use heat mats, but I would think that if you can maintain around 72-78F (give or take) at the root area, then you don't need the mat.

The benefits of T5 lighting is that it provides much brighter light than T8s or T12s while being cheaper to run than other types of lighting solutions (MH, HPS, etc). Also, it doesn't get hot enough to pose temperature issues.

Yes, the light is pretty bright, but that's nothing compared to how much the sun puts out. I've never used T5s, but I'm very well accustomed to using T8s.

[jkuo]

That light is overkill for cuttings which haven't really leafed out yet. I think your best bet is to hang the light over your larger potted plants, and if there's enough space, slip the bin under the light too. I wouldn't worry about getting the light close to the new cuttings until they have some leaves to benefit from it.

The advantage of a T5 light over T8/T12 is light intensity and efficiency. T5 will run a lot cooler than metal halide, but the metal halide will probably pump out a lot more light. A metal halide lamp is overkill for keeping cuttings and small fig trees happy until you can bring them outdoors in a few weeks, though it would likely given you a jump start on adapting them to outdoor sunlight. I usually think of people trying to fruit tomatoes indoors when I think of metal halide lights.

[Taverna78]

Okay grazie I will try and see what happens

[Rob Ster 010]

Here's my set up, i use 150 watts fluorescent lights too.
I also root in this growing tent under the same light and had great results. So far i had a 93% success rate and have not lost a single one after transplanting to their first pot.

[jkuo]

Nice setup!