Lighting Woes

[TopDog1974]

Hey y’all, I am a novice trying to set some things up to help out my wife of 36 years, (whom I absolutely love and adore) who has had MS for 21 years now. I helped a friend build boxes for his operation several years ago. Actually probably 7 years ago. So accordingly I imagine things have changed a lot since then, in regard to products available to build indoor gardens. I have been reading Mr. Rosenthal’s Bible, since I’m an OCD retired Marine. Just finished reading the lightening section and now my head is all f’d up! MH, MHS, fluorescent (I know incandescent is a no-go), T5-T8, High-output, L.E.D., grow lights, 2 ft/4ft, wattage, heat dissipation system... see what I mean?

So what do you recommend. I plan to build three separate boxes... Nursery, Grow and Flower box, each with its own lighting and ventilation systems. Boxes will be tended to in an air conditioned space.

I’m thinking simple 2 ft grow light for nursery. For the grow box, maybe L.E.D. supplemented with “Cool White” bulbs for the blue-light they emit to help increase grow rate. The flower box will also be full-range L.E.D. grow lights supplemented with “Warm White” for the red-light they emit to help with the flowering process. (Note: Grow and Flower boxes will be 3’ x 4’ with combined wattage to be close to 1,300 watts with all interior surfaces wrapped with Mylar. )

Am I close? Any advice from my new family?

Thanks in advance.

PS - Hope I wasn’t too detailed or rambling. I know y’all have your own lives to live.

 

[Aqua Man]

Not a lighting expert but I run an hlg 600 quantum board kit and couldn't be more pleased. There are a lot of good options out there but also a lot of bad ones.

I would start looking at rapid led, hlg lighting, timber grow light. All of these have great reputations in the growing community and I'm sure others will add more.

If I was buying separate lights for flower and veg i would go 4000k-5000k veg and 3000k flower but that's just me.

 

[TopDog1974]

Not a lighting expert but I run an hlg 600 quantum board kit and couldn't be more pleased. There are a lot of good options out there but also a lot of bad ones.

I would start looking at rapid led, hlg lighting, timber grow light. All of these have great reputations in the growing community and I'm sure others will add more.

If I was buying separate lights for flower and veg i would go 4000k-5000k veg and 3000k flower but that's just me.

Thanks for the input, Aqua Man. I’m new to this, just starting the process, so some of the terms I’m not familiar with. So is Timber Grow a brand name? And the “k” rating, is that a standard that is listed on different lighting? I have noticed big disparities in the prices of lighting units that look exactly the same. Not sure how to pick the best ones for our boxes. I guess go big, rather than cheap out.

 

[Aqua Man]

Thanks for the input, Aqua Man. I’m new to this, just starting the process, so some of the terms I’m not familiar with. So is Timber Grow a brand name? And the “k” rating, is that a standard that is listed on different lighting? I have noticed big disparities in the prices of lighting units that look exactly the same. Not sure how to pick the best ones for our boxes. I guess go big, rather than cheap out.

LED Grow Lights | Featuring Bridgelux and Samsung COB, Bar and LED Modules | Timber Grow Lights

High quality LED Grow Lights built in the USA using top quality components. 3 Year Warranty, high PAR/PPF output, low heat, close canopy operation, silent no fans, dimmable operation.

timbergrowlights.com

Yeah it's a lot to take in. The k rating stands for kelvin. It's the color temperature of the light.

A lot of rip offs out there but some knock offs per se use quality materials too. You can expect a quality LED to run more than HID lighting and I'm not just talking about the amount of light it produces but rather the components quality used in building it. The 3 places I listed will have quality built kits or fixtures.

You can expect about 600 true watts quality LED to easily compare or exceed a 1000w HID such as HPS or MH.