I can recommend the grow light I own, this 300W one, I love it to death honestly. I will warn you that the goose neck growlights also found on Amazon are not very powerful at all, they're usually what first comes up when you search for them so they're often bought. But many people on this subreddit don't recommend them because they're so weak. These types of bulbs (and these ones) will also work but usually need multiple pointed on the plants to achieve good results, a reflector/deflector usually helps with the bulbs, too. These lights also work very well but are rather large and work better for a bigger collection. Succulents can handle heat, not like super excessive but they will be fine in like even the 100's F as long as they're not being burnt to a crisp from the sun. It will just dry their soil out faster which isn't a bad thing honestly!

If you do move them outside make sure it's in the shade for the entire day, putting them into more intense light suddenly can burn them. They need to be introduced to more light gradually so they can become used to it slowly. This usually means an hour or two max in gentle morning sun before they're moved to a shadier place for the rest of the day and letting them get used to that schedule and amount of light for a few days before increasing the amount of light they receive and again letting them adjust to the new increase. It can be quite a hassle and there's much less need for it when putting them under growlights I've found, they don't burn they just get stress color very very fast. But even being out in the shade outside 24/7 will be much brighter than indoors even if it's still not enough light for them.

They will definitely feel loose, that's totally normal. Once they establish their roots into the soil better they'll be much sturdier. For now if you need to hold them up with stakes or some rocks around the base of the stems to keep them from falling out or being wobbly that's totally okay. They should feel more secure after their first watering but will still be somewhat wobbly.

Welcome! Happy to help :)

All of the above are fantastic solutions, but not the most budget friendly. In college I needed photography lighting and it’s all about the bulbs, where they are placed and if they have a diffuser around them.

I purchased these professional light bulbs ($24.99) and 2 stand up lights from Target. ($10 each).

Keep the shade things on those lights and place them to the left and right of you, creating a triangle with you as the point. You can play around and see what looks best but the triangle will probably be best. These are your fill lights. You could have one directly beside you and another behind and that would also be fine. Any overhead light can be on to help depending on the lighting.

The most IMPORTANT part is to also buy a soft pink light bulb ($7.22), this will help from the harsh white lights from washing you out and give your skin the color it needs to make you look human. This can be placed in a small desk lamp and have it pointed towards you. Not directly at your face but not above and shining down either. Find a book shelf and have it on top of that beaming at you. As long as you don’t have it beaming down creating shadows it will look fine.

You could get the knock off version of the ring light for $100 or you can spend $52 on my setup. My setup is a bit more accommodating to streamers as you can move it around to find the best angles. Ring lights will create these giant one rings in your eyeballs which as a photographer I find far less “natural” than my set up.

TLDR: get 2 sets of light bulbs and a cheap lamps from target and it will be beautiful natural lighting.

Generally speaking, the bigger the tank, the easier it will be to maintain. This is because the more water in it, the more ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are diluted, so the less harmful it will be to the fish, and the number one enemy of aquariums is bad water quality. A larger aquarium will have more stable water quality and thusly be safer.

Personally I have a 10gal right now, but I don't think the 20gal would be much more difficult to clean.

Easy plants to start with are Anubias, Java Fern, and Java Moss. You could use a special substrate like Fluorite, Ecocomplete, etc., but for the easiest to grow plants they aren't strictly necessary. When anchoring Anubias make sure you don't bury the rhizome or it'll rot. Java moss is usually tied to a surface with fishing line until it's grown a bit and anchored itself. I also recommend Marimo Moss balls, which aren't actually moss but a type of algae (but it won't grow rampant and take over your tank, don't worry) that is sold grown into a small ball shape. Some bettas like to push the moss balls around for fun.

Full disclaimer, I don't have tons of experience with planted aquariums, but I do have moderate experience with growing succulents under a grow light...With lighting for plants, you want full-spectrum "Daylight" coloured bulbs which just means that it has more blue light (typical light bulb colour is more red) that most closely mimics natural sunlight. Look for a bulb with high lumens and a colour temperature of 6000 Kelvins or more. I use these Philips bulbs which are 23W 1600 lumens 6500K bulbs, screwed into a task lamp with an adjustable arm. Also something to keep in mind is that with Aquarium lighting, there's something to take into account called "Watts Per Gallon" which is a rough estimate of exactly how much light your aquarium will need based on its size.

I'll link you to this post I wrote a few days ago about sand. Generally speaking I'd say it's easier than gravel because fish poop and detritus can't fall inbetween sand and get buried like it does with gravel, so you don't really have to stir up the sand much when vacuuming (especially important if you want to plant your tank) like you have to with gravel to get it clean. Stuff just sits on the surface of sand and you suck it up, easy peasy.

Yes, you can put plants in the tank while it's cycling, and yes you can use decorations and filter materials from an established tank to speed up cycling a new tank. You'll know when a tank is cycled when ammonia and nitrite levels start dropping and you start seeing nitrates, which means that the bacterias that converts ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates have successfully colonized and done their job. Details here. Use an API Freshwater Master Test Kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels.

Corys and African Dwarf Frogs can be suitable tankmates, but it comes down to the individual temperaments of the betta in question so just keep an eye on them when you first introduce them to the tank, and introduce the betta to tanks that already have their tankmates in it, which can lessen the betta's aggression because they won't view it as their established territory being invaded.

Cory cats are usually considered safe bets because they inhabit the lower level of the tank whereas bettas usually hang in the middle to top level so they won't be competing for space much. Keep in mind that you need sand for Corys and also that they're schooling fish so you should get more than one.

And make sure you don't get African Clawed Frogs, which can hurt bettas.

For food, Hikari Bio-Gold. For water conditioner, Seachem Prime is the board favourite around here because in addition to dechlorinating tapwater, it also "locks" ammonia by converting any ammonia to a less harmful form for 24hrs, which is very helpful as sort of an emergency measure or if you need to do a fish-in cycle.

So this morning when I left for work all I could see was still the white stem way down in the hole. I got home to my first set of cotyledons and also first of real leaves!

I also got a ph control kit today, and it looks like my ph is sitting right around 6, so I believe that is perfect.

I was planning on just giving this a shot with minimal effort to see how it goes. Growing a variety of herbs in the Aerogarden was super easy, and it was hard to keep all the growth under control.

After doing more reading(because when I start doing something I have to do it right) I realized that the LED panel on the Aerogarden isn't even close to the wattage that anyone else is using. The starter package on growweedeasy.com includes a 250w light. The one on the Aerogarden is 20w, but the directions say you can keep it just a couple inches above the plant, whereas all the other guides for higher wattage lights say they need to be kept much further away. I would guess that is just because they have so much more wattage?

I grow lots of normal plants as well and don't get too much actual sunlight, so I have a couple extra reflectors, CFLs, and another LED grow bulb sitting around. I have 1x LED! and 2x CFL! extra.

How does mixing LED and CFLs work? I'm thinking I will need to get this thing all the light I can. Should I get a light socket extender and splitter so that I can get both the CFLs into a reflector, and also use the extra LED?

I plan on low stress training it to keep it as short as possible as the Aerogarden light only extends 12inches. I am able to extend that a few more inches using that knife with a stick taped to it, but then the cable becomes the limiting factor.

I also don't plan on moving it out of the 1gal Aerogarden reservoir, so it will probably be limited in size by that as well. The aerogarden comes with these nutrients!(4-3-6) that I had been planning to follow their recommendations of use which is basically give it 2 capfuls(maybe a couple mL) every other week when you change out the reservoir water. In between feedings just keep the water level high. Should I actually buy legit nutes!, or will the Aerogarden ones do a pretty good job?

Sooo I guess my questions are:
Anyone grown with an Aerogarden before? How'd it work? Any tips?
Anyone mixed LED and CFL lights before? Is that fine to do?
I should definitely use all the lights currently available to me, and I should probably even get a couple more 42w soft white CFLs right?
My goal was to keep this cheap and easy, but I'm thinking I should also get another timer for all these extra lights I plan on using now. Using the Aerogarden timer for the 20w LED and then turning on the other lights manually probably won't be anywhere near as effective, and also takes away from the easy factor.
Can I use the aerogarden nutes to keep this easy and cheap, or should I get some legit nutes?

Thanks!!

I can give you my setup (it keeps growing each day):
This microphone is plug and play and works wonderfully. I also use Adobe Audition and Virtual Audio Cable to clear any background feedback which makes my voice quality absolutely spectacular in most cases.

If you are looking into a green screen, I honestly recommend just going to a Home Depot store and get a bright green paint. I have realized that the quality of a green screen seems to rely more on the lighting of your studio/setup. To conquer the idea of "perfect lighting" isn't exactly that expensive. I bought a set of the following items on amazon: a bulb holder, a lighting umbrella, a light stand, and a studio quality bulb. Remember these items are just examples but lighting is very important if you indeed plan to use a greenscreen or camera view.

It terms of a webcam, the Logitech c920 is the best bang for your buck in the market.

Headsets can be whatever you wish it to be. I use an old Turtle Beach headset from my Xbox 360 days. It works. If you use a high quality microphone, the quality of your headset isn't too important. If you do plan on using a high quality headset: a surround sound Logitech headset are the best in my personal opinion.

I like to say that my setup is the most ghetto version of a high quality streaming setup. An example of the final product of above hardware and software is here. If you have any questions about these recommendation, be sure to ask. And welcome to the world of home studio streaming!

What's your maximum investment for now? Are you in any sort of hurry to flip to flower?

Right now I'd totally recommend grabbing some 6,400Kelvin temperature bulbs (like these), they're usually labeled as "Daylight".

Flower bulbs would be more in the 2,100K range or "soft white". I recommend as much wattage as you can afford, honestly, keeping in mind the price for sockets, etc. The ideal wattage you want to aim for is 75watts minimum per plant, the higher the better, preferably 100-150w is more ideal.

The reason I say they need some time under the 6500K is they're very lanky and tall, if you were to flip them now, you'd be very unimpressed with the results versus if you were to veg them under proper lighting for another month-few months and did some LST.

When it comes to flower, it's ideal to have more wattage than you did in veg, I.e. a lot of growers go from 250w to 400w, 400w to 600w, etc. My best advice is to get as much as you can afford, and preferably if you could build them some kind of box or use a closet, that would help tremendously allowing you to use reflective material or flat white paint to better increase your lumens per sqft and its availability to your plants to make actual use of.

If you plan to make this a hobby like I did, I bought some panda film for like $15 on ebay, layered my wardrobe opening with it, cut a hole for the exhaust at the top (first starting out I used a 200MM PC fan + an old laptop battery lol) and two holes each the size of the exhaust at the bottom as my passive intake, worked great as a cheap makeshift growery :)

As of right now, I am good on space. I have some room on my window sill on the other side behind my bed that I can fit some IF I get any more. I have 42 total plants so I really don't NEED any more... I am trying to stay pretty cheap to be honest. Less than $50 but I don't want something so cheaply made that it won't last me a month. I have been looking at something like this bulb in this lamp to clip onto my bed to get pointed at each window or even onto a cat tree, which I moved out of the way for the sake of the photo but I usually keep to the left of my nightstand. I don't know about the LED lightbulb but I also know that succs prefer blue light but I read that fluorescent light is ideal for a cheap, quality lighting setup. While I know that LEDs aren't cheaper than fluorescent, do they work as well? I honestly know little to nothing about plant lighting, sorry for the essay!

Edit: Looked at the Overwinter Megathread and someone posted that their Succs loved this bulb so I might just get 2 these if they are tried and true. I also might just end up getting a real, hard setup with shelves, lighting, the mix. It might be my best option at this time.

Nothing at all wrong with mirrorless, as a matter of fact if you do decide to go camera shopping in the $500-$1500 range with a focus on video, you're mostly going to find people recommending mirrorless cameras. For example, I don't love Canon cameras in that range generally, but the M50 is a very nice camera for the price, has a flippy screen, great AF, and uses the same lenses as your current camera, so if you have a collection of glass already you wouldn't have to buy into a whole new system. This would also allow you to do cool A/B camera setups.

The lack of flippy screen does make getting focus harder. You could always put something in the exact spot you'd be standing, focus on that, hit record, and then go back to that spot. It's awkward, but it works. Generally speaking you'll probably want to shoot for a "flatter" image if you're shooting solo, meaning you'll want to close the aperture a little bit to increase the area that your camera can focus on. You'll lose some of that nice distinction between the in focus subject and the out of focus surroundings, but it makes it less likely for you to miss focus.

I will say, though, be careful about going down the rabbit hole of "I need new gear to make good videos." Before you know it you've spent thousands on new cameras and lenses, when really all you needed to do was light your scenes a little better and deal with the shortcomings of your current camera (there are ALWAYS shortcomings). Same with audio. A cheap but decent enough mic with some time in Audition or Audacity in post can produce very solid audio. There are times and places for the really really expensive stuff, but when you're a hobbyist it usually just isn't worth the cash.

With lights, shooting in doors will almost always land you with orange looking footage unless you change your lighting and double check your white balance settings. Unless you're going for a specific look, you usually want lights that are either 5500K-6500K. Something like this.

Now, those kinds of lights will feel insanely bright, and if it's all hitting one spot it will be too harsh, so you'll want either some diffusion fabric in front of it, light umbrellas, or soft boxes. Use the three point lighting system as your general guide, and adjust for style. Usually you'll want the lights as close to the subject as possible without being on screen.

Another tip, if you're going to to color work in post, is to try to keep the WB settings the same, as long as you're in the same location at the same time. So don't adjust your white balance, shoot for 20 minutes, and then re do your light balance because you think you didn't have the settings exactly right. This effectively doubles the amount of work you have to do correcting color in post, as you'll have to change your color work after you changed your WB settings. Better to be a little off in camera but be consistent. This is also why you don't want to use auto white balance, or at least one that changes all the time. If the colors of your image are changing constantly, correcting those colors in post is a losing battle.

Anyway, keep having fun with it! Hopefully some of that was helpful.

i'm using 3 gallon trash cans from target. drilled drainage holes about a centimeter in diameter in the bottom in the center and 4 spots on the edges (it bows up in the middle so i put holes on the edges too). when i water i throw them in the bathtub and tilt them for ~20 minutes to ensure they train well. in the older plant's container i put some smaller holes on the sides about 2 inches from the bottom thinking it may need to "breath" to let the excess moisture out. i have 4 20-26 watt CFL's mostly 2700K i think i have one 5000 on it as well. on the smaller one i have a 5000K 26 watt CFL directly above it about 2-3 inches away (i read that feminized seeds can turn hermaphroditic if they get too much lower spectrum/2700K light when initially growing. dont think i read that on this site so who knows if it's true). i plan on giving it more lights once i get a few bucks and get some sockets that plug into a power strip, but i gotta make due for now. i'm growing in a cabinet i had laying around. i cut a hole in the back panel and installed a usb powered fan from microcenter. right now it's active intake but i need to swap it around as i read that if you only have 1 fan it should be active exhaust. i also have a box fan blowing at the lowest setting since i can't close the doors with my janky light setup. this is for airflow, and to keep them moving. not sure if the plant wiggling in flowering reduces bud growth since it may need to take more energy to stabilize itself instead of flowering.

i get what you're saying about wasting time. i kinda felt that way about not getting nutes, but i figure i'll just see what i can get from it. its a good use of time (to me) so i dont mind wasting it if i am. its a nice hobby and chills me out on the weekends just looking at the plants, reading about stuff, ect. this actually has me interested in a container garden for veggies/fruit so i'd consider this getting me into a hobby a win. if i thought there was a nutrient deficiency or pH was way off i'd probably plunk down the money to diagnose and fix the problem, similar to how i know i'm going to need a scope to check out the trichomes so i'm planning on getting one soon.

once i get moved to cali and settled i'd like to make 3 space buckets with something like these CFL's, but i may break down and go for a 250w HPS system everyone talks about but that may be something for a year or two down the road.

i think for my next grow i'm going to just use gardening materials/pots to eliminate that variable, but where i live it's a walking down and it's hard to get to a home depot without a car. i've walked to all the hardware stores around and target had the only supply of potting soil/containers i could find.

edit: added a pic of the drainage holes i drilled

I have been working with some succulents since August. The one I began with is an echeveria (I believe) in the teal pot, and I'm not sure what the others in the red pot are (my friends gifted these to me).
The gifted plants have stretched a great deal since I received them, and I'm not sure if I should propagate the leaves and take cuttings from the top. (I took the top from the echeveria and it seems to be doing quite well! - in the gray pot). I also have leaves I am attempting to propagate. One from a different plant entirely that has grown plenty of roots, and as I just removed it from having its roots in the soil, I noticed it has begun to grow tiny little leaves. (This was not the case as of three or so days ago before I placed the roots under the soil).

The others aren't doing as well. I have sprayed the roots only, daily, of the mystery leaf, but I have stopped recently after reading about dry methods. Should I be doing something differently? (Should I continue watering it? Should I place it back on top of the soil?)

They are in ceramic pots with a drainage hole in the bottom. I typically water the established plants one to two weeks, or I can wait longer if the soil is not completely dry. The leaves are in a plastic smaller tray with soil, and a drainage hole in the bottom.

The potting medium is a prepackaged cactus mix with added perlite.

All of the plants are situated in a west facing window (I don't have a lot of ability to put them anywhere else). I purchased a bulb that was referenced on a blog, and the echeveria seems to be doing fine, but the others in the red pot are stretching a lot. Link to bulb being used

I also have some little buds growing from the stalk of the echeveria I began with. Is it time to remove and replant the largest one? It has little roots!

I'm looking for identification of mystery plant, advice in regards to the stretching/propagation issue, and any advice on the leaves that I am attempting to propagate. Thank you so much for any and all help!

Link to photos

This is the first time I've posted something like this, so if I need to clarify or fix the links, please let me know! Thanks! :)

Hi /u/saricher - I recommend the small, but powerful [$199 F&V R-300 Ring Light] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AY0J4OY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AY0J4OY&linkCode=as2&tag=battleforthew-20) with a [$25 Milk Diffusion Filter] (http://www.adorama.com/FVMWDR300.html?KBID=66297).

Here is what it looks like (alongside an AC powered [Stellar Diva Ring Light] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3A5314/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00J3A5314&linkCode=as2&tag=battleforthew-20)) on a [$28 pair of light stands] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001WB02Z4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001WB02Z4&linkCode=as2&tag=battleforthew-20): https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jrqsQtPN3TU/U1sjz3-jwnI/AAAAAAAAIt4/k2WveyQeO4o/w724-h543-no/P1120732.JPG

The R-300 runs on either a 12V AC adapter or a [$10 Sony camcorder battery] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Q9PWQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007Q9PWQ&linkCode=as2&tag=battleforthew-20). I bought a couple of these along with a [$19 dual battery charger] (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575034783&toolid=10001&campid=5337235943&customid=&icep_item=321347920244&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg).

You can also buy a [$40 rail mount] (http://www.adorama.com/FV15RMR300.html?KBID=66297) for it and put it on a set of 15mm rails. This light does a great job in the field as well as in the studio.

Here it is on my camera: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rhqiHavOnGM/U1J4paO2vRI/AAAAAAAAIrk/eW1mhniD0gY/w724-h543-no/P1120708.JPG

Two F&V lights, two stands, a couple of milk filters, two batteries and a dual charger and you'll have a pair of cool, powerful and compact portable lights that will fit into very small spaces - all for about $500.

Hope this is helpful!

Bill

You did say each of my wishlists, right?

Here I go:

• One of my highest items are these light bulbs. Why? We moved into a house during Thanksgiving weekend last year. One by one each of our light fixtures have blown their bulbs. We've been getting bulbs as we can, but we still need about 40 bulbs to be able to say we have light everywhere we need it.
  
  
  
• Another highest priority item is this Kindle. It's for our 13 year old daughter, who has ADHD and is bipolar. She had another one that she very accidentally dropped on her way to school (she has special permission from her principals and teachers to have it at school. It helps calm her down, and her teachers have told us since having it at school her GPA has gone from a 2.0 to a 3.5) two weeks ago. We taped it up and put more screen protectors on it so she wouldn't hurt her fingers on the glass which was shattered but still usable. Last week she put it on her bike to come in and get something, and her youngest sister sat on her bike, effectively shattering the glass the rest of the way and we had to throw it away. I did take this pic of it before we threw it away. I snapchatted the pic as well when it happened. Since she first dropped it, it hadn't been charging like it should. She had had it for a couple years. Hers was a first generation Kindle Fire. She carried it everywhere, and we can't afford a new one for some time. She is devastated, her grades are dropping, and she's getting in trouble at school now because she can't calm down when someone bullies her without it. She has breathing exercises and medication she takes, but her Kindle helped her out tremendously. When we moved here, she started a new school, and her old school never allowed her to bring her Kindle like this school does. Her grades suffered so much, and she always got in trouble. It breaks our hearts to see her heading down that same path at her new school again.
  
  
• Then I have some headphones on another wishlist that are high priority. My girls have been taking mine and essentially breaking them from so much overuse. I can't wear the earbuds, they mess with my ears too much, so I have to have good ol' fashioned headphones.
  
  
• This blanket because I am always super cold in our house.
  
  
• This watch on another of my wishlists. These are so cheap that I want to get one for me and one for each of my daughters in different colors.
  
  
• This book for my husband. We had it once, and lost it in our cross country move. He's wanted it again for years.
  
  
• This video game for my husband because he is kicking himself in the bahooky for not buying the download when it was $15 right before and during the Super Bowl. Plus, I wouldn't have to keep watching him play COD: MW3 all the time!
  
  
• This pan because with 7 of us in our family, we can always use another big pan to cook in.
  
  
• This pet shampoo because once our dog and cat get bathed in it, they smell wonderful for weeks. It says "Puppy Shampoo", but we use it on our long haired cat too, and he loves it as much as the dog does.
  
  
• Another high priority movie on my list besides the one I received from PBG. Because I <3 Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. I also haven't seen this movie.
  
  Thank you for this discussion. It's helped me get a bit off my chest. I hope you don't mind.

Putting them outside right away can be bad for a few reasons. They’re delicate and sensitive to intense light, changes in temperature, gusting wind, and predators. They do not have the strength or root systems in place yet to recover from any environmental stress. Unless you get very lucky with weather and the cosmos are aligned juuuust right, you might be in for a rough time. Getting leggy is definitely a possibility with them being inside and not having a grow light, but you can always bury the stems pretty deeply when you transplant them and are ready to put them out. Your window isnt ideal, but it’s probably still a better bet at this time. You can also find a pretty cheap grow light option if you have $ 15 to spare. Here’s an entry level fixture for a nice CFL grow bulb. It’s $10 on amazon prime with free shipping. You can also find these at the hardware store, or a discount store like big lots (I got em for 5-8$ there)

https://www.amazon.com/Woods-0169-8-5-Inch-Reflector-150-Watt/dp/B009ONXWC2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523460361&sr=8-3&keywords=Clip+shop+light&dpID=41EfPZ5XphL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Simple CFL grow bulbs in the 6500K “daylight” spectrum. 4 pack of bulbs for $15. You can look around for cheaper ones, but just try to find the highest wattage equivalent you can, at 6500K spectrum.

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Equivalent-Bright/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1523460444&sr=1-4&keywords=CFL+6500k&dpID=41aqLa5KpiL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

My lights are in the living room (aka dining room but it's one big room) and I'm pretty sure they'd be considered invasive (red/blue LEDs) 😂 Here's my newest set-up. I just got this rack today so since taking this ive been moving and rearranging everyone to find the perfect spots for each lol.


It really depends on how many plants you have. One arrangement/2-3 smaller plants would do ok with one of these. I'm considering getting one or two of these to supplement for my aeonium kiwi that refuses to develop the pretty stress colors like they do in direct sun. If you have more (5+) I'd suggest a light similar to the one on my lowest shelf--maybe a fixture with 2-4 6500k t5 bulbs. Make sure you get yourself a timer for the light(s) as well! Mine are kept on for 16 hours a day while they're stuck inside for the random cold nights.

It’s best to put them in a south facing window if you can but theres not much else that can be done. If you’re looking for something cheap in the meantime I highly recommend these bulbs. They’re $10 for 4 bulbs and are pretty inexpensive to run during the day! One bulb is definitely enough to cover the plants in the photo and it’ll fit most light fixtures. I got a big t5 light for my plants and it’s great but my plants don’t have the beautiful stress colors these cfl bulbs gave them

Yeah, that will certainly help, and, as /u/juanitopeppers points out, move the CFLs closer. A good rule of thumb is to place your hand on the tops of the peppers (palm side down). If you can stand the heat from the bulbs for 30 seconds, then, your peppers can too. Also, check out these CFLs -> https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Fluorescent-Spectrum-LimoStudio-LMS121/dp/B005FRCUHY/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1497409361&sr=8-9&keywords=6500k+cfl - with 4 of those, you would be around 28,000 lumens which would give you decent results. Also, if you could surround the plants with some form of reflective material (mylar / thick white paint on wood / grow tent) you will also increase the efficiency of your lights. Happy growing!

$20 for a stack of cut acrylic? You've got to do a much better job at explaining the value proposition here. Especially when the average person is not going to have any idea what it is you're selling.

Also - pictures, pictures, pictures. The average person will spend 5 seconds on your website tops, read 1 sentence (the heading), look at the pics, and leave. Your pictures look like they were taken in your backyard in the dark. Go buy:

• One of these pop up studios: https://www.amazon.com/Neewer%C2%AE-Shooting-Diffusion-Backdrops-Photography/dp/B00GKGGICC/ref=sr_1_1?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1474099811&sr=1-1&keywords=pop+up+photo+booth
  
  
• 3 of these clamp lamps: https://www.amazon.com/Woods-8-5-Inch-Reflector-150-Watt-6-Foot/dp/B000HHQ94C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474099983&sr=8-1&keywords=Clamp+Light+with+Grip+work+light+reflector
  
  
• And a pack of these daylight bulbs: https://www.amazon.com/EcoSmart-5000K-Spiral-Daylight-4-Pack/dp/B0042UN1U0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1474100072&sr=8-3&keywords=daylight+bulb
  
  
• And download paint.net (or torrent photoshop) to edit your photos. You want amazon style photos - big, bright, clear, no/white background, and great detail.
  
  Also, work on your shopify website. Spend a few hours - its not hard to modify an existing theme to look good. You need some color and a more clean layout. The site does not look professional. Why would a customer trust you if your store front looks amateur? They'll leave before they even look at your products.
  
  If you believe in this niche, great. Make the website slick, get good pictures, think about why YOU would purchase these and write up some good copy, and then go drum up some business by participating in a related forum / subreddit / listserv / whatever. Is this actually a problem people need solving? You'll find out.
  
  P.S. I know those blacklight photos look cool and all, but do your customers actually care? Are you going to use this product under blacklight? If not, you're probably turning off anyone older than highschool age.
  
  P.P.S. Stop referring to yourself as cardistry-cards in the copy. The hyphen isn't doing you any favors. Shorten to CC or Cardistry if you're even going to do the 3rd person thing.

TL;DR: Is 2000 lumen (daylight CFL and red & blue LED combined, 4" above the plants, giving 10000~15000 lux) enough for succulents like Echeveria?

The picture is from last week. Now I have about a dozen 2" succulents, in addition to a few successful propagations, including Echeveria hybrids, Lithops, Haworthia hybrids, Baby Toes, Key Lime Plant, Graptopetalum, colorful sedum-looking ones, Baby Necklace, really cute red Jade, Moonstones, ... And hopefully the Oscularia deltoides cutting grows some roots soon.

Unfortunately, my apartment gets almost no sunlight indoor or in the balcony. If the succulents are anywhere near the windows, my cat thinks they are all hers. Thankfully she doesn't play with anything on my desk, and having the chubby leaves on my desk makes me really happy, so I decided to keep the plants on my desk.

The problem is that the plants don't get any sunlight at all. I set up one 23W CFL, 100W-equivalent and one 5W LED grow light right next to each other, about 4 inches above the plants. According to a light meter app on my phone, the plants get 10000~15000lx. Both of the lights are on for 14 hours a day. These are the only light source for the plants, since they don't get any sunlight.

Have anybody tried a setup like this? Would this be enough to keep the succulents happy and healthy? Will the Echeveria hybrids get etiolated? Approximately how many lumens do I need to cover one square foot area?

How many plants do you have? If it is just a few, I recommend the easiest and cheapest option, getting one of those reflector lamps with a clamp and a 60 Watt grow bulb. If you want something a little nicer, you could upgrade that to the 2 ft or 4 ft T5 grow lights. You can find these with stands which can be pretty nice. Personally, I don't bother with the LED lights because they are so much more expensive for comparable performance. You could find any of these on Amazon. You could also check craigslist. I have found some great deals of grow lamps through them.

I have a few of each of the following and would recommend them:

https://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLT5XX4-Fluorescent-Premium-Quality-CSA-listed/dp/B018WIOBXS/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1487361891&sr=8-7&keywords=grow%2Blight&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005P29K1S/ref=sr_ph_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487361891&sr=sr-1&keywords=grow+light

I suggested something that would save you money.

Get a bunch of 23w bulbs. They're cheap as shit. You can buy 6 for $12 on Amazon, so I'm sure you can find em even cheaper at the hardware store or walmart. Then buy some of these for like a buck each, put em all together with a power strip or two, and DONE.

But I'm sure you've found some super special way that works even better, using overpriced bulbs, with the wrong color temp, that nobody would ever suggest.


Just curious, on the grow your referring to where you spent zero dollars... How big was your harvest? Was the shit any good? How much lighting (watts)? How were you able to successfully grow without even knowing what color temp your lights need to be?

Not a true jade, but rather portulacaria afra, aka Elephant Bush. Super cute, though. If you want it to last for a few years, it will need to be on the sill of a bright window or get supplemental lighting with a good grow light. You could buy a dedicated grow lamp (but then you’d have to put up with that awful purple light), otherwise a gooseneck desk lamp with a 100 watt equivalent CFL daylight (6500k) bulb (not LED) placed a few inches above the plant should work ok.

If it starts flowering while still a clone and then goes back to veg before finishing so that you can grow it bigger and then flowered again for you to harvest, it will totally stress it out, can screw up its growth cycle and possibly go hermie. Only once it gets more than 10 or 11 hours of darkness at a time will it think "fall/winter is coming soon" and start budding, so all you need to do to make sure it doesn't start flowering yet is keep a light shining on it 24 hours a day. Technically just about any light bright enough for people to see in would stop it from flowering, but to keep it growing healthy instead of stretching out and losing leaves you can make a super easy cheap CFL light and keep it nice and close.

Go to Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, or wherever and get one cheapo extension cord, two socket to lamp adapters, and two or more "daylight" or "full spectrum" CFL bulbs that are at least 20W actual or 100W "equivalent wattage." They'll likely be cheaper in the actual store than the Amazon price due to shipping. If you get a multi-pack of bulbs, you can always use the extras around your house though. Plug the adapters in opposite plugs of the extension cord so they both fit on, screw a bulb into each socket, and hang it a few inches from your plant.

Those usually put out a lot of heat and hot plants are crispy plants. Manufacturers put different ratings for wattage because as bulbs become more efficient you can get the same lighting effect with less power draw... it’s all in the name of energy efficiency. In terms of cheap bulbs the ones below have pretty good specs and a few people here have had great results with them
Philips 433557 100-watt Equivalent, Bright White (6500K) 23 Watt Spiral CFL Light Bulb, 4-Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_W6lhAb0WCK6KM

The camera is not your problem, your lighting is. All cameras, especially inexpensive small sensor ones will be grainy in dim indoor light because they need to crank the ISO to brighten the image. ISO is the light sensitivity of the sensor. High ISO will make the image brighter, but at the cost of quality. A gopro will not help you. You need a lighting kit.

These work well for the price: http://amzn.com/B003WLY24O

I use upgraded bulbs: http://amzn.com/B00BISL11U

If your camera has manual ISO set it to 160 or 200 for your best quality image, and use artificial lights to increase brightness as desired.

You can learn more at /r/videography

Hey,
I'm rather new to hydroponics and so I had to do a little experimenting as I go along. Keep in mind I have a small hydro setup of about 24 plants.

I recently picked up this bad boy from home depot:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-4-Light-T5-White-High-Output-Fluorescent-High-Bay-IBC-454-MV/202838871

I use a vertical hydroponics setup, which, for obvious design reasons, means the plants at the bottom get screwed out of the valuable light based simply on their position. In the meantime I picked up this light to help with the sprouting process:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005P29K1S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I thought this light was the bees knees. I even started using it to compensate some of the lower plants. So then I picked up this bad boy:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FRCUHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This light is incredible. It's 12" so expect a doozy of a light. I put an 8 1/2" reflector on it and then used tin foil to extend the reflector so that it actually worked as a reflector. Since then, I use the lights on the lower plants via a hanging light system. The system is: extension cord + polarized light bulb adapter + light bulb. I'm in the process of testing it now but in the future the last light bulbs are the best bang for your buck and extremely modular to work with (if you like to tinker with your system modular parts go a long way).

Anyway, hope that helps!

There are differences. The biggest one has to do with light distribution and how that has to do with how much each part of a plant gets. More distributed lighting means more even lighting.

But the combo is really up to you and I'd have to measure each combo to truly tell what is optimal for a Space Bucket (I'm using LEDs only outside of the bucket for much lower temperatures).

The bigger bulbs get hotter but in the bucket the total heat will be energy input minus work performed (electrical efficiency, plant photosynthesis efficiency ) minus heat removed through convection (air flow).

An important thing is using a reflector if you can. You will get more light on target by using a simple to make reflector. You will get some more light by using a simple reflector in my testing. If you don't use a reflector then get them as close as possible to the reflective back surface (I've measured this).

Finally, consider bulb size. A 23 watt mini twist CFL is much small than a 65 watt CFL. I'd personally use a mini twist and believe they don't come higher than 23 watts. Take that as opinion only since I haven't done the test in bucket with CFLs.

Bottom line, finds what works best for you and stick with it but consider the relatively large size of the 65 watt bulbs vs the relatively small size of the bucket.

For light testing, BTW, I either have a custom rig set up with 5 photo sensors and a Fluke 287 meter, a quantum light meter or probe around with a fiber optic cable and a cosine head using my spectrometer to make precise measurements. A cheap digital lux meter with a remote sensor can be bought for around $20 off EBay. A light meter is a damn good investment that quickly pays for itself.

edit spelling

I've been browsing the grow light thread and thinking about getting more succulents before winter, and would like some input on which setup seems better or if you would recommend something else entirely. This adjustable growlight which has a gooseneck and clip (also comes with option for timer) or this bulb and this clamp light? I currently don't have many succulents at all (which obviously can change) so I don't need the light to cover a huge area. Should I set up a specific area to do this with shelving etc (please recommend if so) or is on top of a cedar chest on trays fine?

I'm pretty new to this and appreciate any advice I can get here.

Thanks! I'll check on the bulb. Something like a 6200K 23 watt I think. Daylight with blue end mostly. CFL to keep heat at 80 deg works perfect at 10 inches away. About 10 bucks on amazon plus another 10 for the reflector is best I could find. Will get a 2800k for the peppers and tomatoes to induce flowering after I get them on the hydro for a month or two. The lettuce stays on blueish since it's all veg growth you want.

edit
bulb: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AKKU7SA/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_33
holder: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0061MZ4Q6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I tried this before. I had an Echeveria Solstice that ended up pretty etiolated. They're highly dependent on sunshine, so this was no surprise. It wouldn't even keep over winter.

However, I found that some of my cactuses were OK, only over the winter, if I supplemented a window with about three of these, two of which were closer to 6400 K (color temperature).

Again, that was 3 really high powered lights all shining on the same area, and this was just to keep them happy while relatively dormant over winter. Definitely no permanent substitute for natural light, sorry.

Grow light bulbs like this one here or this one will work fine.

By living basil I mean basil plants in soil for sale. I nearly always see them at Trader Joe's, wrapped in a plastic sleeve. They often come in organic pots that will break down when wet, so remove the sleeve and plant the organic pot in your 6" ceramic one with some additional soil.

Basil likes to grow with friends, plus having multiple plants in a single pot increases your yield.

By tall enough I mean before it flowers. Basil will flower when it gets to a certain height, about a foot or so. Trimming it will encourage new growth from the bottom up. It will grow tall again in time. Here is a video that explains what I mean.

I was checking out a lot of the huge CFL's. I'm thinking maybe 64 (8 rows of 8) of these, each in a reflective housing, mounted above a ripstop diffuser? Perhaps the surrounding ceiling around the lights could be painted white just for good measure, whatever it may achieve. I'm unsure how to figure out how many of these I would need... I will have to do some research so I can find math to do.

I know these put out a low amount of heat, but would it be wise to install a few fans to circulate some air above the canvas?

Thanks for your input. Every little bit helps!

I'm in a similar boat. Serious winter SAD and I live in Chicago so there's no getting around the weather here. These are some things that might help that aren't lightboxes:

https://www.amazon.com/EcoSmart-5000K-Spiral-Daylight-4-Pack/dp/B0042UN1U0

https://www.amazon.com/Lavish-Home-Sunlight-Floor-White/dp/B003T5KIL4

I don't know if you're a reader, but I tend to load up on lighthearted, warm area centric novels so that I can at least imagine being in a bright, sunny place. It helps a lot.

Virnibot has detected a misspelling or incorrect use of grammar in your comment.


> I see what you mean, I've been doing some research and I found some CFLs that are specific to growing. Like this link. I don't know how well they work though. I like keeping it in my room and I don't really want to hang overhead florescent lights so a smaller light would be ideal.
>
> Thanks for the advice! I won't remove any more leaves for now, until I learn more.

• You wrote florescent which should have been fluorescent
  
  
  <3 Good day Courtesy | Of | User Virnios
  

Here's mine if that would be helpful for inspiration.

Furniture is from Ikea - Linnmon table top, 2 Adils legs, Alex 5-drawer

The mirror is from amazon. I prefer having a mirror close to me vs a flat one on the wall because I wear glasses and wouldn't be able to get close enough for a wall mirror. Having a mirror up close is handy for everyone though, I'd say. I went with the swing wall mirror to save tabletop space.

The lights are garage work lights with Ottlite CFL bulbs. They're daylight balanced and extremely bright, so they're perfect for makeup. You could do fancier fixtures if you wanted :-)

Maths time!!

Assuming a 60 watt bulb, 15 cents per kilowatt/hour and 6 hours of usage a day per bulb that works out at 131.4 kilowatts or $19.71 worth of electricity used per year. For a CFL equivilent (14 watt) that works out to be 30.66 kilowatts or $4.60 per bulb per year.



8 pack of CFLs for $9.80 works out at $1.23 per bulb that will last 8000 hours ( about $0.16 per 1000 hours)

24 pack of incandescent bulbs for $15.88 at $0.66 per bulb that will last 1000 hours (?)

Total cost for 2190 (1 year at 6 hours a day) hours for a CFL bulb at $4.94 and an incandescent bulb at $21.16

So it is certainly possible to save a fair amount of money swapping to the energy saving bulbs.

TLDR: Swapping to CFL bulbs could save you $16.22 per bulb per year.

I own a colorimeter and have tried many lights and display brightness combos in the past five years. My monitors (3) are set to output 140cdm/2 brightness and are 15cm-60cm away from my walls, or around half a foot to 2ft away. Unless the lumens (maximum brightness of the light) is listed don't bother.


Assuming proper display placement and lack of obvious bleed and a glow a display with 1000:1 contrast needs specific amounts of light to prevent black from looking greyish. Bezel color and shade as well as the coating type also greatly affects the perceived black depth.


2600 lumens (15$ for CFL & 25$ for LED light) for displays with under 100cdm/2 brightness of white. I use this 6500k/Daylight Philips CFL light which I bought in 2013 back when there were no LED solutions I could find. I've seen a few 2200 lumen 5000k LED lights like this one, but have not extensively researched to find others.


5000 lumens for displays with over around 180cdm/2 under 300cd/2 brightness of white. I have this Feit 5000 lumen 5000k LED Light which sells for 35$ US & 50$ CAD. I also have a Sunlite 5000 lumen CFL light, but it requires a lamp capable of outputting at least 100w vs the typical limit of 50.


I still use the 2600 lumen philips CFK as a ceiling light, but now use 5x LIFX BR30's with my monitors (AHVA/IPS/PLS), and LIFX LED Light Strips with my Sony 49X900E (VA) (can't remember how many; 6?) as bias lights instead of the Feit 5000K 5000 lumen LED since I like being able to change the color and color temperature.


LIFX and Philips list the lumens for their lights, but it only applies to either 2500/2700k or 4000k. One has the check the manual to find out which for LIFX now.

Yeah mines definitely not there yet either lol

I’ve picked up fallen leaves at Home Depot twice and now I have a lot of them that I’m going to try to grow! I’m sure he will be impressed when/if they grow!

Someone here linked some bulbs that were 4/$10 on amazon and I think they could go into a regular lamp you might already have!

Edit: these

Philips 433557 100-watt Equivalent, Bright White (6500K) 23 Watt Spiral CFL Light Bulb, 4-Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Gy2eAbN1WVNB5

Most of the info you'll find online for indoor grow bulbs will partain to pot (weed) growing. If it's legal where you are, I say go for it but ordering lights off of some sights can get you on a list of sorts that maybe you don't want to be on lol.

These are fairly cheap cfl's and I reccomend these types over the longer larger u shaped tube cfls. https://www.amazon.com/Hydroponic-Full-Spectrum-Light-5500K/dp/B005P29K1S

I say this because I've not had good luck or life span out of the others, but with smaller ones like these I've had great success.

But here's some L.E.D. types that you may be able to afford that last much longer

https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Spectrum-Indoor-Succulents-Seedling/dp/B07FKF6BT4

These links ought to get you started at looking at some options. Hell, I just was super shocked at how much the price tags have gone down in the last 3 years since I bought some for myself! Lol... Now I'm gonna have to do some reinvesting also!

I use a Phillips Grow bulb and a clamp lamp, but that’s because I’m growing my mushrooms in the same room I’m growing my weed, and that room is locked down like Fort Knox against light.

But indirect sunlight should be just fine, my friends growing mushrooms in her craft room/office, and her tub’s only getting indirect sunlight and they’re doing fine. Bod even tells you that sunlight isn’t necessary, mushrooms just look weird apparently without any.

You can start/grow lots of stuff inside in the winter if you have the right setup. If your apartment includes electricity and heat, you're sitting pretty!

Grow lamps can be bought easily. A few small plants can be done using just a compact florescent grow bulb. For more plants getting a 4ft shop light and grow tubes is the more efficient way. Keep the light as close to the plants as you can. Grow bulbs are key as normal lights usually don't have the right wavelengths for growing plants.

Using a 4ft shop light with grow bulbs I kept parsley and basil going all winter in my college apartment. My dad starts artichokes inside when it's 10F outside using this method, and starts tomatoes, peppers, and other plants as well (seed starting mats help too if your apartment is cold)

Look into the /r/IndoorGarden, /r/hydroponics, /r/hydroponic, /r/HydroponicGardening subs and related stuff. You DON'T have to go hydro to grow indoors: you can still use pots with potting soil. Some people use it to grow a SPECIFIC plant that they don't want others to see, so it can be an issue if you're doing a lot of indoor gardening with lots of lights or buying at a shop that "caters" to that clientele. They have a lot of experience and information though, so it's a tough call how much you want to cross paths with them.

I just use a simple swing lamp + a set of daylight florescent bulbs. It's a relatively cheap setup that offers great lighting. I use 2 swing lamps personally and it covers my entire area perfectly. Obviously do a little more searching those were just the first things that came up when I searched amazon. Ideally for the light bulbs you want something in the 6k temperature range.

I have one like that on some plants that aren't succulents and it's going really well. I just stuck some succulents under it too so we'll see how that goes. However, I have most of my succulents under this. It's super cheap, you just need a CFL lightbulb that has a "daylight" color (between 5000k-6500k) and is the equivalent of a 75 or higher watt bulb. Something like this (this is a four pack). You could get two of the one I use, plus light bulbs, for less than the one you linked too. And the clasp on the one I linked to is much stronger and bigger than on the LED light, so it's easier to attach in more places.

Edit to add that the clamp lamp with the reflector has a cord and an on-off switch. The picture makes it look like it's just a reflector and that you need to buy your own cord for the lightbulb.

• Speculation that CFLs are subsidized by the government by up to $40 per bulb. unsupported.
  
  
• To support the assertion that CFLs are "a RIP OFF!" he links to this improved incandescent bulb which uses only 72w to generate as much light as a traditional 100w incandescent. You can buy one of these bulbs for $7.99. An equivalent CFL uses only 26w and cost $12.99 for a six pack at a cost of $12.99 for six. So this other bulb costs 3.6x more and uses 2.7x more energy than a CFL, but the CFL is the "RIP OFF"?
  
  
• Assertion that there are "better" ways to save electricity. He suggests that people take shorter showers and use less water washing dishes. Of course everyone here will agree with that, (1) it's not an either/or choice, and (2) even if it were, try asking a random person whether they'd rather do, take shorter showers, or buy CFLs next time they need to replace their bulbs. CFLs are a very low-pain way of saving power. IMO "better" is used subjectively in the article.
  
  
• "I suspect that the 1000 hour rated incandescent outlasted the 10,000 hour rated fluorescent - but they don't say." -- unsupported.
  
  
• "I would guess that I saved $15 per month by using less hot water."
  
  
  
  

You should get This

This is also pretty useful and for me too ;)

You're pretty and have a voice like an angel

I'm gonna quote what I wrote about my set-up in another thread. Small, cheap, and can clamp anywhere. Good luck!

> Very, very basic. I only got into succulents about two months ago, so keep in mind I'm very much a beginner.
>
> Right now, I have three clamp lamps with these bulbs, clipped onto a leaning desk. It's pretty cheap and seems to be working out for me so far, judging by the compact new growth on my light-hungry Echeverias. But I'm running out of grow-light room! I've been debating upgrading to one of these or simply just buying another clamp lamp to cover more surface area (since I know my addiction will eventually lead to me buying more babies).

I commented about this the other day on /r/houseplants but This is my winter setup, it aint pretty but it was pretty cheap.

IKEA Clamp Lamp
got mine on sale for $7

Socket Extender $2.74

Twin Socket Adapter $2.48

Phillips 6500k CFL Bulbs 4 pack for 10 bucks

Aluminum Roasting Pan Found in any supermarket, got mine for 89 cents

All told it was about $15 for each rig. I've set up 2 so far and they've worked great.

If you want to pretty it up you can swap out the roasting pan for sheet aluminum but you'd have to shape it and cut it so it would involve more tools.

Can't remember their name atm, but they're growing fine. I wouldn't think of these new extensions as 'pups' so much as 'arms' or 'branches' like you would see on a prickly pear. This is one of mine for example, haven't had them very long but they can be removed and eventually grow roots and become their own plant. They take a long time to do so though, easily 3 months or more. Your's are still too small to remove, the bud would run out of nutrients before it was able to develop a root system that could sustain itself. Best bet is to let them grow!

I'm not sure how this species would show etiolation, it's pretty slow growing and I feel like it would die from lack of light before it was able to etiolate. My advice would be to spend a few dollars and get a grow light, I can recommend this one since it was the one I first got (and still have, it's now heating a snake enclosure, haha). It's not super powerful, so it needs to be relatively close (a foot away or so). Others here have used LED lights, but I don't have any experience with them and can't speak to their effectiveness.

It would depend on your space, but I have clamp lights with bright white CFLs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_za9PBb89MW8HR (I'm on mobile - sorry for no formatting) and most plants are doing great with it. There's only one Echeveria that's etiolated but that's because I have the lights very high. Investing in a cheap grow light will be good for when winter comes.

I have basically this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/h9t/Charcoal-Weber-1221004-Compact-47cm-BBQ-Black/B00026CTZQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499279672&sr=8-1&keywords=weber+bbq

Mine is 11 years old now although looks pretty much new, despite getting a lot of use. They really hold up.

I love this style as it really helps with the cooking - as above you can use it as part oven. My technique (as used this evening) is to fill one side with hot coals and leave the other side bare.

Then I put things that need to heat up (e.g. chicken, thick meat, sausages briefly) on the side without the coals. They start to cook through. I then move things over onto the really hot side to crispen up. Burgers and various other things can go straight onto the hot side. The lid also means you never have to worry about flames shooting everywhere as it restricts oxygen enough to keep it under control. You can even cook roasts on it!

Pair it with one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Charcoal-Starters/Weber-7416-Chimney-Starter/B000WEOQV8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499279922&sr=8-2&keywords=chimney+starter

to get things going.

Cheaper models are definitely available but I would stick with the kettle design. I can definitely vouch for the longevity of the webber though.

I see what you mean, I've been doing some research and I found some CFLs that are specific to growing. Like this link. I don't know how well they work though. I like keeping it in my room and I don't really want to hang overhead florescent fluorescent lights so a smaller light would be ideal.

Thanks for the advice! I won't remove any more leaves for now, until I learn more.

I got these light bulbs: Philips 433557 23W 100-watt T2 Twister 6500K CFL Light Bulb, 4-Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_w7S66nIcszAao

And these clamp lights: Woods 0151 150-Watt Clamp Light with 8.5-Inch Reflector and 18/2 SPT 6-Foot-Cord https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HHQ94C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_HJwGKAbobQUct

I'm still a newbie, but they are loving the set up - my Aloe "pink blush" is significantly more pink than two weeks ago when I purchased it.

I'm no expert, I just recommend starting out with the lights at least 8 inches away and gradually moving them closer. They don't get hot which is nice!

I usually try not to eat fatty stuff that late in the evening. Especially after putting down a Sunday roast made by the English wife.

I have been known to crack a beer at 3:30am Saturday morning watching the All Blacks/ Wallabies. They show the Aviva games here now. Don't feel as guilty having one at 10am.

Some extra additions you may want to add to your seasonings selections shouldn't be too difficult with all of the indian influence in English cooking.

Cumin, Corriander, Smoked Paprika

I personally find Frank's Hot Sauce to be a bit too sodium heavy. You can do dry rubs too if you don't fancy having to lick hot sauce running down to your elbows.

You honestly don't enjoy cooking outdoors on the grill? It is honestly my favorite way to cook any meat. Do you not have the space to do so? I mean if you're going to go all American watching NFL and eating the associated foods you need to get the grill going too. Just as I suspected, looking at the prices on Amazon.co.uk made me chuckle.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00026CTZQ I picked mine up for US$60.

It will work. Fluorescent lights are good because they emit a broad part of the spectrum, vs LEDs which typically produce light much closer a specific wavelength and do not emit much outside of that. Plants like the broad spectrum light, and typically 6500K is a good color temperature for plants. I use these:

Philips 433557 100-watt Equivalent, Bright White (6500K) 23 Watt Spiral CFL Light Bulb, 4-Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_V8W-BbJ5Z53KG

I use T5HOs for my other CPs, but for the neps I just have them under a couple of these large CFL grow lights with aluminum reflectors. I'd like to get either a new T5 strip or maybe play with LEDs (I have a couple that my pings like, but I've only just put a nep under one today). I grow orchids under the CFLs which is plenty for them, and had space on the shelf for the neps is how that happened.

This is the CFL.

I kind of feel like I could use more light for the nepenthes, so I'll likely be getting a new T5 fixture soon.

My set up is pretty basic at the moment, I have a simple desk lamp with a daylight bulb in aiming down at my plants. I can't find the bulb I'm using online, but it's very similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Equivalent-Bright/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1511785806&sr=1-1&keywords=philips+6500k
I'm currently in the process of hacking two Ikea desk lamps to hang above the shelf I'd like to display my plants on. I'll post pics when it's done! :)

Awesome! Just yesterday I ordered this one, which sadly is not quite as powerful as yours, but reviewers describe it as "the size of my head" and "the light of the universe", and someone posted a great picture for scale, so yeah I'm expecting a light bulb about the size of a suitcase nuke.

What kind of reflector did you get? I was planning to just try and wedge this into a floor-standing lamp I have (where the socket at the top points upward, and sits in a bowl)

I also have a pack of lightbulbs on my list. We have a light (in the kitchen) that keeps burning out bulbs for some reason!

Also kinda boring but wanted items:

• Nature's Miracle Cleaner
  
• Bic pens, granted they are purple
  
• A flashlight

Thank you. This is the actual fan I have:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_44687-82939-40093_0__?productId=4165413

So I can switch to a 3 light bulbs like these, and still be ok safety-wise (because actual watts used 3x13 < 3x40)?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NISDNU

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6SR1JM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Put one in a lamp OP and consider it done. I've had great success with these.

Philips 23 watt 6500k CFL bulbs (you can also pick these up at your local home improvement store): https://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Equivalent-Bright/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=philips+23+watt+cfl&qid=1550422990&s=gateway&sr=8-3

And don't forget clamp lamps: https://www.amazon.com/Woods-0169-169-Clamp-Light/dp/B009ONXWC2/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=clamp+lamps&qid=1550423123&s=hi&sr=1-2-spons&psc=1

​

Depending on how much space you have for a decent setup, you might want to consider T5 light bulbs and fixtures if you want more even distribution of light. I find that I have to put all my succulents together under or around the the lamp in order to get good growth and stress colors out of them. As long as the light bulbs are on or around 6500K (cool white light) then your plants will get the right amount of light that they would get if they had some sunlight.

More light is a must... you can get 60w full spectrum CFL for $14 on amazon. That in itself would help out a lot.

Your pot is also small. And if you only have soil for your grow medium you might need to add something like Perlite to help aerate the soil.

In the end, your gonna get out what you put in. Right now it does not look like your putting too much in.

Super low energy population. Coming from Florida, this is terrible. I have 5 70 watt compact fluorescent lights (300 equivalent) in my living room that I use to help with the dark (heh, they're not too compact). It's like a Latvia joke. Very dark. Very cold.

I haven't experienced any talk of Trump at all, except to bash him. The people around the workplace that can vote are extremely interested in Bernie...and we have a large amount of people here on H1-Bs. Hurts the salary and opportunities, methinks.

I'm biding my time until I can be disconnected from the northwest...it's a pretty place, but the weather, and most of the people, really are low energy.

3x 6500K + 2x 2700K CFLs for the growth phase and 1x 6500K + 4x 2700K for flower phase is my current setup. Every bulb has 20 W so 100 W in total. You should have at least 100 W for a good lighting.

Something like this
and this.

Yeah you need more light.

For smaller rooms and scenes, I'd say the best way it with Chinaballs.

This will probably show you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6QlrTXwdNE

Easiest would be to use high wattage incandescent lightbulbs, or photography fluorescent lights (more expensive, no green content)

http://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Fluorescent-Daylight-Photography-AGG878/dp/B0089Q1HCC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410124830&sr=8-1&keywords=photography+fluorescent+lights

Anything with a 5500k (kelvin temp) is considered a daylight bulb, they are AMAZING for doing makeup! I got the bulbs for my house at Home Depot and Lowes, but here's an Amazon Link to a 4 pack! :)

They need to be relatively close to be effective as far as I've read but it's worth it. It doesn't have to be elaborate just a bulb like this (you want it to be 6500k) and a desk lamp or clamp light .

I have this light and a grow box made out of tin foil and card board! I have a small $5 fan that points in there.


I like to start cuttings and seeds around this time. My little grow box keeps me sane in the winter. :)

I totally get it. When I had less budget I bought regular old clip lights and a couple of really high lumen bulbs, just enough for a couple of plants (more if you have only small plants, which is mostly what my collection consists of now.) Here's my old setup, you can just see the clip and how close I put super needy plants. Used
this light.
Just bought these at a recommendation from ewwmayo on gardenweb, wonderful so far. If your semps are still alive you can try putting them out now, more likely to survive in cold than no light.

Thanks for the palette recommendation! I recently switched to two of these desk lamps with these bulbs. Excellent for painting and photography. Big bang for the buck.

Terrariums aren't great for carnies. They introduce problems you really shouldn't have to deal with, like mildew. They do just fine in individual pots.

OP: I recommend a sundew as a great starter carnie. Also buy a single CFL & a timer.

I use a similar cheap lighting kit like the ones you posted. I replaced the stock bulbs with more powerful ones.

• LimeStudio 105W 6500K CFL (~$23 USD/Pair)
  
  It seems to work okay for my YouTube videos. I shot these with the lighting kit..
  
  
• video example
  
• photo example

>super expensive bulbs

CFLs are, like, a dollar. Incandescent bulbs? About 50¢.

The price differential is almost negligible. LEDs, on the other hand, are substantially more expensive than CFLs, even when accounting for energy use. They're still cheaper than incandescent lights, though.

I would use these one of these bulbs 105 watt 5000k and 105 watt 6000k.I have ordered both they work excellent and their cheap. The 6000k for some reason are alot larger, they both seem to work great. Here's the comparison, those are my bulbs. You can put those 1 inch away and they wont burn. That pepper plant i plan to keep inside under the grow lights the plants only 2.5 weeks old and has buds. Everything in there i started from seed expect the cactus. The gallery wont save so just dont delete it please.

It may be worth it to just get a small grow light. I've been using this bulb in a regular desk lamp for the past 4 years. It's not going to get the same results as a larger, brighter one, but it should be good enough to keep a small number of plants from getting leggy.

LEDs require a specific current, not a specific voltage. I know that sounds odd, but these COB LEDs will continue to consume current until they burn out, so they need a constant current driver in order to regulate the current that's delivered to them. The actual voltage that is delivered can vary, but it's typically somewhere between 12V and 48V.

I have the materials to build just such a setup, but I've read that the Cree COB LEDs I have don't put out a very good light spectrum for plants. I've got the goods, though, so we'll see how it works out.

While I'm talking about it, here are the light sources I have:

• Apollo Purple Reign 400/600/1000 Ballast
  
• Philips 400W HPS
  
• Philips 400W MH
  
• Apollo 400W MH
  
• Apollo 24W LED Red/Blue
  
• GE 24W T5HO
  
• Sola F24T5/HO
  
• ALZO 85W CFL
  
  Curious to see how the LEDs compare. FWIW, the scotch bonnet plant I have underneath the Apollo 24W R/B LED has a pronounced preference for the 400W MH that is orthogonally located about five feet away.

The grow light that I use is Philips T2 Spirals in these lamps. I don't use the clamps though; I just put them directly over my plants using a metal rack about 6 inches above my plants. You wouldn't think at first that the light is strong enough, but it's actually proven itself to be incredible despite it not being marketed as a grow light. Also, you don't need to use the same lamp, it's just the one I use. :)

Hello, we run a small online consignment shop and sell high end clothing. Today we use this equipment:

Limo600W Triple Photo Umbrella Light Lighting Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B8Y4IPU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HlCszb7T19N8W

LimoStudio Set of Two 105 Watt, 6500 K Fluorescent Daylight Balanced Light Bulb for Photography and Video Lighting, AGG878
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089Q1HCC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XnCszbM0XM5CQ

For background, white seamless background paper: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001196MG0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Canon T2i is our camera.

The pictures aren't bright enough. Any suggestions for bulb or umbrella/light box upgrades? Thank you.

Further info: I am set on auto mode. I've tried manual with different exposure, iso, and shutter speed levels. Auto has worked the best so far.

Hey! I have a completely indoor Meyer as well next to a window that doesn't get a lot of light. I use an Agrosun CFL bulb in one of those cheap shop clip lights on a 12 hr timer. Works great, tree has produced multiple rounds of lemons. I have the bulb about 1 foot above the center of the tree.

http://www.amazon.com/AGROSUN-CFL-32W-Equivalent-160W/dp/B0055F4VB4

Our cost for energy and materials was pretty different---enough to make the results far more significant.

Energy cost is almost double that, at $0.11/kWh.

$12.53 to run the 13w CFL (24/7/365).

$8.67 to run the 9w LED (24/7/365).


LEDs are much less expensive.

40w LED bulb = $4.97 at Home Depot.

40w CFL bulb = $1.48 on Amazon

Lifetime cost

CFL operation cost ($35.70) + initial cost (2.5 x $1.48 = $3.70) = $39.40

LED operation cost ($24.72) + initial cost ($4.97) = $29.69

I would use bulbs that produce more light. It's not necessary to change the bulbs, but it likely helps yield. I know most people that use the UFO lights don't change the wavelength during flowering, just the number of hours each day. If you don't change the bulbs I would get an autoflower variety.

http://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-89095-replacement-1600-Lumen/dp/B002YEXMUK/

You can get a 138w UFO on ebay for $50. Might be worth the investment for you.

They are clamp lights, yes. I am using CFLs....I just looked at them and realized that they are not the right ones...However, they are working, so I will just go with that until I can get better lighting. These are 825 lumens. (I'm still new at this, so......) This is what I should be using:

http://www.amazon.com/89095-26-Watt-Daylight-Compact-Fluorescent/dp/B002YEXMUK/ref=pd_sbs_k_5

Edit: I also have a T5 light bar, which has been on the original tank for about two weeks. The plants were doing fine with the clamp lights, but they really took off when I put the light bar over them. Frankly, they were doing a little too well. I switched the light bar to the new tank and put the clamp lights over the Walstad. I also have a proper glass canopy for the new tank. It's on there now.

Transplanted into very wet peat moss about ~1 week ago. Home is 73F and plant sits under this LED for 12 hours:

SunBlaster CFL Self ballasted Propagation lamp, 6400K Light Spectrum, 26 Watt, Fits Standard Size Light Socket https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AKKU7SA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_nGHyCb4X0DGXZ

Plant is about 12” from light. Any help is appreciated.

Yeah I’m sure but I bought them in store at Walmart and I no longer have the box unfortunately. & Ok I’ll be sure to upgrade.

These are the CFLs I bought though.
Philips 433557 100-watt Equivalent, Bright White (6500K) 23 Watt Spiral CFL Light Bulb, 4-Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_695TCbYFX2TAH

I’ll just use them for something else I guess.

Idk about any light, but these will work:
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Equivalent-Bright/dp/B00M6SR1JM

I am using just one and am happy with it.

Hey _Prrr,

Thank you for your suggestion. is this a good start?
Philips 433557 100-watt Equivalent, Bright White (6500K) 23 Watt Spiral CFL Light Bulb:

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Equivalent-Bright/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=sr_1_30?s=hi&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1510532744&sr=1-30&refinements=p_n_feature_seventeen_browse-bin%3A9692445011%2Cp_76%3A1249152011%2Cp_85%3A2470955011%2Cp_72%3A1248909011

Ehh.... I just bought a pack of 8 energy efficient light bulbs off Amazon for roughly $9. That's $1.10 per bulb, shipped. I was in my local store earlier, they wanted $4 per bulb or $32 for 8 bulbs before taxes. Sorry, but it just doesn't make sense to always support local. If it was about $1.50 per then ok, fine... but 363% price markup is ridiculous.

So far I've had pretty good results with this bulb, haven't owned it too long but the 5 plants i have under the 2 bulb + reflector set up i have seem to be doing well so far

Thanks so much for the reply! Do these seem like the right type of CFLs?

Would something like below work? I prefer yellow light but bright.
http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-29490-23-Watt-Twist-Light/dp/B000V77B4K

>is there a reason why a strobe kit is better/worse/same as a constant light source kit?

Light output. Lets just start with a single off camera flash. You can expect conservatively for it to output somewhere around half a million lumens for the fraction of a second it flashes.

So comparing it to say CFL constant lights -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BISL11U/ - It would be 117 of those bulbs for the same light from 1 speedlight.

Well then lets also look at LED, here is a 480 LED panel, so to equal 1 speedlight, you would need 71,520 LEDs, so your entire walls, ceiling and floors better be a LED panel...

And that is just for 1 speed light. My lighting kit consists of a AD200, with the power of 3 speedlights, and 2-4 more speedlights. You are talking about needing to have thousands of light fixtures to equal what I can carry in my backpack.

And when you move into studio strobes, you are looking a a truly insane amount of bulbs to equal them.

So with that greater power, it means I can shoot at faster shutter speeds, higher apertures, with less ISO.

I grow my VFT and D. Capensis inside using a CFL light/can light from amazon. They thrive if you leave it on all day. This is the one that I have and it works beautifully

The glass vase might be another problem as well. Maybe not what you're dealing with currently but like someone else said, you need to have a way for the water to drain. I would suggest an unglazed ceramic pot. It should be inert enough for carnivorous plants and they're extremely breathable. The only thing to consider is that minerals can build up in it, so once a year or so, either replace the pot or soak it in distilled water.

Ok, I'll tell you what you can do to get a few oz's of shroomy delight for yourself for a measly ~$150.

This is going to be my take on growing, or in other words - pofs' tek. Yea...I like the sound of that. Except it's not going to be very detailed.

Pofs' Tek - A guide for the partially lazy

So, basically, I cut out a few steps - that of making your own substrate and and sterilizing it and prepping a bunch of jars and grain spawn. I use Out-Grow's bulk supplies package which consists of 4 quart jars of sterilized rye grain, and 4 lbs of compost (manure-based substrate) and it costs $35 + shipping which was $15 for me for a total of $50

Then I used a 13.5qt clear bin I bought from amazon made by Iris, which cost $5/ea + $4 shipping (which is a steal in bulk, but you'll only need 1 for this guide) which will cost $9, or $59 total

I did this inside so I used a Timer($7), a Lamp Cord ($9), and a 6500k cfl ($8) for a total of $24 on this part (which can be replaced by sunlight if you have a room with natural lighting) and a total of $83

I used spores from lilshopofspores.com - b+ to be specific. I've switched to thehawkeye.com's spores since, because they are cheaper and come with a lot more spores inside the syringe. You'll run around $15-$30 for spores no matter where you get em and bring the total to $113 assuming $30 for syringe and shipping.

I also bought Polyfill ($7) for a total of $120 bare minimum start price.

And now you have all of the essentials.

I'll write the growing process later.

6500K (Daylight) CFL

Something like this

But you will eventually need a better light, LED or HPS.

I don't have the box anymore but I'm fairly confident this is close to what I have.

Get a couple of these lamps, than you get the brightest screw in compact fluorescent/LED lights you can afford. You want to look for something between 6,000-7,000 on the Kelvin scale, also known as day/cool light bulbs. These are the bulbs you want.

So just want to ask a final question before I pull the trigger on lighting. Would these 23w 6500k cfl lights

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Twister-4-Pack/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491027778&sr=8-1&keywords=cfl+23+watt+6500k

with this fixture

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayco-SL-201PDQ6-Bayco-SL-201PDQ6-5-1-2-Clamp-Light/50850140

Be ok to maintain moderate to high light plants? Assuming I place one fixture with one light on top of the tank?

I use this one. Not sure about the ID though, sorry! But thank you :)

The cheap LEDs in those kits can’t grow plants. I’ve tried. I didn’t get growth until I set up a contractor light on my 5 gallon with a 23 watt cfl 6500K. Now I have 8 on 3 tanks.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Q90xDb7JCYWQH

And used something like this

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ONXWC2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_O-0xDbV4F06PC

I've been using three of these for a few months and it's the only light they get. They've all been growing nicely without any problems.

Not really a lot of watts. Looks like a review showed it pulling 17w. LED lights should provide 40w/ft^2 that one would be providing about half that. For about $10 more you could get something like these CFL bulbs and these cords. This would give you 92w of cfl. You would want a bit more ideally but it dwarf the 17w off the LED.

These are what I use for my tubs. I do the Bods unmodded tub tek, I just place these directly on the lid. Depending on the setup or what tek you're following this would work.

:Edit:: What I mean when I say "I place these directly on my lid" I've got them in a deep dome fixture that sits on top of the lid, I don't just lay the light bulb up their haha.

What I would do is pick up some daylight CFL or LED bulbs (should be under $20 total) so you can get the closest to natural light and then focus on bouncing the light or diffusing it.

Example CFL bulbs: http://www.amazon.com/EcoSmart-Equivalent-Spiral-Daylight-4-Pack/dp/B0042UN1U0

Then, put them in lamps that you can direct towards your work area (clip-on flexible neck lamps like this) and try this method of diffusing the light.

Thanks. It happened because I took them inside last fall over winter since i'm in an area that freezes in winter. I had a grow light over them almost 24/7 until two weeks ago when I brought all my plants back outside.

The grow light I have is a cheap one however. Some of my plants grow very well under it and others don't, like the ones in this example. Here's the light for anyone curious - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AKKU7SA

Next year when I bring them inside I'm thinking about getting one of those Apollo grow lights.

Only reason I asked if they are etiolated is that I've seen some plants that look kind of like echeveria actually be plants that naturally grow long and spindly, so didn't want to jump the gun and chop off their heads.

I saw someone else mention varying lighting conditions, and I would agree. If I'm doing swatches for myself to reference later, I'll do photos usually under an Ottlite (I purchased an Ottlite bulb on amazon for like $8US and put it in a normal desk lamp), fluorescent, flash, and natural sunlight. If I'm reaally procrastinating/playing around, I might even do them under incandescent, LED, and/or halogen, but that's just because I like going overboard on silly things like that and it's for my own personal use. ;) For reference, here is an album I made the other day.

I also noticed, in your photos, that your skin looks a little irritated from the tape removal. My skin does the exact same thing, so I'll usually wait a few minutes for the redness to go down, and apply some lotion on the irritated spots as necessary.

No worries! Have you looked in to this type of bulb:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055F4VB4/ref=asc_df_B0055F4VB45433815/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B0055F4VB4&linkCode=df0&hvadid=194944285088&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13743728693007559636&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028723&hvtargid=pla-314457156211

I have a pack sitting in my closet right now in case my leds end up not being enough and I notice signs of etiolation. You can fit in a desk lamp or a clamp lamp. I don’t know how bright they are though, haven’t plugged any in. But I’ve heard good reviews on here about them.

I just use 23w 6500K CFL bulbs like this on my fuge. I put them in a standard metal dome reflector. I wouldn't see why you would need anything more complicated than that.

Any particular reason you're separately growing the pods and phyto instead of just keeping a fuge?

Lake is still cold from the mild summer, this winter will be worse.
I bought a humongus all-spectrum lightbulb, it's like 10 inches tall, full spectrum, and installed it in my closet where I have my computer setup. I'm basically doing light therapy while working on computer stuffs.

http://www.amazon.com/Full-Spectrum-Light-Bulb-Fluorescent/dp/B0019HZQPM/ref=pd_bia_nav_t_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1E39YCJY8MV9PGTY3CWN

I also removed all my 100% cotton items from my wardrobe and put them away for storage, so I don't accidentally go out in something that will soak up sweat/rain/melted snow in the -5 degree 30 mph winds.

I also pulled out all my cold temp gear and fixed any holes.

I bubble wrapped and card boarded my windows, caulked the seams (removable) and plastic wrapped them, tight as a drum, and nailed a fleece blanket over them, and then a heavy duty curtain to hide it all. I also sealed my door cracks with foam tape. I also got a cool touch humidifier and strapped a high grade furnace filter to the back of a box fan. I have a highly controlled environment in my bedroom, even with the house thermostat set to 69, my room is a constant 80 degrees, about 50% humidity and air filtered.

I got loads of food in the basement, and I plan to make a market trip once a month and stock up and just keep the perishables in coolers in the airlock/mudroom (which is currently below freezing).

This is my 3rd Chicago winter, being from Los Angeles I was so under prepared. I'm looking forward to surviving this one in style.

Get better bulbs.

6500k photography bulbs such as these (or any others on amazon):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089Q1FWE/ref=sr_ph_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474509455&sr=sr-1&keywords=6500k+bulb

They use 45w but are the equivalent of a 200W light bulb in brightness. The 4 of them will drown out any yellow light.

There are also these if you want brighter:
https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Fluorescent-Spectrum-LimoStudio-LMS121/dp/B005FRCUHY/ref=sr_1_6_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1474509455&sr=8-6&keywords=6500k+bulb

Each one if the equivalent of a 400w light bulb.

Or if you don't want to spend that, go to walmart and buy the 100w daylight equivalent fluorescent. They should be 5500k or 6500k

I reccomend buying 3 8 packs of CFL's for $8.71. They get free shipping on orders over 25 dollars.

link here: http://www.amazon.com/GE-13-Watt-Energy-SmartTM-replacement/dp/B000NISDNU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325009201&sr=8-1

really?

Try: Amazon - 8 for $7, free shipping w/prime

See also:
Target
Ikea
Lowes
Walmart
Home Depot

I use a 6500 Kelvin lightbulb for when I do color-accurate swatches. It's worth it. The bathroom has the best lighting in the house. When I go into my yellow-tinted kitchen it always just feels wrong now (seriously, I got to replace that bulb!).

The dimmer seems to be working.

When I try using one of these bulbs—another working bulb I had on hand —it works....but it gives off an inconsistent, occasionally flickering light. If I check the dimmer while that bulb's in there, the light does respond.

Is this 4w, 800l, 5000k CFL lightbulb good for my bathroom that receives zero natural light? There are no shades on the lights, so the bulb's light would be naked - I don't know if that makes sense hah.

Something really easy and cheap you could do is replace the light bulbs with CFL or another white light. That should make the vibe a little cozier.

Here's a link to the light bulbs I use

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_j4xJWyGQmluSV

Did you replace it with something like this?

Asking because I want to do the same.

I got a full-spectrum daylight-simulating CFL light bulb from Amazon a few years ago and it's great. Sunlamps for SAD were like $70 when I checked - those bulbs are $5 each and can be used in regular lamps. Here's an even cheaper version.

It says it’s 100 watt, 6500 kelvin. Here’s the link if that is more helpful

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_43HUDb03WZ3DE

So… I hit a baby in the face on a plane once. I was 18 and traveling alone for the first time on the way to England. I was on a window seat and the woman next to me was Chinese and didn't speak English. She had the cutest baby on her lap. Eventually I fell asleep and I woke up to something grabbing my boob. I had one of those moments where you wake up and don't know where you are or what's going on. So my instinct was to flail my arms and I accidentally hit the baby in the face. The baby started crying and when the mother woke up I couldn't explain to her what had happened because of the language barrier and I was so mortified! So, my best baby advice is to protect your baby from getting accidentally slapped by sleepy strangers!

my item thank you for the contest!


It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.

It comes with a foam cover thing but it isnt as robust as a full deadcat thing for wind.

For relatively cheap lighting get a couple of these bulbs http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019HZQPM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And a couple of these softbox fixtures (I like these because they set up and fold up really fast unlike others) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019HZQPM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Some cheap lighting stands, and one of those $35 battery powered LED lights to mount on camera or use as a hair light.

Thanks for all the tips I was looking for something more along these lines, if this helps. http://www.amazon.com/Hydroponic-Full-Spectrum-Light-5500K/dp/B005P29K1S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1422137258&sr=8-4&keywords=grow+lights more a room size indoor garden.

You bet! These are in the spectrum for growth.

thats a bit out of my price range, I was thinking of something more like this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6SR1JM/ref=pd_sim_60_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BRN22AQHEK3P0NM3Y54Y

I shot this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesjbarnett/5154877335/in/set-72157626544818300

with 4-5 cheapo clipon work lights using daylight-color compact fluorescent bulbs, probably 100w equivalents.

http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Edge-Incandescent-Clamp-6-Foot/dp/B00076Q0FQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1310523061&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Watt-Energy-Smart-CFL-Replacement/dp/B000UYF80S/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1310523104&sr=1-2

They were clipped on the top shelf of a bookcase, with a dollar-store white shower curtain liner hung in front of 'em for diffusion.

Maybe $50 total?

(Background was 3-4 yards of primed canvas from the fabric store, painted on the unprimed side with black house paint. $20-25?)

I believe you guys have Ikea over there, right?

The "Cheaper Option" in this u/SDuby video has worked really well for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__6EhXd0Urs

Basically, two Ikea arm lamps and some daylight bulbs.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20370383/
https://www.amazon.com/OttLite-25ED12R-Edison-Swirl-Bulb/dp/B002X7XEYM

Just a run of the mill 6500K compact fluorescent bulb. Here's a 4-pack on amazon , although if you can, maybe support a local hardware store instead.

I don’t do anything special I don’t think, it could be my lighting maybe? But that’s just these lights

6 regular bulbs, got them at Bed Bath and Beyond, a pack of 4 for $10.

3 giant bulbs like this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005P29K1S/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00 2 of them are 2700K, 1 is 5500k

Try to get them in a south facing window if you can. If you do not have that, west, then east, then north. North is the worst, and you will want to avoid that if possible because they will never get direct sunlight in a north window.

The window will be the biggest difference because you can't beat the sun in terms of light.

Once they are in a good window, get a light above them if they are still stretching. I try to get daylight spectrum flourescent bulbs in as high of a wattage as I can find. 6500k, 100watt equivalent florescents do great for plants. You might find a T5 HO setup that uses the long skinny flourescent bulbs. I prefer the T5 setup because it is brighter and cleaner looking in my house than a bunch of metal cone reflectors for standard light bulbs.

Put the lights on a timer so that they are on for about the same amount of time that the sun is up. Adjust the timer once a month or so to match the changing daylight hours. Mid summer the light should be on ~16 hours a day, and mid winter just under 12 hours a day. You want to do this because plants are sensitive to seasonal day length, and will grow, flower, or be dormant depending on the amount of light they receive per day.

I like to put lights about 2 feet above plants so that I can still see the plants instead of the light fixture.

I avoid LED lights because I find the purple glow to be ugly.

Depending on the setup, I find ~25 watts of supplemental light per square foot to be adequate, but it's really hard to say how much light actually makes it on the plants...

I have a 330 watt fluorescent light about 2.5ft above a 12 square foot table in a shady west window. A ton of the fluorescent light spreads out to the sides, so it's hard to say how much light I actually supplement. The plants do fine, though.

Sure man. Here's the one I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005P29K1S?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

Get a cheap timer - 12 on 12hrs off

DAYLIGHT bulbs. Either CFL (compact florescent, or LED) 85 to 100 watt equivilent (but it will use way less power), inside of a softbox or two set above eye level and wide if possible :). Kinda like this

Personally I use this and it works well if you are not looking to light a lot of plants.

Would any 6500k cfl work, or does it need to specify that it's for growing? For instance, would this work?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6SR1JM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_tY6KzbPDFEBN6

This is what I was recommended and purchased. It has served me well

There's not a place for the moment. Its a very simple design, its a bit like lego but with bucket parts.

Get some buckets, this 4 way socket, some CFL bulbs and 8x8 fans... and work from there.

I have a similar situation, I think. I do have windows, but not the greatest light. Some plants, especially further from the windows, need a little extra boost.

I’ve been using a white CFL bulb for plants in a regular floor lamp. I have them on timers so they’re on 12 hours per day, and they look very unobtrusive in the house.

Exactly. I have a couple full spectrum CFLs and my herb garden is growing quite nicely during this winter. They are expensive but well worth it. Have 1 85W and 4 45W. It also kicks SADs ass

http://www.amazon.com/Full-Spectrum-Light-Bulb-daylight/dp/B0019HZQPM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323111995&sr=8-2

Look at Agrobrite CFLs, they make higher watt ones. This one, for example.

And yeah, I don't trust most red/blue LEDs.. I think a lot of folks buy them for the price point and find later that their plants etiolate quite a bit.

I need this pack of daylight light bulbs as they help me to read easier instead of the soft white ones.

I took a sip of something poison, but I'll hold on tight.

Yup, those are daylight bulbs in it, but only cheap $1 100w equivalent home bulbs. I don't know how their color balance compares to these but I do want more wattage anyway. I've had my eye on these, but that's $115 for all 10 bulbs so I've been dragging my feet.

These can do what you want.

http://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Studio-Photography-Fluorescent-Spectrum/dp/B005FRCUHY/

Go for these (same 4-pack of lights, just different retailers):

Amazon

Home Depot

For any type of lighting you'll want blue spectrum (6500k) for seedlings/veg and red spectrum (2700k) for flower.

Holy crap. Similar bulbs in the United States are about €1.45

8-pack of CFL's for $7.

http://www.amazon.com/GE-13-Watt-Energy-SmartTM-replacement/dp/B000NISDNU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310149960&sr=8-1

i dont have one yet but i may be getting these.

http://www.amazon.com/Watt-Energy-Smart-CFL-Replacement/dp/B000UYF80S/ref=sr_1_1?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1372901519&sr=1-1&keywords=100+watt

Get one or more of these things daylight all the time
http://www.amazon.com/Full-Spectrum-Light-Bulb-daylight/dp/B0019HZQPM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1320250669&sr=8-8

I do the same. So I set one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-TN311C-Heavy-Grounded-Timer/dp/B00002N5FO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331266134&sr=8-1

To run a lamp with this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019HZQPM/ref=oh_o03_s00_i00_details

http://www.amazon.com/Full-Spectrum-Light-Bulb-Fluorescent/dp/B0019HZQPM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1425446454&sr=8-7&keywords=cfl+bulb

http://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Lantern-Cord-Off-Switch/dp/B007RPRYF0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1425446383&sr=8-3&keywords=china+ball

http://www.amazon.com/White-Chinese-Japanese-Lantern-Diameter/dp/B0026XVQ3Y/ref=pd_sbs_k_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0H6PB60R6Z6AN0CKS3B2

$40 plus shipping a pop. Hang it, mount it, whatever and it'll be more than enough light that won't generate extreme heat or blow sockets.

Word. This is the light kit. I also upgraded the lights.

Not at all... had you asked here yet>?

EDIT: Here you go. Get two of these and then, if yo uwind up getting too much algae, take one out.

Amazon sells 'em.

You should add 6 of these. http://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-SL105-65K-MED-Daylight/dp/B003KR2OZY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1412375802&sr=8-3&keywords=105w+cfl+6500k

Two of these little ones: 14w, 800 lumens, 5000K http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042UN1U0