Looking for some pointers on growing mother plants (probably bonsai style) in a 5' tall crawl space using t5's fluorescents. I'm looking to turn out about 300 babies every two weeks. I wanna go with t'5 or other fluorescents for safety reasons. Most likely I'll be getting CSA (Canada) or UL approved lighting since it'll be harder to get to the grow space and don't want any electrical fires under the floor Money is not really an issue and I get hydro equipment at cost so that makes spending money on good equipment even a lesser issue. I'm thinking of using a 4x4 Sun Hut Silver and cut it down to 5' tall so as to not make any changes to the house (I rent the house) So would Bonsai style moms be the best choice. Would a 8 t5 bulb fixture do for say 6-10 moms?
look into 55w PL-L lamps. They work better than regular T5's and come in a very wide range of spectrums. I find excellent clone/mum growth with the 5600k and 5400k lamps. You can find a wide range of spectrum here..... check out aquarium shops for more exotic lamps like Actinic 03 and Actinic Blue/White. A Fulham Workhorse 8 ballast is 220w and will run 4 of those lamps. It's less than $40 and will also run your T5, T8, T10 and T12 regular, HO and VHO lamps in any combination up to 6 lamps and 220w. Nice ballasts Do a search for "Bonsai Mums" on here or just plain google and you'll find a ton of references pointing to OldTimer1's write up on how to keep a Bonsai Mum that's 8" x 8" in size. (While still being able to take 50-60 cuttings) These PL-L lamps are the most efficient Fluoros you can find these days. Stick with the 55w to keep the optimum balance between watts/lumens and heat. EDIT You can buy pre-wired setups but it's really not worth it. That ballast and 4 lamps is less than $160 if you're getting veg lamps. (They're more expensive) That's 220w of superb vegging light. They're simple to set up and they last for nearly 2 years so you won't be changing them out all the time. Since you get your equipment at wholesale and money isn't an issue, I'd say go for it and find Pre-wired setups with reflectors. It will make them even more effective. (Most of us just run the bulbs bare with flat white or mylar on the ceiling of a cabinet)
Hmm the 55W PL=L look pretty interesting. I was thinking of running one of these from NGW It handles t5's but would it be enough for 6-8 mothers?
At 8" x 8" each or smaller I could put what, 30? 40? 50 mums under there? Bonsai mums rock! T5's are great but they don't put out maximum lumens until the air around them is at least 95F. Do you want to cook your plants or do you want maximum lumen output? Get the 55w PL-Ls if you can, you'll be much happier in the long run. They run at optimum lumen output when the ambient temp is only 75F, much more comfortable for plants. The PL-Ls last a lot longer than the straight tube T5s also.