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faslimy
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Registered: 04/04/04
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Using fluoros on cactus seedlings
#3268695 - 10/23/04 05:00 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Does anyone here have experience with this? I'm germinating a large amount of seeds and have decided to go invest in some fluorescent tubes after seeing how much faster they grow with extended day lengths.
I'm just after ideas for how close to keep the lights and what kind of wattage to go for, obviously I don't want to burn the whole batch by keeping them too close!
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Legoulash
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: faslimy]
#3268720 - 10/23/04 05:07 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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You wont burn them with floros.. Just find the highest lumen output u can find in ur city.Some lighting store should carry what you need.. Keep away from wal mart and other places that sell crap..
I would use one white light and one of the orange colored ones.. Check out compact floros too, U can fit alot of those in a small place.
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kadakuda
The Great"Green".......East


Registered: 05/21/04
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: faslimy]
#3268784 - 10/23/04 05:27 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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best flouros made in my opinion are those for the pet industry. they are outragously expensive but they are better than any lighting store will carry, usually. the best cheap ones ive found are the globe 18"fixtures that come with a daylight bulb. as rah said go for lumens, dont pay much attention to watts except if electricity is an issue. compacts are usually on the red end, but you can get ones on the blue end. they just harder to find, here at least. im currently starting mine off in a 10 gallon aquarium with 1 18"daylight and 1 compact (comon cheapy red thing). they are doing pretty good. heres some pedro that are now 16 days in. i planted em on oct 7.
-------------------- The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.
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faslimy
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: kadakuda]
#3268845 - 10/23/04 05:46 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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There is an indoor growing shop in my city who sell fluorescent tubes and fixtures, they have an online website but it doesn't mention anything about lumens or light spectrums. https://secure.sog.co.nz/store.htm -Electrical Items section So my options are "Cool White" and "Grow Lux" My seedling incubator is about 2 1/2 foot long by 2 foot wide, would I need 1 or 2 fixtures to light this area?
Edited by faslimy (10/23/04 05:47 PM)
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kadakuda
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: faslimy]
#3268971 - 10/23/04 06:26 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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just 1 for now...i dont normally use any till they sprout then use a weak light. id save teh money long term and get a dual 24" for it, then maybe just put on in or have ti on only a few hours. cool white is just red of center usually. i am not familiar with grow lux, they should have the info. philips usually gives such stores all that type of stuff and often they can jsut photocopy it for you. cool whites are ok, but i dont like them. i find most grow tubes quite red, and dont grow stuff too fast (relative to daylight type tubes). if it says grow on it ive become scared to buy it. but maybe its good. ask where it is on the spectrum, saying wide/full aint cut it they should know, and the kalvin and/or lumens. if they dont know any get the numbers/names of the tubes (the t/15 and crap is just the size of tube, isnt needed) and i can see if its on any of my photocopies. i lost my philips spectrum sheet. it jsut had teh common bulb types and where they were on the spectrum, next im in town ill pick another one up and post it. just went through that site. i thought you were talking about a lighting store, but they a budd suply store lol. if you have a lighting specialist store go to them. i find weed specialty/hydroponic stores pretty useless for lighting info and are usually pretty pricey. i dotn know what norm prices are in new zealand but here the average for a decent common 24" bulb is $2-$6. but the really good ones for fish and reptiles are 20-80. maybe ask them about those huge as compat flouro's. they are massive (like the size of a medium MH) and are VERY good for growing. here they are around 120. but damn do they work!
-------------------- The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.
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Maverik
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: kadakuda]
#3269110 - 10/23/04 07:15 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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I've had good luck with "daylight" flouro bulbs. And yes you CAN burn seedlings by keeping flouro's too close. I burned a few and had them turn red on me, which they will grow out of. After they are a few months old it will be more difficult to burn them and the light can be closer. Start off seedlings maybe 9-12" away, then by 3 months old you should be able to have the lights down to 2-4" away.
-------------------- ~ Dead to the Core ~
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faslimy
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: Maverik]
#3269606 - 10/23/04 10:33 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Ended up buying 2 complete fixtures from a different store. They are 18W PL Tube, yes.. daylight :/ I got a chance to see it going before I bought it and it had a nice gentle looking light.
I've just stuck both of them on top of the aquarium but had to squeeze them right next to the vent holes, I hope moisture doesn't become a disaster. I heard seeds need quite a lot more light to germinate which needs to be reduced for the first few weeks so I might leave them up close for now.
I guess I'll make some chains for them to hang if people think 18W PL tubes have a likelyhood of burning them. I was foolish in not testing them out on a smaller batch of seeds. I can take a poor quality webcam picture of the setup
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faslimy
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: faslimy]
#3269618 - 10/23/04 10:38 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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kadakuda
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: faslimy]
#3269898 - 10/24/04 12:10 AM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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that looks good to me. id jsut have one till they are a bit older.
that looks plenty humid enough for them! and the lights look pretty good too
-------------------- The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.
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Maverik
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: kadakuda]
#3269997 - 10/24/04 12:38 AM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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Just keep an eye on 'em. If they start getting a little reddish take the lights up a bit.
-------------------- ~ Dead to the Core ~
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Gr0wer
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: Maverik]
#3276693 - 10/25/04 07:26 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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I keep my sedlings under 2 4' floros, about 1" away. I just throw them in a pot and stretch a ziplock bag over it, I cut off the zipper off so it will stretch.
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faslimy
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: Gr0wer]
#3277043 - 10/25/04 08:41 PM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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What light cycle do you use when germinating? What about after germination? What day temps and what night temps? Do you use a more intense light for germination than initial growth or vice versa?
I'm looking for more information not something I can find by typing 'growing cacti from seed' into google.
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kadakuda
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Re: Using fluoros on cactus seedlings [Re: faslimy]
#3277818 - 10/26/04 12:26 AM (19 years, 3 months ago) |
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i wait till tehy get a couple inches then i boost the light. at first i just keep them as have already been described. but i keep teh lights further than the others. i just turn em on when i get up and turn em off when i go to bed, or roughly 12 hours if i dont. heres how i start all my cacti.

once they reach that bigger size i use 24/7 lighting. they are always at a 18-14c range which is what the room is. i havnt grown pedros from seed before but it has worked wonders with other non ethno cacti.
-------------------- The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.
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