How many hours do your lights run?

[AJ Grottke]

I want to see how long other people keep their light on for.  Im sure this is crop dependent so state the type of crop, what type of light, and how many hours the lights are on for.    

For leafy greens and herbs i have 400W MH  and a 8 bulb T5 running for 15 hours, but im thinking about trying 14 or 13. For tomatoes and pepper under the 400W MH i normally run 18 hours.  I want to find the where the fine line is, to minimize the NRG usage but still retain good yeilds.

[Eric Warwick]

About 16.5 hours (summer hours) for kale in a hydroponic system. The kale is, however not doing well and is dying. (although there have been ph problems, too low) The hydroton in the system was very dry and I added more water to the system. So, I think the lighting isn't helping and I'll see how the new seeds sprout under the new conditions. The light is a ge grow and show grow light. ( I think incandescent) 125watts

[AJ Grottke]

I doubt that is an incandescent, your plants would even grow with that.  Most likely it is a fluorescent.  When plants are under stress they dont like intense light, but that bulb wouldn't be strong enough to create intense light.  What is the square footage of your growbed?   In general 125W of flourescent can illuminate a 2'x4' space, that would be the maximum.  Also see if you can find a web page that has your light on it and paste the link so i can take a look at it.

[Eric Warwick]

2*4 seems right; it is a general hydroponics waterfarm. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YXGSC/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?p... this is the link for the grow light that I'm using.

[AJ Grottke]

That is an incandescant light , which is not made for growing plants, its made to "display" plants.  I dont know if you can successfully grow plants with this light, probably not.  You really need to upgrade your lighting.  You should try a minimum of 2 of these lights over a 2'x4' space.  These light are called T5 fluorescent and for a few more $ compared to the light you have,  you will get INCREDIBLE results.  You can order these online, or go to your local hydroponics shop.Your plants do not have enough light, most likely that is causing your poor growth, as long as everything else is in check.  Also if you only have 1 single water farm unit that really is a maximun of 2'x2' of space.  You would need to add another one to make the growing area 2'x4'.  Or you could add a plant in a 5 gallon pot and just hand water it, if you are strapped for cash.  I am also assuming that this is hydroponics because the waterfarm is way to small for aquaponics.

[LogicalHydro]

@Eric Warwick T5's have worked great for about every crop I have grown. And so far the life of the bulb is great compared to CFL's and conversion bulbs. You will be able to see a big difference from the light you are using now. T5 HO are what I use.

@AJ Grottke Have you ever tried VHO? I run my MH anywhere between 14-18 hours. Some plants I have noticed don't really benefit from over 14, but I grew jalapeños;and they exploded from 18 and I definitely got a better yield from 18 hours.

[AJ Grottke]

Logical, i agree that most heavy fruiters (peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, etc.) would benefit from 18 hrs our maybe even 20.  Good input. 

I have not tried VHO, the buddy of mine who has said they produce alot of heat for a fluorescent though.  That makes you have to lift the lamp further from the canopy decreasing efficiency.  Light intensity changes exponentially with distance.  But i dont know enough about them to say yay or ney, that is just the info i have got.

[John Gelineau]

I run 3 125W CFL's, 2 are 6500k and 1 2700k. I also have 2 2' T5's, 1 6500k and 1 2700k for side lighting over my aquaponic bed. I run them for 14 hours. My grow beds are 2 2'x4' side by side. The lights are all hung seperate so i can angle them or raise them as i need. Ive grown every thing from herbs, lettuce, chard, radish, carrot, beets, to snow peas and curently have one of the beds full with two tomatoe plants. I only turn the side lighting on when i have tall fruiting plants like the peas and tomatoes. But nothing has done poorly. I also built my own 100W MH setup that i have in my indoor greenhouse growing a pineapple, vanilla orchid, parsley, taragon, aloe, lemon grass, hardy kiwi cuttings, and 4 mini cirtur trees, all have flowered and produced fruit. The bulb is 4200k so i also run a 85W CFL when things are flowering. The green house is about 3' x 3' by 3' tall. Ive got a tomatoe flowering in there now, along with a meyer lemon. This is def the most cost efficent to operate, though the cost to build the light was about 4 time that of the cfl set up. The MH bulbs are a lot cheeper to replace though. Also running 14 hrs a day. I used a wattage calculator online to figure cost off all the lights and pumps and fans and 14 hours was about the most i could afford. Thats where that number comes from.  

[AJ Grottke]

Interesting setup John, building your own MH now thats fun :)

[John Gelineau]

It took a few weeks of frustrating online research and returning a part or two, but now that i know how and what to look for its def the way to go for a DIYer. And about half the cost of a hydro store cost. I even ran accross a few really cheep setups for some good 1000W MH or HPS setups using old warehouse light fixtures.

[LogicalHydro]

@John Gelineau That's a really cool idea. I'm glad you could save some money because they are very costly. CFL's are pretty expensive too, have you had a good bulb life on them? because I haven't found myself so fortunate.

[John Gelineau]

I havnt had one burn out though everything ive read says regardless of if they burn out or not, the lumen degredation after 6 months or so is enough to cause changing them anyway.

Here is a vid of my little setup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFO9ci-50rs

I thing in the first vid i take about the lights more though. I think with the 100W MH bulb the lumen life is about a year without degredation and puts out about 8500 lum, as apposed to the CFL 2000ish. I only have the 125W CFLs now, but i know they make something like a 300W. But those are about $70 each as aposed to $11 for my double ended MH. So like i said its an isue of initial cost, bulb cost and life, and running cost that have influenced my steup. In a perceft world id run all HIDs but new house, new baby, new wife = limited funds

Does anyone know how you would measure the lumen loss?Without buying an expensive light gauge?

[AJ Grottke]

The only ways i know of are to replace it after the recommended lifespan HID=1year Fluorescent=6month or with a light meter, which goes for $75 and up.