T5 grow light
 

Since I have an ever growing pile of T5 high output lights mostly armed with 4100k color tubes at my disposal I figured I should investigate the possibility of using them to grow food.
2 problems.
I have only ever grown fruit trees, greens that attract game animals such as deer and hay for cows. Never tried to grow anything more than fruit tree and sun flower seedlings indoors, then put them out side and let nature take its course.
Anytime I try to search about T5 grow lights the results are overwhelmed with pot growers. I have absolutely 0 interest in the consumption, cultivation or distribution of that kind of grass. Apparently everything you could ever want to know about growing weed with T5 lamps is wallpapered all over the Internet.
I could tell that 4100k isn't really used by pot growers so I am going to assume it may not be best for most food plants too.
An increased number of winter, spring crop failures and milk shortages has gotten my attention. I don't think that it will be much of a problem this year or next but it could sneak up on us in the coming years.
Does anyone know where I could look at what other people with T5 lamps are doing to growing actual food?

Try Gardening forums. T5's are good for about 6 inches of half decent penetration the light power drops off fast with them. Great for starting seedlings for the greenhouse and supplemental lighting in the greenhouse

It took a little while but I was able to think up some wording changes to find some non pot centric results.
The 4100k tubes should work, their just not ideal for bulking up the plant. Adding in a few 10,000k tubes for fish tanks should blue up the light pretty good.

I was watching AgDay news and they are predicting world wide food shortages in the next 5 years.

I looked into Ag News , the videos would not play on my laptop anyways.

Watt for watt the cool white tubes have more usable light then warm white.
If it was me I would stick with cool white tubes for starting as red light / warm white works more effectively for fruiting / flowering. Experienced gardeners mix common warm white and cool white tubes they do not invest in fancy bulbs.
Cool white bulbs blue has a bigger effect then warm whites red does on vegetating plants.The way it works out cool and warm white together are great for plants. Blue is just better for the growth stage. They both have enough PAR light frequencies for the plants do well a better option is pick and choose light temperature for the stage of growth the plants are in. All cool white for vegetative stage and add in all or 50/50 warm white when you want to help the plants set fruit or flowers etc.

Its the penetration / reach that they lack. Great for starting plants

I have few warm white tubes, I plan to use all of those inside the house or garage with my T5 fixtures that I have repowered with standard 28w T5 ballasts and salvaged T8 ballasts. (Using a T8 ballast will give you 26 to 40w on a T8 tube, just depends on the ballast)
I put one of my full power T5 HO fixtures up in the foray and my wife says it's too bright and the 4100k tubes are too blue.

I have learned all about plants preferred light frequencies in the past. PAR light is light for life. Many of those Stars we see are at work growing plants and making life on planets.
I suggest to give the plants a early start under the lights then fire them into into a greenhouse to soak up the warmth and natural sunlight.

http://www.reeftank123.com/lighting/...m_daylight.jpg

https://www.ablamp.com/wp-content/up...emperature.jpg

The warmth of a greenhouse combined with Sunlight doubles its effect. It actually speeds up the plants metabolism. It does not need to be fancy to work.

Start the plants early and Boom monsters in no time !

Hopefully they can go outside in all but the dead of winter.

I have had a few greenhouses in the past some from old windows and one commercial hooped version about 30 feet long. I have a few 5x6 and a larger 9 x 5 window kicking around that I had hoped to make a greenhouse from but never did. Now Im moving soon so its not going to happen.

I was going to frame up a shed with a plywood /asphalt roof and put the windows on the front and one side. Never did damn it.

Where are you going?

When this house sells I want to find a rural property here on Vancouver Island possible on the one of the Gulf Islands about 100 miles from where I am as property can be oddly cheap on them still. Mind you many of them don't have a Gov. ferry. I like that I would use my own boat.

That sounds pretty off grid.
Does it have any utilities?

The bigger gulf islands do have full services the smaller ones generally do not have even a basic infrastructure except for a dock and gravel roads if your lucky
Vancouver island itself has power from one end to the other but not the width of the island most people stay within reach of it I do not care about power so can buy a lot where about no one else would (few) and be happy with it :)

A bonus is land without hope of services is cheap land and I don't care if I have them or not. IF I had them would still use Solar predominately

The nice thing about a greenhouse is the environmental control you have in one. Cold days become warm days wet days dry hot days hotter and a longer larger harvests off the plants . Many people get two crops a year by being able to start early and finish late.

Amazon has some $300 10 x 20 kits but Im very suspect of the quality :)

A better way to go is using galvanized fence posts and a hand bender and if your design calls for it the assorted joints for them.

A bending jig is easy enough to make or to save error a person could buy a jig like this > High Tunnel

http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits...w=1196&ch=1196

http://demandware.edgesuite.net/sits...w=1196&ch=1196

Not depending on the power grid is a good idea. The earths magnetic field focuses solar storms on to your area like a magnifing glass.
Add some 220w light fixtures at night to keep things from freezing and the growing season will be really long.

Magnetic storms wars .. earthquakes are big on my list. Currently living right on the Vancouver islands fault line that is more then 500 years over due for a large Earthquake that repeats its self every so many years.
If it happened now according to a University geologist we could have a Dam break and Great Central lake a 33km / 20 mile long 333M / 1000 foot deep Man Made lake pour down a mountain and over town .Lucky for me Im at the far end of town furthest away from the Lake of all the homes :)

Edit to add : My house is 150 feet up a hill side with the Ocean and town 150 feet below me

I didn't know there is a fault zone there too.
The dam is definitely a concern too. Dams for hydro power or drinking have killed hundreds of thousands of people in the 20th century.

Im living on the Ring of fire as its called same one that Japan deals with.
Luckily we are on this side of it :)

Vancouver island is in a rising position when the plates push on each other but it also splits the island in half right in the middle of the island where I live. The 20 mile inlet Im on is actually a fault line that cuts the island in half 2/3rds of its width , only 1/3 of the island is connected by land here. Its bad place to be on Vancouver island when the "Big One" hits. as we call it. Hope I'm south or north of here if it happens. The capital of B.C Victoria 150 miles from here on the southern tip of Vancouver island is expecting the same earthquake to hit them complete with Tsunami , it has its own set of problems as its a ocean front City built on flat low soft land.

My home in Port Alberni is in the center under the small n in the "Nanaimo" city that's on the other side of the island

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...rd-map.jpg&f=1

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...rd_map.jpg&f=1

And last is this image of the Province to get a idea of the islands likely hood of a Earthquake

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=h...sk-map.jpg&f=1

Great work,
Temperatures outdoors have started to dip below what plants are comfortable with, which means that most gardeners probably are starting or have already started their indoor gardens.

There are lots of sites where you can find what people are doing to grow food with T5 light bulbs. Just Search in google.

I'm growing potatoes under my industrial T5 fixtures now.
Just a few hours under the T5 the potatoe plants appear to be really digging the artificial lights and indoor temperatures.