Hi everyone,
today the experiment started.
Here are my pots and the two led lights.
I will keep you posted if you want about how things develop.
TIA!

Please do, Sabrina.

Tell us again what lights you are using, please!

Mine are going to be moved outside today. I have quite a few that have germinated. This Winter has been unusually mild, so the seedlings will get to grow outdoors from almost the start. They are in cups in plastic bins, so I can move them inside easily if we get some cold weather. Which I doubt I'll see this year.

@beckygardener
These https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P21TZ5I/

Maurice is right, sorry I'm away from my pc!
The lights stay cool, they don't heat up.

I set a timer, it starts lighting at 7 AM and ends it at 7 PM.
These LED lights don't use much wattage per hour.
I don't know if the growth could benefit from longer light exposion, so I guess this range of hours could be fine.
The problem is cold because it slows growth, not for freeze because we don't have heavy freezing and the little seedlings were in a cold frame, the real problem I guess is the deficiency of sun light.
So, I will take a pic every week if I see real changes with the seedlings and make a small report on here, if it can be useful.

I am looking forward to the weekly report of your seedling's growth!

Thanks, Maurice for clarifying for Sabrina as to which light she is using.

Keep us updated. I have a feeling the intensity wont be enough in the long run, I wish they listed the lumens, but @ 4.5 watts should net 300-600.

For comparison, I keep my seedlings under 2 lamp t-5 fixtures rated at 10000 lumens.

Let us know how it goes.

@nysbadmk8
The lumens for the lamp are listed as 900-950 under Product Description.

It is difficult to compare leds to other lights; the leds in these lamps produce only red and blue wavelengths of light - those that plants use best. The lumens should just be measuring that light. The light produced by typical fluorescent tubes is a mixture of many different wavelengths of light only some of which are in the red and blue. As well, the leds have a much higher efficiency at turning electricity into light than other types of bulbs so a T5 that uses 54 watts to produce 5000 lumen of white light cannot be easily compared to a led that produces 900 lumens of just red and blue light and uses 4.5 watts.
The T5 more or less produces 90 lumens of 'white' light per watt consumed. These leds more or less produce 200 lumens of red+blue light per watt consumed.

The catch lies in the high cost of led lamps and their directionality.

It would be interesting to see how well the plants grow under the led lights but unfortunately we do not have a control group of plants growing under fluorescents (or any other type of bulb) to compare.

I used my lux-o-meter (an app for my smartphone) and under the light it said lux were equal to sunlight (I don't remember the numbers).
I saw one leaf has already got longer, not much but I can see clearly the difference since it was eaten by one of my cat, it's the only leaf left and it was really small. I guess the lights should be closer as possible. LEDs stay cool so no danger of burning leaves.

admmad said:

It would be interesting to see how well the plants grow under the led lights but unfortunately we do not have a control group of plants growing under fluorescents (or any other type of bulb) to compare.

I have some neon lights in the garage I guess they are similar to some I saw in this thread, but I don't want to have too many lights on, electricity is a cost, and the neons are in a colder environment than the LEDs.

For what I know lumens are what an human eye gets and it depends on the size of the room.

Sabrina,

If there's not a lot of heat coming off of those lamps, you might want to put them closer to the plants.

Ken

cybersix said:I used my lux-o-meter (an app for my smartphone) and under the light it said lux were equal to sunlight (I don't remember the numbers).
I saw one leaf has already got longer, not much but I can see clearly the difference since it was eaten by one of my cat, it's the only leaf left and it was really small. I guess the lights should be closer as possible. LEDs stay cool so no danger of burning leaves.

I wouldn't trust a phone app for that measurement.

Totally understand Maurice. I use a "plant lamp" in my T-5 fixtures that spikes Heavy in 420-470nm and 620-670nm ranges

I operate 18- 4ft 2 lamp fixture's, 4- 4ft 4 lamp fixture's and 1 4ft 6 lamp t5 fixture. The cost to replace those with LEDS would be the cost of a High end professional greenhouse lol.

The phone app maybe not a professional instrument but it works, at least it gives you an idea about light.
You all may grow a large number of seedlings, I don't.
I see the limits in these little led lights but to me for now it's enough, little space and little money when I'll grow up and have more resource if I'll still have the will to grow seedlings I'll make things different.

The apartment is small and full of cats so no place for plants, and it's the only part that gets heated in winter.
The basement is not heated but there are 14°C and a small table and this is all I can do for now, given that the garden is also so small that I'll have room enough for other 8 plants at maximum!

Today one week has passed, I took no pics for now but I'll arrange to take some.
Existing leaves are longer, one of the seedling had a little new leaf just peaking from the center and it grew from some millimeters to 4 centimeters.
Another seedling put ot a new leaf, very small.
Starting today I watered with Miracle Grow.
These seedling were in a really poor condition, survived to cats and cold and no sun (I could swear one of them was left with no roots from the cat but it's still alive and it's the one that put out a new tiny leaf).

Maybe more heat would help them more, but this is all I can do for now.
The problem is that lights are small and very directional, one should have one light for each pot (this is what I did now).

Good grow light experiment cybersix. I've also been doing some experimenting with grow lamps and growing tropical plants indoors mainly fruit trees and I've found that using grow lights with just blue L.E.D's actually make some plants grow faster without the red L.E.D's My banana plants seem to do better under blue lighting rather than the mixed red and blue grow lamps

The blue spectrum promotes growth while the red promotes flowering. Just be careful when using grow lights because they are not a strong as the sun and the plants will become accustom to the lower intensity. If you take them outside they could get sunburned. It's best to introduce them slowly to sunlight after growing inside.

Thats very interesting, I'm really interested in the scientific aspect of light and the affects it has on plants. I'm going to buy a light measurement device and do tests with it so that I can compare the light from my grow lamps to the sun.

I have a 400watt switchable HPS/MH grow light I'll be getting rid of soon. I was going to list it on ebay but the ballast is so heavy and the hood is so big it would likely cost $40 or more to ship the darn thing.

ediblelandscapingsc said:I have a 400watt switchable HPS/MH grow light I'll be getting rid of soon.

Is that the grow light which produced plants which had a tough time acclimating to the sun? Those things are like bringing the sun indoors.

I sprout seeds under 2-foot, twin tube T-12 fluorescent fixtures and they go outside with no noticeable problems. Compared to your light, my fluorescents are gentle and mild, since the leaves grow right up between the tubes with no damage.