I for black friday got my new t 5 forescent bulb lighting system, its 4 feet long by 2 feet wide, i also have a studfinder to check the cleing and see if hooks can be attached, if they can i have rope like devised i can attach to the hooks and hang the light up from , it adjusts the light so its not too far or too close plus i got a timer as some on here wanted me to do.

if there are studs in the cleing i may have to return the product and qute possibly get rid of the bird of paradise, no sense in having a plant that wont bloom..

You will have studs in your ceiling and they should be easy to find with a studfinder. That's a nice, big T5 fixture. Does it have four or six fluorescent tubes? You'll get a good amount of light from it but remember to keep it as close as reasonable to your plants. Those lumens really drop quickly the further away the fixture is from the plants.

Okay i'll keep it in mind ... hopefully the studs dont mess up the installion process. about how far away from the BOP leaves should I hang it. could/would they burn if too close. I'll let patrick know as soon as he works again ( staff)

I'm pretty sure you can't burn the leaves of a Bird of Paradise or any other sun-loving plant with a light fixture. Hang that puppy within a foot or so of the plant if you can. Just make sure you other more shade-loving plants aren't as close to that light!

If you have more room under that big light fixture, you could grow some herbs or other flowers, too.

A fluorescent (T5) light produces very little heat, so you can safely position any of your sun-loving plants within 6". That's a distinct advantage of using those fluorescent fixtures. Keep in mind that the plant(s) will grow towards the light, so IF the fixture is not centered over the plant(s), just turn the pot(s) 180 degrees every week or so.

Okay will do.

I keep my t5 lights only a couple of inches above my plants, raising the lights as plants grow.

Karen

I will keep this in mind, patrick doesnt work again until the 20th of next month and i dont think i want to wait that long so i may see if someone else can rig it up. shane might be the guy to ask.


hope it all go well. wish me luck

For my 6 x 8 GH if I get t5 6500 light fixture how many lumens does it need to be? I was hoping hanging a 4 bulb fixture from the ceiling would be enough to supplement the light on overcast days.

Even a single fixture will give good light for the GH, but that's basically light for us humans, not plants. The further away from the light source, the less usable lumens for your plants. It would help to know what you are growing. Do you have shelving on both sides of your GH? I have two, 10'x12' GHs, and have four fixtures in each that are 6500K, four-tube fixtures. These are just typical, inexpensive shop lights bought at Lowe's. The fixtures are set to come on at 3:00 PM and go off at 9:00 PM. Those fixtures are within 1/2' of plants on the top shelves but are 2' from the middle shelves. I have supplemental LED lighting for plants on the lower shelves, but I am growing small orchids on the lower shelves. Larger orchids are on those top two shelves.

I have just ordered two, 4', six tube fixtures that use T5H (Gro-Light) tubes rather than typical florescent tubes. These tubes produce almost twice the lumens as my T5 florescent fixtures. There will be a mix of (3)6500K and (1) 3000K tubes. Will these be any better than those 4', 4-tube fluorescent fixtures? I don't know but might have an answer by spring, 2015. By the way, 6500K is best for growing plants and germinating seeds/seedling, and the 3000K is best to stimulate flowering.

@drdawg I am growing radishss, spinach, lettuce, herbs. I wondered if the new LED lights would work well and found a positive review on those. and they come in 6500K.

http://www.treehugger.com/clea...

My big challenge is my 6 x 8 GH isn't really tall enough for a shop light. Today I used some clip-on lights (the kind with the metal hoods) and CFL 6500K bulbs. They were hot to the touch and I really didn't need the heat in there today as it was 71 degrees here. I had to leave the door to the GH open and hope the deer didn't wander in. Had a Hard time finding something to clip them to at the appropriate height so they didn't cook the plants. So I'm thinking about those LED lights.

Here's one that I could put in the clip on

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LEC4U0E/

Humm, can you take a couple of pictures (or more if need be) so that I can see your ceiling arrangement and your shelf positioning. Tell me the height of the ceiling where your shelves are. Those screw-in bulbs are very low W and cover very little area. I'm no expert here by any means, but my opinion is that in comparison to even a single fluorescent fixture, you would need a good many of the screw-in bulbs to achieve the same results.

This is a pic of the GH from the outside. When standing inside, the peak is probably just about 6 foot. And it slopes away fairly quickly as you can see. The metal frame running horizontal to the door is four feet tall. The unit is 6 feet tall because we raised it up with a foundation, otherwise we had to duck to get inside. So a hanging shop light would be lower than the 6 feet. Inside I have plants in pots along a wall, and plants on metal shelves that are probably 5 feet tall. The interior picture sort of shows it. I can try to take a picture tomorrow of the interior ceiling so it is easier to see. I suppose a solution could be to sacrifice the upper shelf and try to hang a light in there.

Here's my idea. Use one side of the GH for shelving and go to Lowe's/Home Depot and purchase their enamel-coated, wire shelving that is 8' long and 18" or 24" wide. They will have all the hardware to put it together and you can have two shelves, the first shelf being 2' off the ground and the second one 4' off the ground. That will give you room to hang that fixture and you can position the fixture a couple of inches from the ceiling. Those two shelves will give you 240-320 sf. of pot space, plus the space on the floor, below that first shelf.

Here are some pictures of those (Lowe's ) shelves that I used in one of my 10'x12' greenhouses. They are 10'x2' and on both sides (I have more room).

Well I got the light all set up last night looks great. I could even have some floor plants if i wished it looks so bright. the bird of paradise has suffered enough at low light now it starting to uncurl its leaves, reach for the top and i see a new shoot growing from the leaf joint. its only been less then a day and it alreafy looks better.

I have those two 6-tube, 4', T5H fixtures in one of the greenhouses and the light produced from a single fixture is far greater than the other four fluorescent fixtures put together. It is amazing how much light they put out.

I know Kim my house/head staff said its like floridia in here, lol.


We had some concerns about the ceiling not being strong enough for the light plus I brought all this stuff without asking Gabe ( program director) if its okay to drill holes in clieing. I was ready to take it and the bird of paradise back. But it all got resloved she (Gabe) said yes and it was set up on the 20th. I have it on a timer 7 am to 9pm.

My only gripe about it is I get blasted with light early in the morning. Patrick said all you have to do is turn the switch off before bed and then turn it on on the weekends. i tried it and it works.

@DRDAWG just saw your post above with the suggestion for the shelves and lights. That looks great ! I'll work to incorporate that.

Also, we were looking at getting the 10 x 12 HF GH this week, and after grappling with it (and wanting to be able to reach the vents in the ceiling without a ladder), got a 2nd one of the 6 x 8. Husband has idea on joining the two together and raising the ceiling in the middle (he's very hand with remodeling and building things). So I'll have a 12 x 8 -- with most of the central area being 8' tall. That will open up some nice possibilities to incorporate the ideas you have on the lighting above.

That would surely increase your efficiency and enjoyment 100%, Carol. Now you will need two box fans. I use a combination of box fans and wall-mounted oscillating fans in each of my 10'x12' greenhouses. But they are configured differently in the fall/winter than in the spring/summer/ early fall. I want lots of air movement.