DavidLMO said:WRT T-8 yeah. When my T-12s start giving up the ghost, I will probably replace them with T-8s. Have you any experience using LEDs for growing?
No, I have not tried LEDs yet, because they cost more. There are available LED assemblies that are designed to replace T8 bulbs, and let you use the your same fixtures. But not cost effective unless you consider years of electrical usage expense. LEDs are more efficient, and I think they last longer, too.
I did see a TV program showing a whole room full of plants growing under just LED lights. It was bizarre. Plants need some red light and some blue light. But they don't need green light, which is why they reflect it and appear green. So this room was equipped with just Red LEDs and Blue LEDs. The result of that was an awful unworldly hot pink-lavender magenta lighting and the plants appeared nearly black in that light (no green light available to reject and reflect). That may be an efficient thing to do, but I like to see my plants in natural white light, looking green and having natural flower colors.
Incidentally, I do grow my indoor zinnias from seedlings to maturity and beyond. I am an amateur zinnia breeder and I usually get two generations of zinnias indoors in addition to my outdoor grow-out from Spring to Fall. That speeds up the breeding process immensely. I do get some odd looking zinnias.
I also get some more conventional looking zinnias.
My current indoor crop is just some small seedlings. I enjoy growing zinnias as a hobby.
ZM
