Newbie Setting Up Basement Grow Room Needs Light Advice

[Kino]

Hello there.

I am in the process of researching for the proper hardware to purchase for a basement grow room that will have no artificial light. As such, my orchids (only phals and a couple of Lady's Slippers thus far) will be relying exclusively on artificial light.

The 2 shelving units I have selected are sized as follows:

48"wide X 18" deep X 77" high

I have read some of the informational threads here on the site and from other sites as well. Needless to say, I am very confused - due to my own ignorance I assure you.

Again, the plants will rely exclusively on artificial light. But I am not sure which to use. If I go with fluorescent styled fixtures, will T5HO be sufficient? Or would I need more? Or less?

Additionally, if I use T5HO how many bulbs should I use for each shelf? Some of the pictures seen here on the board feature a total of four bulbs. I suppose I can get 2 fixtures with 2 bulbs in each for each shelf or simply one fixture with four bulbs. With that said, 2 fixtures for each shelf may give me more options for "spacing the lights" over the plants.

Additionally, it is my understanding that some bulbs favor certain colors of the spectrum (red and blue).

Can you mix around with the bulbs in the same T5HO fixture to achieve appropriate temperature and color spectrum or do the bulbs have to be identical?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Kino

[DavidCampen]

You can mix colors of bulbs in a fixture. I like to use a mixture of the colors called "Warm White" and "Daylight".
Warm White is reddish while Daylight tends to blue.

[seaj]

I want to do something similar too. I don't grow under lights but I believe that with T5HO you can use two per shelf for most phals and paphs. Ideally, each tube would have its own reflector to maximum efficiency. If each fixture only holds one bulb, it's easier to evenly spread the light for each shelf. I'm not sure which spectrum is best, but alternating spectrums for each bulb is what some growers do. If you want to contain heat, humidity and light a grow tent could help. Good luck, and keep us updated!

[billc]

I would go for 4 bulb T5HO. With the 2 bulb fixtures you are not going to get enough light at the edges of your shelves. With a 4 bulb fixture you will have more than enough light so you can hang them high enough to have room when the plants spike and flower.
You could certainly get by with the 2 bulb fixture but in a couple of years you will be wondering why you didn't spend a little more up front and get the 4 bulb.
With a little creativity you can cram a lot of plants on 1 shelf for the time being.
I've used 6400K alone and also mixed in 3000K at times. I have never really seen a difference but I put my plants outside in summer so they may be getting enough red spectrum light from that. I currently have 2 6400K and 1 3000K in my fixtures. I leave 1 bulb out because I am getting more than enough light from 3 bulbs.

Bill

[Paphluvr]

When I was growing under lights my main bench used 4 HO T8 bulbs. I built the reflector myself out of tempered Masonite (painted white on the inside) and the whole thing was height adjustable. The bulbs were a combination of cool whites and Grow-lux wide spectrum. With this set-up you can bloom just about anything, depending on the placement of the plants.

[Kino]

Thank you to everyone who has thus far offered support and suggestions.

@billc... I am pretty "sold" on using 4 (four) T5HO bulbs. I am still struggling with the number of fixtures. With two (2) fixtures for each shelf, each fixture containing two (2) bulbs, I may have more options with height configuration.

But then again, I could simply get just 2 fixtures with four bulbs in each and adjust each of the two separately. They may afford sufficient variability.

With four T5HO bulbs, the lights do not have be down nearly on top of the plants do they?

Thank you again to everyone for your helpful suggestions.

Kino

---------- Post added at 12:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 AM ----------

If I were to purchase two (2) MAGNOLIA 4 ft - 4 Lamp T5HO as my initial basic fluorescent grow lights I would need a total of eight (8) bulbs.

Would you folks recommend getting exclusively "Cool Spectrum 6500K", "Warm Spectrum 3000K" or mixing them as some other members have mentioned.

If I were to mix them, should I go with 4 (four)in "Cool Spectrum" and 4 (four) in "Warm Spectrum"?

Sorry for all the questions. Simply do not wish to waste money.

Kino

[ELORCHID]

Bump