High Pressure Sodium Lamp

[fateisinmyhands]

So I have this amazing HPS lamp, is a Sunburst Mini 150W/120V by HydroFarm! We used it all last spring and summer for herbs, veggies, succulents and additional ambient lighting in my garden room. We had great success, with rapid results.
After a ton of research, planning and because we have it, I decided to just "go with it."
I carefully set up my grow room (in the corner of my tiny living room) with a foil wall reflector, a white blanket/dark sheet and tables. I positioned the light about 18-20" from the ceiling giving me a wide distribution of light, the most intense or "direct" light being directly underneath. The lamp itself does get hot, but does not effect temperatures in the area past 3' directly under the light. I placed my Avocado trees (all 3 years or younger) under the light to help create natural shading, my Zygopetalum Advanced Australia is on the floor below the largest Avocado and is getting the brightest light besides a few Catts and a Laelia. All of them have responded with fat new roots and bright strong leaves!

I have had this set-up running for about two months now, and had to monitor it very closely for the first few weeks. I burned a small tip on the Zygo setting it on a desk instead of the floor, but quickly realized and moved it. For the rest of the collection Bulbos have all responded with new growths, one in particular that's a no I.D. has 5 new growths pushing and now looks like it might have a flower spike coming in as well (YAY) every Phal in my collecting is spiking or pushing new leaves, 7 or 8 are pushing out 2 new leaves at the same time, and I have keikes popping up all over the place.

I really had the assumption that I was going to have to fashion a better shading system, but after seeing the explosion of growth I am witnessing, I might hold off on that for a little while!! Such an exciting project😄😄

Is anybody else using a controversial growing practice? 😂😂😂

[estación seca]

It's not controversial. It was the height of grow light technology at one time. It's been superseded by things that produce more light, and less heat, for the electricity you buy.

They can cause bad burns if touched for a fraction of a second. I haven't used mine in years because of this. I also had one explode while turned on. I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened. It showered extremely hot glass over my plants and burned most of them. If there had been anything flammable in range there might have been a fire.

[fateisinmyhands]

Originally Posted by estación seca

It's not controversial. It was the height of grow light technology at one time. It's been superseded by things that produce more light, and less heat, for the electricity you buy.

They can cause bad burns if touched for a fraction of a second. I haven't used mine in years because of this. I also had one explode while turned on. I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened. It showered extremely hot glass over my plants and burned most of them. If there had been anything flammable in range there might have been a fire.

That is indeed very scary, and I am planning on giving a copy of my house key to the upstairs neighbor to collect the dogs or help should anything ever go awry. We are definitely careful with it and will be replacing the bulb soon as it's coming up on a year since we first powered up the lamp. It took my hubby arguing with me and the plants pouting in the window for over a month before I made this change. I was and still am a bit skeptical using this lamp, and the heat does scare me. I plan inn switching to metal hallid or another system as soon as I can.
I mean controversial only because I have read a lot of horror stories about bad experiences and bad planning😶

[estación seca]

When you switch, consider LED. That is what most people are switching to, and many people recommend new light growers start there. The total cost over the life of the fixture is usually less than with other technologies because of increased efficiency.

[Subrosa]

All of the hazards associated with hps are present with metal halide as well. They run just as hot.

[Leafmite]

When doing research for lighting, I read about how hot and how dangerous the high pressure lights could be and decided against them. With the way I like to set up plants, there was just too much risk someone could get hurt or a fire could start. Because LEDs were still a new field, I opted for High Output fluorescent lighting. They do a nice job with plants and keep the room warm during the winter. The next lamp I buy, however, is going to be an LED lamp as the technology has moved quickly and I will be able to run it in the summer without heating my home. I figure I can use heating mats for the extra warmth in the winter.

As for trying out new things and growing under lights, this past winter, I grew many of my little trees and shrubs under lights. I grew olives, a pomegranate, citrus, figs (they did go dormant and woke a month later), a banana, a guava, macadamias, a Aglaia odorata, and camellias all under lights, along with the piper, Cestrum nocturnum and strawberries. This summer, I will be raising the lights as everything has been growing very well.

[jkofferdahl]

In my grow room I use two 4-bulb, 4-foot T5 units. I don't notice an appreciable heat from them at all.

[Leafmite]

I have three of those and a two foot, two bulb lamp and it makes the room nice and cozy during the day. They are great, though. I plan to put all my plants except the passiflora under lights next winter. It would be impractical to even try to put those monsters under lights.

[fateisinmyhands]

Thank you for all of the correspondence!! 😄
So I am definitely looking forward to changing over to LED, cost, appearance and output are definitely big on the list. This "garden room" is pretty temporary we will only be here until September and then everything will change again😥
Back to lighting, my mom is pretty interested in helping me build an LED lighting system. She went to college for computer engineering so chances are high that we (mom, grandpa and I) can build an app based control panel for the system as well. Which would just be a fancy little addition 😊

To growers with LED systems, would you prefer something more customizable, or do the pre-built systems work well for you?

---------- Post added at 05:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 PM ----------

On the topic on other plants and lights, I cannot believe my Avocados right now, they exploded. I'm going to have to top of the tallest one again, stupid thing refuses to branch 😐

Originally Posted by Leafmite

When doing research for lighting, I read about how hot and how dangerous the high pressure lights could be and decided against them. With the way I like to set up plants, there was just too much risk someone could get hurt or a fire could start. Because LEDs were still a new field, I opted for High Output fluorescent lighting. They do a nice job with plants and keep the room warm during the winter. The next lamp I buy, however, is going to be an LED lamp as the technology has moved quickly and I will be able to run it in the summer without heating my home. I figure I can use heating mats for the extra warmth in the winter.

As for trying out new things and growing under lights, this past winter, I grew many of my little trees and shrubs under lights. I grew olives, a pomegranate, citrus, figs (they did go dormant and woke a month later), a banana, a guava, macadamias, a Aglaia odorata, and camellias all under lights, along with the piper, Cestrum nocturnum and strawberries. This summer, I will be raising the lights as everything has been growing very well.

[estación seca]

There is an Orchid Board forum devoted to lighting. I suggest you and your mom glance through it. From the left menu click Forums, then scroll down until you find Growing Under Lights. There are threads from people who have tools to measure light output, and build LED lights from components. There are also threads from people happy with off-the-shelf bulbs they've bought.