# Grow Lights



## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

I was thinking of establishing an indoor grow area for some plants just to make it healthier and add some ambiance to our facility. We have very interesting plants available in our market because it never freezes here. 

Tried to source some grow lights from the local supply houses and went to big box and nobody has anything in stock.

To those of you who do commercial indoor grow operations, where do you source the lights from? I was thinking of hanging a troffer or highbay in a corner and making a little area with some nice plants.


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## Kevin (Feb 14, 2017)

I know that Costco up here in Canada had some grow lights the last time I was there. They emit a purple light.... I didn't look too hard at then because I was in a rush though.

Here's the link: https://m.costco.com/Feit-Electric-LED-2'-Grow-Light.product.100393562.html

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Boy oh Boy, just thinking about purchasing a grow light back in my day in Lee County Florida would pretty much mean you would be getting raided by Sheriff Frank Wanika and his crew of deputy dogs......................


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## MTW (Aug 28, 2013)

You getting in on the medical market now that it's legal? Seems to be growing supply companies should be everywhere now.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

Nothing medical and nothing illegal. Just a little indoor tropical oasis. I'm thinking get dimmable and program one of our timers to replicate the movement of the sun.


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## Bird dog (Oct 27, 2015)

Have you checked with any green houses or botanical gardens?


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

I would think a Google search for "Grow Lights" or "Indoor gardening" would provide lots of information.
I know commercial grow lights are available.
But these fixtures are not designed to look nice. They are designed to flood an area with light. Lots of light.


They might still make florescent tubes that are grow tubes. Buts its been years since I have used or seen them.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Go to your local hydroponics store.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

I'm hoping to hear from people on here who have done or do commercial indoor grow operations. It's very popular in CO & CA as well as many other states now. I'm sure there's plenty of garbage available because of the boom in the market. I'm not just going to grab anything off Amazon or buy a fish tank light from Lowes. I'd like to know what's the good stuff so I buy it once and have it for a long time.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Do they still have High Times Magazine around? I bet that if it is they gots lots.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

MikeFL said:


> Nothing medical and nothing illegal. Just a little indoor tropical oasis. I'm thinking get dimmable and program one of our timers to replicate the movement of the sun.


Maybe you should make a grow light version of your product that uses a tropical location, rather than the actual location's GPS, to turn the lights on and off. It would be more culturally sensitive to the plants to give them their native light requirements rather than imposing the local dawn and dusk on them.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

splatz said:


> Maybe you should make a grow light version of your product that uses a tropical location, rather than the actual location's GPS, to turn the lights on and off. It would be more culturally sensitive to the plants to give them their native light requirements rather than imposing the local dawn and dusk on them.


Sorry, sorry, very insensitive of me, make that "native light conditions, or the light conditions of the location *with which the plants identify*."


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

I had to look up some 54" UV sterilization lamps in the Phillips catalog a few weeks ago, and I noticed they had a pretty generous agro lamp section in their catalog. Both linear fluorescents and E39 based HID's. Phillips and Sylvania are the only major players I trust these days. I tend to stick with Phillips because Sylvania has a division that directly competes with electricians on lighting refits.


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## eddy current (Feb 28, 2009)

Years ago most “ grow ops” and hydroponic stores sold and used HID lights, metal halide and or high pressure sodium. They sold bulbs specific for plant growth.

Now a days there are better alternatives that use lower wattage and less heat but still get the colour spectrum you need.

This tech has changed a lot recently and continues to change so your best bet is to Go to a hydroponics store.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Yeah, I notice there are LED Cobb lamps that are marketed for growing.


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## greenman (Apr 20, 2012)

Got a buddy that designs led grow light. mainly for pot, Canada is Suppose to go legal to grow this year. Did all the study's at the U of G. 
they work great.


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## greenman (Apr 20, 2012)

grow lights


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

splatz said:


> Maybe you should make a grow light version of your product that uses a tropical location, rather than the actual location's GPS, to turn the lights on and off. It would be more culturally sensitive to the plants to give them their native light requirements rather than imposing the local dawn and dusk on them.


We do that for hen houses. Egg laying productivity is a function of latitude. 

Longer winters up north mean less eggs. We hack the latitude in the EEPROM to make the chickens think they're in Kentucky.


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## 3DDesign (Oct 25, 2014)

4ft T5 Grow 
https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/...MIjOaImOyl2wIVFAaGCh2A8gFIEAAYAyAAEgJWl_D_BwE


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## AK_sparky (Aug 13, 2013)

I have only been loosely involved in a couple of commercial grow houses. The customer specs what they want. The light is such an important part of their return on investment that they wouldn't let the electrician just pick something. 

I have been looking into lighting a little bit to do some of my own hydroponics next year, on a small scale. Different lights do different things for different plants. It's not as simple as saying "buy this light'. Do you want best yield per Watt, or do you want them to look nice, or do you want the bulb to last a long time, or do you want them to grow a certain speed, or, or, or.... Some people swear by T8s, some by T5s, some by LED, etc. Some people also replace bulbs every 6 months because in their calculations, they make more money based on the bulb degradation, reduced yields, and bulb cost in bulk. Also some lights only produce light in the required spectrums (a purplish light to the human eye) which grows great, but looks ugly to many people.

From your description I'm thinking you want low to moderate growth so that it looks lively and healthy in the building, but doesn't require very tight lighting parameters or fertilization. You probably want something with a fairly neutral colour that includes all the spectrums for the plant, plus some for humans too.

Really, you should check out some hydroponics resources. You'd get beeter info than on here I would suspect.

Have you thought about just getting some relatively inexpensive plants and putting them near windows?


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

Looks like Osram has done a good job jumping on that bandwagon.

https://www.osram.com/os/applications/horticulture-lighting/index.jsp


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## FWLED (Mar 14, 2017)

http://www.fullwintech.com/list3-1.html


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## tmessner (Apr 1, 2013)

I read someplace that different plants like different light colors and different colors depending on what stage of life that plant is at, like just getting started or as a hydroponic in full production. and lots of lumens. Way back I read that lumens were more important then color but that was before leds showed up and colors were not so easy to find.


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## yoricky (Aug 27, 2015)

Try a grow stake. U can find them on amazon.
Search B07CZ4QCBH


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## electricguy (Mar 22, 2007)

macmikeman said:


> Do they still have High Times Magazine around? I bet that if it is they gots lots.



Was in the grocers a couple weeks ago looked at the magazines at the check out I went hah they are selling high times a closer look it was TIME with a bud on the cover white background welcome to Canada's legal weed laws lol Oct 17


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

electricguy said:


> Was in the grocers a couple weeks ago looked at the magazines at the check out I went hah they are selling high times a closer look it was TIME with a bud on the cover white background welcome to Canada's legal weed laws lol Oct 17


That's funny


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

MikeFL said:


> I was thinking of establishing an indoor grow area for some plants just to make it healthier and add some ambiance to our facility. We have very interesting plants available in our market because it never freezes here.


Yeah, sure you do. :devil3:


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

flyboy said:


> Yeah, sure you do. :devil3:


This is south Florida where the junk is free or real close to it if you know the right people. I'd never take the risk involved in growing any of that junk even if I did use drugs (which I don't). Lots of businesses around here have very nice indoor areas with lots of nice tropical plants and it makes for healthier air. With 22' ceilings we have plenty of room for some pretty dramatic stuff.


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

MikeFL said:


> This is south Florida where the junk is free or real close to it if you know the right people. I'd never take the risk involved in growing any of that junk even if I did use drugs (which I don't). Lots of businesses around here have very nice indoor areas with lots of nice tropical plants and it makes for healthier air. With 22' ceilings we have plenty of room for some pretty dramatic stuff.


I was just kidding with you Mike.

My sister just retired from Ambius as salesperson in Fort Lauderdale. https://www.ambius.com


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## Bird dog (Oct 27, 2015)

flyboy said:


> I was just kidding with you Mike.
> 
> My sister just retired from Ambius as salesperson in Fort Lauderdale. https://www.ambius.com


That's really nice. Can you say "the mall"?


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

Bird dog said:


> That's really nice. Can you say "the mall"?


The mall...


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## Funksparky (Nov 8, 2017)

T5 HO lamps are the cheapest way to grow. Check out sunblasterlighting.com
The commercial grow facilities are mostly using the Gavita system now it seems. It’s a double ended HID lamp with remote control for many lights. You can raise and lower the output wattage, create sunrise and sunset and all kinds of cool stuff. gavita.com
I haven’t seen LED grow lights in action. Forget about T8 and T12.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

I might just make some. It would make a fun little project.


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