Growing Under Lights...

breezy

I haven't seen much discussion about growing a bonsai tree under lights.. so I decided to pop the thread up.

I am thinking of building a greenhouse in my back yard.. but there is sun light only up until 3:00PM, the rest of the time it sits in shade. So to supply sufficient sun light, I am thinking of installing grow lights. Although I don't know if this is efficient or not.

Has anybody tried this with Flourescent lights? (i.e. one cool, one warm, for supplying equal amounts of red and blue light)...

Or with any grow lights?

If so. Did it grow? Is it efficient? How far away did you put it from the tree?

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Thanks,
vsergeev aka br33zy

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Thanks,
BrEeZy

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doody

BREEZ, I TOLD YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHAT KIND OF TREES

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breezy

Fine Fine...

I have a Juniperus Procumbens Nana.. A Dracaenea Draco (that might be spelled wrong).. I am planning to root a weeping willow cutting.

And in the near future, I might acquire a Maple.. (Trident Maple (maybe..))

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Thanks,
vsergeev aka br33zy

__________________
Thanks,
BrEeZy

Earl

If you are thinking about wintering the trees, you don't need lights for the juniper or maple or willow because they are dormant. The only reason to use a greenhouse for "outside" trees is to keep them freezing too hard. Check out the many threads about wintering trees.

I don't think you would need lights for the Dracena, either. I'm no great expert but i think light until 3 or so would be fine. Heat would be more of an issue. They can't taking freezing or even near freezing--needs house temps.

Now if you are going for tropical plants in general to get real bushiness you may need more light but flourescents aren't going to do it, unless it is for one or two trees. They have to be just inches about the trees to do any good. You will need halogen or one of the other very bright greenhouse lights. Check out greenhouse sites like Charlies. Or start doing searches on greenhouses and you will find out all sorts of good info.

Don't know if that helps or not. If not, give us more info about why you are thinking about a greenhouse, your climate, whether you plan to heat it, etc.

Earl

bonsaial1

The plant only needs direct light about 7 to 8 hours anyway. Why the grow lights. 40 watt four foot lights will not do anything for higher woody stemmed plants. You would need about 350 watts per sq ft. to do any real growing. Thats a lot of 4 ft. tubes. You can get higher wattage tubes like for a reef aquarium, but the ballasts are expensive. 4 ft.tube would be 110 watts. 8 tubes would be about a foot wide x 4 ft. long = 4 sq. feet. 880 divided by 4 = 220. Still a little shy for the needs of the plant. The sun at high noon at the equator has a color temperture of 5000 kelvin degrees,(5000K) with a color rendition index of 100%, (CRI). The best light can provide the color temp. at 5000k, but the CRI is about 91% and the intensity is no where like the tropics. The plants I have seen grown under lights get lanky, with big leaves due to no photosynthesis due to wrong color spectrum. On top of all that the bulbs need to be changed every two months due to the spectrum moving, on even the best bulbs, to the red side. This will cause yellow leaves.

Will the sides let any diffused light in. This would help, and be sufficient for filling in the between time.

I would leave the gro lights to the African violet growers.

Bonsaial

Tiny-Plant

What about my problem: I am taking my two serissas inside because the days are getting colder. Should i give them light from growing lamps? wouldit it be fine to have them near a window? The window i am thinking of gets only morning sun to about 11.00.

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Earl

I think Serrisas need bright light so I would think light only until 11 might produce leggy or anemic plants. They don't need direct sun as much as bright light...south or west windows. And don't forget the humidity...it's as important as the light. My Serrias forest is in a south window right above the kitchen sink. They love it. They flower and get little berries all year long. I still agree with Al...grow lights are worthless on anything but flat leafy plants like African Violets.

Supplemental light is gong to take big time--mercury or halogen, and made specifically for plants. My Halogen I use in the winter embarrases my wife because when you come up the street it looks like a corner street light beaming out of the window. It bounces off the fence 30' away. That's how bright it is. Most people wouldn't want them in the living area of their house. Mine is in a daylight basement right by a very large picture window, south side. I also have a fan running continuously to circulate the air.

Whimsical

I hate to tell you guys, but halogen and mercury vapor lights aren't good for growing. Halogen and mercury, while giving off very good amounts of lumens per sq ft., do not give the corect spectrum. For spring time/blue spectrum lighting you need to use metal halide(MH) lighting. For fall time, you need to use high pressure sodium(HPS) lighting. The need about 40 to 50 watts per sq ft. Which is far less than flourescent lighting because of a much higher lumens per watt burn. You can actually get away with using either all the way through the year, but if you were to go with just one, it should be MH. HPS/ red spectrum will cause your plant to grow leggy if used all the time.

Whimsical

Well, Earl's statement is half true. Flouroscent growlights are not worth crap. But the Metal Halides and High Pressure Sodium lights will grow trees quite well. I have a buddy of mine that uses them. And yes Treenut, they grow excellent maryjane as well.