Indoor Garden/lumens/light

[SaraM2261]

Hi everyone,
I have a very small starter indoor garden. I live in MN so it is winter here now. I have a small clip-on plant light. I think it is agrolight or some such thing. I have the plants with the light about 12-18 inches from them, and they are next to a glass door that never gets direct sun light. My plants are VERY drawn to the light from the window despite the lamp that is directly above them. I have to turn them a few times per day to keep them upright as they are bending right over toward the window light.
My question is, I think I am still getting more light from the window than I am from my grow-light. This is concerning because there is not that much light coming in the window at all. Do I really need to buy a light meter to tell if this is true? I don't want my seedlings to get too tall and spindly and die. :)

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!
Sara

[Warlord]

I really don't think you need to purchase a light meter just yet. I have found that using a plant light bulb together with a daylight bulb makes my plants grow better. This provides a full spectrum of light. You are probably only getting a partial spectrum with just a grow light. Which is why your plants are bending toward the window. Never underestimate the power of the force. Uh I mean the Sun.:cool:(sorry George Lucas) :rolleyes:
To get more info just goto the search menue up top and type in grow lights. These posts and also watching ALL of Patti's video clips (Highly recommended) will give you a good place to start. Warren.

[SaraM2261]

Thank you!
So I just need another bulb with daylight spectrum and it will work better. I originally did a search, but I didn't guess the right keywords to look under! Thank you - Sara

[gregm112]

Helloes, I've got some indoor lighting questions too. I'm new to everything.

My set up is a 4'x4'x7 room with a 600 high pressure sodium light, and eight 4 foot T5 Fluorescent lights. Four bulbs are 6500k and the other four are 3000k.

I don't think I wanna use the HPS quite yet. Well I don't even have seeds or soil yet lol, but also I don't have proper ventilation and will get to warm during summer.

So my first question is, if i were growing Strawberries, Lettuce, and Potatoes in the same room
1.)Will that even work?
2.)What type of light schedule would I use? 12 hrs on 12 hrs off?
3.)What spectrum of lighting would each plant prefer? Should I put both spectrums on all three of the plants? Or 3000k for fruit/flowering. 6500k for vegetative/seedlings? Will these lights be ok for what I'm doing?
4.)How many lumens per square foot should i be aiming for?
5.)The Fluorescent lights I bought say the 3000k and 6500k bulbs are inter-changable. Are all Fluorescent lights like that? Or are some made specifically for 3000k and won't work with 6500k?

Phew I think that's it for now :o any help would be appreciated, thx!