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.(sorry George Lucas)
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 any help would be appreciated, thx!