A 3 step process to making a strong tomato trellis. Plus some tomato growing hints and tips for growing the best tomatoes ever. Also, visit www.selfsufficien…
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Question by Leon: Growing tomatoes indoors under 6 shop lights?
Just moved to a colder, cloudier part of the world and want to grow fresh tomatoes, lettuce, etc indoors. Will 6 40 watt florescent tubes suffice for tomatoes throughout the grow cycle? I would buy HID but I have these lights on-hand already.
Best answer:
Answer by Ryan
Well, the flourescent lights will work great for the vegetative state of the plant, but when you get to the point in their cycle where you to produce some hefty flowers / fruit, you will need to go with something like and HID or preferably a High pressure sodium bulb. for 6 plants I’d recommend at the very least a 400watt ballast, but even better to go with a 1000w HPS. You can even find switchable ballasts that will go between the two different kinds of bulbs. Very handy for a startup.
Flourescent lights put off a blue light spectrum, which is great for growing the vegetation. and getting a really healthy hearty start to a plant. But when you are trying to produce flowers / fruits / buds, you need the light spectrum ( I believe it’s orange) from a higher intensity bulb.
High Pressure Sodium = The way to go if you want results.
Good luck in growing your tomatoes!
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Thanks Melanie, yeah this trellis is working well for me and tomato plants
get away from everyone – they grow so fast! Appreciate your encouragement
and please do drop by the website, cheers Mark
Thank you Terry – appreciate you saying so. Cheers
thnx for sharing this was a nicely done instructional video. Thank you.
Thanks for the feedback. It’s always nice when someone takes the time to
say hello and make a comment, cheers mate.
My tomato plants always seem to get away from me, this looks like it would
work wonders and save me a lot of heartache, Thank you for this very
informative video! I will be stopping by your website for more information,
Thank you again!
Great video mate. Thanks !!!
“Ryan” makes a good argument but is not absolutely correct.
If your shop fixtures are 2 lamp. Use one Cool white bulb and one warm white bulb in each fixture. this gives the palnt a full spectrum of light they use to grow and produce fruit. They also cost much less than HID or HP sodium fixtures and lamps to purchase and run.
Keep the bulbs no more than 2 inches above the plants. When the plants get larger, you may have to get more 2 lamp fluorescent fixtures.