Six is cool and it's typically not included in the wattage of the bulb. Trust me I do lighting layouts and power distribution for a living, though it should be, and there are ,any types of ballasts and what they can do if they are remote and not built in.
I am just getting into aeroponic gardening and I have my two aerogardens to start I want to make my own setup to get some nice big hot pepper and tomato plants. I am getting all the info I can.
Very happy plant. Hated to do it, but had to raise the lights again today. And I think it's already light-hungry / stretching, and has its shiny new suckers down below. So revised the light screen and put it into service today - an extra 48W nominal 6500K sidelights (for now). And changed out its nutes - for this size tomato, needs weekly nute replacement. 1.8 EC, vegetative growth mix.
Originally intended a 36" high light screen. But I didn't like it. Around 24x24x12" now, so when the lights are fully extended, there will be a gap between bottom of hood and top of light screen. Kinda overkill for the plant's 5th week, but I want to train it this way, and the hood is now high enough for the side-lights to shine below the hood.
Oh, fwiw, the 3rd AG CFL bulb only drew an extra 16W. So the three AG CFL's draw only 48W. The two sidelights, nominally 48W, actually draw 62W. Why the AG Deluxe bulb box labeled them as 26W bulbs, I do not know. (The Aerogrow site says a whole AG Deluxe draws 62W.)
New digs today! Transplanted both tomato and pepper to next sized pot, and hung spotlights - with increased pot radius, they can't share a bulb anymore.
Aerogarden tomato way taller. I see no reason to top-prune the soil tomato (it's too short), so their morphology will just keep diverging. Wanted to wait until the soil tomato got taller to transplant, for some more stem-burying. But it's just too short, and the little pot was full of roots, and 4.5 weeks is the right age, so < shrug. >
These were under the "28W" bulb all week (which draws 34W, to the "20W"'s 28W - slightly more efficient.) Right now, I have no bulb in the middle hanging socket (need to go shopping), and a 26W spotlight on the tomato, and a 15W spotlight on the carmen pepper, both 6500K. Judging from their extreme not-stretching, they both had plenty of light before. Now they have more.
No cukes this week, but several underway. They're getting a lot more sun these days. They sure look tired. But - last year's Korean cukes made it 32 weeks, so hopefully these draggletailed plants have lots more cukes in them.
Welcome, 06vmi06! Mind if we call you "Six" for short?
Interesting, thanks! But on a CFL, the ballast is integrated into the device. So I think it's raw that they don't include the wattage of the entire device, it being indivisible.
But rather than a more powerful light, it's just a really inefficient ballast, huh? So much for buying the GE name brand...
I really ought to study up on this ballast business. I understand incandescent bulbs, but don't really grok what a ballast does.
The bulb is a 20w bulb but depending on the efficiency of the ballast you could draw as much as 32 and all the way down to 22 on a 20 watt bulb. The 20 w is what the bulb takes then you add in a ballast factor.
Changes: buried tomato's stem 2 days ago - soil with a bit of Tomatoes Alive! fertilizer. Would have liked the plant a bit taller first, but eh. The pepper is kinda yellow. Seedling nutes for that one... Will probably change out to a higher-watt bulb tomorrow night. Though the bulb it has now is actually drawing 28W, regardless of the 20W it said on the package.
AG age-mate to the tomato way ahead, for now:
Edit: This week's lighting array took .47 kWh/day, or about 61 cents for the week, at local power rates of 18.4 cents per kWh.
Happy plant. Changes: switched to vegetative growth formula 1.6 EC nutes two days ago. Raised lights first notch. Added 3rd AG Deluxe bulb in. Right after this picture, pruned off its 5th 6th branch. More advanced than its soil age-mate at this point, of course.
Built my first prototype of the AG light-screen to support this grow. Not bad! Needs design revision, but that's what prototypes are for.
Took away the screen after the photo shoot, of course. It's going to be a while before the plant needs that.
Edit: This week's lighting array (no light screen, just 3AG bulbs + external airpump - the AG base is dead) took .79 kWh/day, or about $1.02/week at local power rates (18.4 cents per kWh).
Ought to grow some radishes or something to keep them company. The seedling light rig takes .68 kWh per 14-hour day - about $3.75 / mo to run, at local rates.
Thinned and put 2 seedlings out in the garden. It's been a week. They still live out there. Not growing as fast as in here, of course, but they were runts, anyway.
5 cuke week. The Tasty Jades continue to have holes running all through. I'm assuming that means they should have been picked sooner. Kinda misshapen, so they didn't look ready. There are like no nice-looking leaves on these plants, and they're producing well. Next gallon of water will be Miracid again.
Chuck - I'm amazed the plants are surviving 12 degrees. Not many do.
Well, if she wants a bigger garden, she must like your present. Basil does simply grow a lot better than the other herbs, though. But Aerogrow often replaces dead pods - their customer service used to be stunningly good. I haven't dealt with them lately.
Good luck with the cukes! I'd love to see / hear more about that grow! My deep-water cuke experiments didn't do well.
Six is cool and it's typically not included in the wattage of the bulb. Trust me I do lighting layouts and power distribution for a living, though it should be, and there are ,any types of ballasts and what they can do if they are remote and not built in.
I am just getting into aeroponic gardening and I have my two aerogardens to start I want to make my own setup to get some nice big hot pepper and tomato plants. I am getting all the info I can.
Very happy plant. Hated to do it, but had to raise the lights again today. And I think it's already light-hungry / stretching, and has its shiny new suckers down below. So revised the light screen and put it into service today - an extra 48W nominal 6500K sidelights (for now). And changed out its nutes - for this size tomato, needs weekly nute replacement. 1.8 EC, vegetative growth mix.
Originally intended a 36" high light screen. But I didn't like it. Around 24x24x12" now, so when the lights are fully extended, there will be a gap between bottom of hood and top of light screen. Kinda overkill for the plant's 5th week, but I want to train it this way, and the hood is now high enough for the side-lights to shine below the hood.
Oh, fwiw, the 3rd AG CFL bulb only drew an extra 16W. So the three AG CFL's draw only 48W. The two sidelights, nominally 48W, actually draw 62W. Why the AG Deluxe bulb box labeled them as 26W bulbs, I do not know. (The Aerogrow site says a whole AG Deluxe draws 62W.)
New digs today! Transplanted both tomato and pepper to next sized pot, and hung spotlights - with increased pot radius, they can't share a bulb anymore.
Aerogarden tomato way taller. I see no reason to top-prune the soil tomato (it's too short), so their morphology will just keep diverging. Wanted to wait until the soil tomato got taller to transplant, for some more stem-burying. But it's just too short, and the little pot was full of roots, and 4.5 weeks is the right age, so < shrug. >
These were under the "28W" bulb all week (which draws 34W, to the "20W"'s 28W - slightly more efficient.) Right now, I have no bulb in the middle hanging socket (need to go shopping), and a 26W spotlight on the tomato, and a 15W spotlight on the carmen pepper, both 6500K. Judging from their extreme not-stretching, they both had plenty of light before. Now they have more.
First zinnia arrived. Rather a let-down. I hope the colors get better. Should be seeing first impatiens blooms within a week or so.
Just too busy to replant the kitchen lettuce. Maybe toy choi again... Maybe start outdoor greens.
No cukes this week, but several underway. They're getting a lot more sun these days. They sure look tired. But - last year's Korean cukes made it 32 weeks, so hopefully these draggletailed plants have lots more cukes in them.
Welcome, 06vmi06! Mind if we call you "Six" for short?
Interesting, thanks! But on a CFL, the ballast is integrated into the device. So I think it's raw that they don't include the wattage of the entire device, it being indivisible.
But rather than a more powerful light, it's just a really inefficient ballast, huh?
So much for buying the GE name brand...
I really ought to study up on this ballast business. I understand incandescent bulbs, but don't really grok what a ballast does.
The bulb is a 20w bulb but depending on the efficiency of the ballast you could draw as much as 32 and all the way down to 22 on a 20 watt bulb. The 20 w is what the bulb takes then you add in a ballast factor.
First crocus bloom today. That's a full month earlier than last year.
Changes: buried tomato's stem 2 days ago - soil with a bit of Tomatoes Alive! fertilizer. Would have liked the plant a bit taller first, but eh. The pepper is kinda yellow. Seedling nutes for that one... Will probably change out to a higher-watt bulb tomorrow night. Though the bulb it has now is actually drawing 28W, regardless of the 20W it said on the package.
AG age-mate to the tomato way ahead, for now:
Edit: This week's lighting array took .47 kWh/day, or about 61 cents for the week, at local power rates of 18.4 cents per kWh.
Happy plant. Changes: switched to vegetative growth formula 1.6 EC nutes two days ago. Raised lights first notch. Added 3rd AG Deluxe bulb in. Right after this picture, pruned off its
5th6th branch. More advanced than its soil age-mate at this point, of course.Built my first prototype of the AG light-screen to support this grow. Not bad! Needs design revision, but that's what prototypes are for.
Took away the screen after the photo shoot, of course. It's going to be a while before the plant needs that.
Edit: This week's lighting array (no light screen, just 3AG bulbs + external airpump - the AG base is dead) took .79 kWh/day, or about $1.02/week at local power rates (18.4 cents per kWh).
Ought to grow some radishes or something to keep them company. The seedling light rig takes .68 kWh per 14-hour day - about $3.75 / mo to run, at local rates.
Thinned and put 2 seedlings out in the garden. It's been a week. They still live out there. Not growing as fast as in here, of course, but they were runts, anyway.
First zinnia any day now.
5 cuke week. The Tasty Jades continue to have holes running all through. I'm assuming that means they should have been picked sooner. Kinda misshapen, so they didn't look ready. There are like no nice-looking leaves on these plants, and they're producing well. Next gallon of water will be Miracid again.
Chuck - I'm amazed the plants are surviving 12 degrees. Not many do.
Well, if she wants a bigger garden, she must like your present.
Basil does simply grow a lot better than the other herbs, though. But Aerogrow often replaces dead pods - their customer service used to be stunningly good. I haven't dealt with them lately.
Good luck with the cukes! I'd love to see / hear more about that grow! My deep-water cuke experiments didn't do well.