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Indoor grow lights are an invaluable tool for gardeners looking to expand their growing season by starting seedlings, or growing entire crops, indoors. There are many options available to include incandescent, metal halide, high pressure sodium, and fluorescent grow lights. Setting up an indoor grow light system can get expensive, though. For the average hobbyist, fluorescent grow lights offer the best combination of low cost, value, and range of options for your grow light system.
Fluorescent grow lights burn cooler than other systems and cost the least to operate. On average, a fluorescent bulb has a life span of approximately 18,000 to 20,000 hours. Furthermore, since they produce far less heat than other systems, fluorescent grow lights can be placed within just a few inches of the plants themselves. Since the light travels such a short distance from fixture to plants, it allows the most efficient capture of lumens of any system.
Until recently, fluorescent grow lights were limited in the color spectrum. New technology has now created full spectrum fluorescent bulbs which promote different types of growth. For flowering plants, select 2700K to 3000K bulbs to maximize use of the red end of the color spectrum. For green plant growth, you’ll want 5000K to 6500K bulbs that maximize the blue shades in the spectrum. Always select bulbs that say “high output” or “plus” to produce optimum results. You can also use a combination of bulbs to produce the best overall plant growth.
Fluorescent grow lights have also become available in a wide range of shapes and sizes. For years, your only option was the typical shop lights that came in 2’ or 4’ lengths. Now there are many more choices, such as the T5 fluorescent which uses several high output bulbs, backed by reflector panels to make the most of the fixture’s light output. Compact fluorescent lights are another innovation which produces high light output in a much smaller size.
If you are looking to start seedlings indoors, or create an entire garden in your basement or garage over the winter months, low cost, high output fluorescent grow lights are your best option. They provide full color spectrum output, space efficiency, and a wide variety of shapes and sizes so that you can customize your system to your exact specifications. With a cost range under $400.00, depending on size and bulb type, fluorescent grow lights are the best value for the amateur indoor gardener.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about gardening equipment and organic gardening at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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