"Bobo Bonobo®" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to get a head start on tomatoes and chiles. I've heard
that incandescent lights, while not worthless, are not really adequate
to grow the seedlings for transplant. The LED panels out there look
promising. Comments?

Thanks,
--Bryan

Bryan, I bought 4 of the LED EBay model grow lights as an experiment
last year to supplement the CFLs in the nursery. I was not impressed. 15 x
15 on a square foot
panel, blue and red spectrum, each panel is about 12-15 watts total, they
appear older
generation LED, which despite the proper spectrum, do not have the horse
power to be of value except maybe as supplemental light. The newest
generation LEDs are coming in at about 10 watts a piece, very spendy as yet
but offer the best promise of the technology. What you see on EBay and some
of the Hydro stores appear unused
Christmas lights from China, repackaged as grow lights and at very Starbuck
prices. I would wait
a while yet to see when the prices are going to come down on LEDs with real
HP.

For nursery starters, I would stay with 40W fluorescents, but w/ 6500k
tubes, about 10$
for pack of 2 vs. 4$ for2 of the 4000Ks at Home Depot. The CFLs in the
range of 85-150
watts are nice, but again you are back at more watts/lumens. Watch to
ensure overlapping area coverage in any
light system and think about the law of inverse square . I would again
consider 6500K bulbs in as high a wattage
as you can in CFLs. Then turn them out to play in the sun to save $$$s.

The 54w HD T5 link below is a nice system for starters and growing to term
for even most flowering plants.
http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com...res_35_ctg.htm
these are 2-3 times less than similiar setups at the Hydro and Gardening
stores.

If you do buy them, please let me know the particuliars and how you do
with them.
gunner