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[Sunshine]

Yeah, something like that couldn't easily be controlled. Unless one has a pressure chamber laying around..

Anyone? Anyyone....?
Bueller... Bueller? 

1 Like dEEcor likes this.

[Roze]

Is someone using LED lighting ?  I really need some advice...there's a lot of information and vendors on-line but I still have questions about the germination and propagation type of light and all the different colours of it..

And apparently is easy to build one LED system... any help?

[Sunshine]

From what I've heard LED lighting technology is in its infancy and still has a lot that needs to be improved upon. I was going to go with LED a while back when I was looking at lighting systems for my indoor garden because the price is so low. As with anything though, you get what you pay for. The lumen output was not to my liking and I went with a T5 flouro system instead. It is a decision I do not regret.

[Roze]

Can I ask how much the T5 flouro system increase your power bill?

[New Wisdom]

I have a 4' 8 bulb fixture, 1 bulb 4' fixture and a 1' 1 bulb T5 flouro going with fans and a couple heat mats and I pay about 50 a month to run it all.

[happyconcacti]

Here's how to calculate the cost of running an electronic device:

Unit Review:
Watt [W] unit of power
KiloWatt [kW] 1000 W = 1 kW
Hour [h]
Kilowatt hour [kWh]  kW times hours

Part 1) First, you need the cost per kilowatt hour. (Usually stated in cents/kWh). There are a few ways to do this. They're listed here, from easiest to most difficult:

1a) Use an estimate of about 16 ¢/kWh.  This figure is an overestimate and will also overestimate your cost per month, but hey, at least it gives you a reference point.
(Skip to part 2)

1b) Another easy way is to get the ¢/kWh off a map:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/10/27/141766341/the-price-of-electricity-in-your-state
(Skip to part 2)

1c) You can also calculate this from your electric bill:
Add the off and on peak kWh
Example: 72 + 317 = 389 total kWh

Convert the the total cost on the bill to cents:
(A more accurate cost to use would be any variable costs associated with the electricity, but for simplicity lets use the total cost on the bill)
Example: $66.71 = ¢6671

Now divide:
¢6671/389kWh = 17.1 ¢/kWh

Part 2)
Okay, so now that you have the ¢/kWh, you can use it for any device in your home. Here's an example using an electric heater:

Example 1:
1000 Watt electric heater
12 hours/day run time
30 days/month.....on average

So now you need to know the Wh/month
1000 Watts x 12 h/day x 30day/month = 360,000 Wh/month (Watt hours per month)

Convert to kWh/month by moving the decimal over three:
Example: 360,000 Wh/month = 360 kWh/month

Now, multiple the ¢/kWh by the kWh/month:
17.1 ¢/kWh x 360 kWh/month = 6156 ¢/month = 61.56 $/month

This means to run a 1000W electric heater for 12 hours a day, for a month, at 17¢/kWh, it will cost you about $61.56 per month.

Example 2:
Or, say you used the map and you live in Ohio (use map linked above):
14¢/kWhr x 360 kWh = 50.40 $/month

Example 3:
Now another example, say you live in Kansas (11¢/kWh), are running a two foot, four bulb T5 HO light. Each bulb runs at 24 W and you have it on for 12 hours a day:

4 x 24 W = 96 W total power consumption of light fixture
96W x 12 hours/day x 30 days/month = 34,560 Wh/month
34,560 Wh/month = 34.6 kWh/month
11¢/kWh x 34.6 kWh/month = 380.6 ¢/month
380.6 ¢/month = 3.81 $/month


 
Happy

5 Likes Mandrake, New Wisdom, fairdinkumseeds, Roze and Khaedin like this.

[chums of chance]

Regarding Lophophora and other active cacti, it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Changing the spectra, intensity, and length of light will affect different properties.

From William R. Obermeyer's PhD dissertation, Enhancement of growth and alkaloid production in tissue cultures of peyote, Lophophora williamsii (Lemaire) Coulter, via teonanacatl

Growth and alkaloid conc in the media rivaled growth of whole plant. The plants with the greatest relative growth contained the greatest total alkaloids 3% and mescaline 0.76% dry weight.

Changing day lengths
At a light intensity of 450uEs-1M-1, 24 celcius and 50% humidity. Zero hours of light per day gave lowest growth and lowest total alkaloids but greatest quantity mescaline/total alkaloids (3.17% total, 2.97% mescaline), 8 hour days gave better growth with greatly increased total alkaloid (7.26%) with 3.25% mescaline. 16 hour day gave comparable growth to 24 hour days, total alkaloid however was much greater (7.66 vs 4.95) with mescaline concs of 3.17 and 1.96 respectively.

Effect of monochromatic light
light intensity 0.35uEs-1M-2, 24 celcius and 50% humidity. Photoperiod 16/8.
Blue light had greatest dry growth index, second greatest fresh growth index, 3rd highest mescaline conc (1.12%) and total alkaloids (1.99%)
Green light had second highest dry growth index, 3rd fresh growth, lowest mescaline (0.78%) but second totalkaloid conc(2.10%).
Red had lowest fresh and dry growth index, highest mescaline and total alkaloid (2.20 and 2.78).
Far red had highest fresh growth index, 3rd dry, 2nd mescaline (1.27) and lowest total alkaloid (1.79)

growth index = (final wt- initial wt)/initial wt.

There is also mentioned how growth and alkaloid conc varies with media and precursor addition to media but I wont go into that.

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[Khaedin]

You get more lumens from HID lights obviously, but not everyone can manage the heat. Depending on your space and plant numbers, CFLs are a very cheap solution. One 32w 6500k cfl was enough to get a single Loph to flower multiple times on a 12/12 light schedule. (It even double flowered one round.) Pick up a few "work lights" from walmart with the aluminum/tin dome and pop a large cfl in the socket, around 6" from the top of the plants. If you have a large variety of plants with varying heights, this isn't the most cosmetically appealing solution but works great for just a few Lophs. I don't have much experience with the other plants you mentioned, but I do have a 4ft Brugmansia in my basement FLOWERING under a 250w and a 100w metal halide on a 14 hr light schedule.

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