High Pressure Sodium - HPS
High pressure sodium bulbs emit an orange-red glow. This band of light triggers hormones in plants to increase flowering/budding in plants. They are the best grow lights available for secondary or supplemental lighting (used in conjunction with natural sunlight). This is ideal for greenhouse growing applications.

Not only is this a great flowering light, it has two features that make it a more economical choice. Their average lifespan is twice that of metal halides, but after 18,000 hours of use, they will start to draw more electricity than their rated watts while gradually producing less light. HPS bulbs are very efficient. They produce up to 140 lumens per watt. Their disadvantage is they are deficient in the blue spectrum. If a gardener were to start a young plant under a HPS bulb, she/he would see impressive vertical growth. In fact, probably too impressive. Most plants would grow up thin and lanky and in no time you will have to prune your plant back before it grows into the light fixture. The exception to this is using HPS grow lights in a greenhouse or in conjunction another light source that emits light in the blue spectrum. Light sources that have a high output in the blue spectrum like sunlight and MH grow lights offset any stretching caused by HPS bulbs. View MH & HPS grow lights

MH/HPS Light Output	Primary Growing Area	Supplemental Growing Area
250 watts	3' x 3'	5' x 5'
400 watts	5' x 5'	8' x 8'
600 watts	6' x 6'	10' x 10'
1000 watts	8' x 8'	12' x 12'

HID Lighting Helpful Tips
.Hanging height: Due to the heat that is emitted from these types of fixtures, you should hang them according to size. Smaller wattage systems (100 and 250) should be hung about 2 to 3 feet from the top of the plants. Medium wattage systems (400 and 600) should be hung around 4 feet from the top of the plants. High wattage systems (1000 and up) should be placed at least 4 to 6 feet from the plant tops.
.How long should lights run? This depends on the type of plant. Most plants and vegetables need about 10 to 12 hours of light to promote growth. Plants that produce fruits or flowers will show improvement with up to 16 hours a day of supplemental light.

Fluorescent Plant Grow Lights

Until recently, fluorescent grow lights have had a low output and have been too big and bulky to be of much use as a grow light for anything more than starting seedlings. CFL and T5 full spectrum fluorescent lights have changed that. At 75 to 90 lumens per watt, these lights are energy efficient and extremely effective especially when used in numbers. Fluorescent grow lights also have better color rendering properties (more of the light emitted is used by the plant) and produce much less heat than incandescent and HID grow lights. This allows them to be placed closer to plants (within a few inches) greatly decreasing lumen loss from the bulb to the plant. It is recommended that these lights be placed no more than a couple feet from the plants for best results. 2700k to 3000k bulbs provide higher output in the red spectrum which promotes flowering. 5000k to 6500k bulbs are full spectrum with much of the light in the blue spectrum which promote overall green plant growth. View (CFL) compact fluorescent grow lights, View T5 fluorescent tube grow lights

T5 Light & Output	Primary Growing Area	Supplemental Growing Area
2' Jump Start (24 watts)	1' x 2'	2' x 3'
Sun Blaze 22 (48 watts)	1.5' x 2.5'	3' x 3.5'
Sun Blaze 24 (96 watts)	2' x 3'	4' x 4'
4' Jump Start (54 watts)	1' x 4'	2' x 6'
Sun Blaze 44 (216 watts)	2.5' x 5'	4' x 7'
Sun Blaze 48 (432 watts)	4' x 6'	6' x 8'

The standard T12 bulbs full spectrum tubes are fine for starts and seedlings and are popular for growing low-light plants like herbs and African violets. These lights are inefficient and are be replaced with high efficiency T5 lights which are a better light source for flowering and budding applications as well. View T5 fluorescent grow lights

Incandescent Plant Grow Lights

These lights are the most inexpensive to purchase but are also the most inefficient and a poor source of light for plants. At best they can provide supplemental light to individual house plants. Incandescent lights have a low lumen output per watt compared to HID and fluorescent grow lights. New smaller CFL grow lights like our 40 watt Green Thumb system produce as much light as a 150 watt incandescent bulb, and more of the light is used by the plant. This type of bulb will pay for itself in energy savings the first 60 days of use.

LED Plant Grow Lights

LED grow lights are the newest lighting option for plants. They are advertised to be the most efficient and coolest running grow lights available. We have tested several different types of LED grow lights and have found none that outperform much cheaper fluorescent grow lights of similar wattage. LED plant grow lights are also not recommended for use with plants that you want to be viewed, because they give plants an unnatural appearance when the light is on.

 

The Cost to Run a Lighting System
To get the operating cost per hour for a light, take the lights combined wattage, and divide it by 1000 to get the kilowatts used. Then multiply that number by the amount your electric company charges per kilowatt hour. HID lights will use the number of watts it emits per hour, ie; 600w system will use 600 watts per hour (regardless of spectrum).
(light wattage output / 1000) x electricity cost per kilowatt hour = Operating cost per hour
operating cost per hour x hours used per month = Operating cost per month

How the Sunlight Affects Plant Growth

200 - 280 nm	UVC ultraviolet range which is extremely harmful to plants because it is highly toxic.
280 - 315 nm	Includes harmful UVB ultraviolet light which causes plants colors to fade.
315 - 380 nm	Range of UVA ultraviolet light which is neither harmful nor beneficial to plant growth.
380 - 400 nm	Start of visible light spectrum. Process of chlorophyll absorption begins. UV protected plastics ideally block out any light below this range.
400 - 520 nm	This range includes violet, blue, and green bands. Peak absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and a strong influence on photosynthesis. (promotes vegetative growth)
520 - 610 nm	This range includes the green, yellow, and orange bands and has less absorption by pigments.
610 - 720 nm	This is the red band. Large amount of absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and most significant influence on photosynthesis. (promotes flowering and budding)
720 - 1000 nm	There is little absorption by chlorophyll here. Flowering and germination is influenced. At the high end of the band is infrared, which is heat.
1000+ nm	Totally infrared range. All energy absorbed at this point is converted to heat.

Grow Light Systems Section