Journal March 11, 2013

The two small 16 watt LED grow lights that I purchased recently were placed in the greenhouse today for supplemental lighting.  I had to wait until dusk to be able to visually determine the area of coverage that the lights will provide at the height I have them mounted.

Using inexpensive clamp lights from Wal-Mart I simply clamped the lights to the dowels that provide support for the tomato plants.  That solution works perfectly, and it makes relocating or adjusting the lights really easy.

A three dollar timer is being used to provide a few additional hours of light in the morning and again in the evening, as I believe that the amount, quality and duration of lighting is vital to growing healthy plants.

I estimate that the lights are covering about eight to ten square feet, and as the lights will only be using 32 watts of power when they are operating, they certainly meet my objective of keeping cost under control. 

Each of these small lights has 168 LEDs configured as follows: Red: 660nm, Orange: 612nm,Blue: 460nm. These lamps have an estimated life of 100,000 hours, or about 12 years of continuous use.  

For supplemental lighting I feel that they will be perfect to add to the natural daylight, however, I think that to actually grow a plant, I would only plan on growing one small plant with the light no more than a foot from the plant.