# Tomato Growing?I am finally understanding some LED Language??



## murihikukid (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi...I grow tomatoes and I have been trying various lights for growth etc cause I have been growing inside..due to my huge Power Bills I am throwing my HPS and Mercury lights and moving into LED...
Now I also looked at my lights and wondered why I had them above the plants when only the top of them got any benefit so I wondered what would happen if I put a stainless steel drum IE like a clothes dryer drum and suspended it "around" my plant and raised it coinciding with the plants growth with a light also suspended just inside the top of the drum......I would have "surround" light 360 degrees ....So I set it up and its looking good ...I am using at this stage CFL bulbs on a multi fitting ...Yes I know I may have to include a fan just to get a proper air circulation but I then realised that I really should be concentrating on using LED bulbs and then my thinking progressed to LED Lighting Strips....
These could be attached around the inside of the drum if flexible or attached in vertical strips within the drum ...(the cost of the light fitting exceeded a 5m LED Strip???)
After weeks of looking at these on Ebay etc I finally have come to grips with working out what everything means within the title....EG what 5050 means as against 5630 or 6020....Its the LED type and I know 5630 are nearly twice as bright as 5050 so I could not see the sense in buying 5050 but what exactly is the brightest strip one can buy ...is there anything over 6020??

Its also occurred to me that what I am after is mainly Red ,Blue and perhaps some white ....which wipes out the RGB for me as plants do not see Green ...I presume it could be best to buy the separate colour strips and locate them inside my drum to what ever ratio I thought could help...

So I am hoping that some members may be tomato growers and have a high knowledge of LED's ....Is my system practical and what LED types should I get ...As I understand the brighter the light the more beneficial it is so what really is out there in the market place ..there are also controling methods for these in fact I am just going to buy a 5630 striplight setup online with controler just to get an understanding of what they are capable of...

Any comments would be sincerely appreciated ....Thanks MK New Zealand...


----------



## jimscreechy (Jan 7, 2005)

Interesting...
https://www.heliospectra.com/sites/default/files/general/What light do plants need_5.pdf

However, I'm not entirely sure your plan is a good one. 

From the now long distant days since I was in a biology classroom, I recall through the haze of memories a wonderful life has yielded (and too many litres of alcohol) that the topside of the leaf is where the maximum amount of light for photosynthesis is absorbed. I couldn't say what level is absorbed from the backside of a leaf, but if it is marginal compared to the top, then your 360 illumination may be nothing more than a wasted energy effort. 

I would imagine a more intense source of light on the top surface of the leaf would be a better option... but that would just be my reasoning, after all, isn't that how the plant has evolved? I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere. Just imagine how much more difficult it would be to find out before the internet... now that is daunting!


----------



## kendallt (Feb 21, 2007)

The 360 lighting won't improve the growth very much at all. An arch would work well, because it would encourage outward growth as much as upward and produce fuller plants.


----------



## murihikukid (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi ..Thanks for your replies and I do accept what you are saying but my main reason for posting the thread was to get some clarity if possible on the LED factor ....To try and save money by not buying Led lighting which may not do the job that I was hoping for......
I have now purchased a 5m LED 5630 with controler kit ..it will take a couple of weeks to get here but maybe then I can get an idea on these...and I have grow lights coming as well....
Yes an arch system..I use such a system on my seedlings ....but I think its inferior to a complete reflector unit around a plant with light provided from above as my experimental unit is and the plant looks to be doing really well...I just think the logical next step is to "add" some side lighting to what is above and Led lighting strips would seem to be ideal for this....
The problem is every article i read contradicts the previous one....a perfect example is having Green in ones lighting...Yes the internet can help big time but with contradicting articles it also just creates uncertainty...especially when one gets older.....But I am trying....I think I can buy 6020 lighting strips in individual colours ....I presume they will be a step up in brightness to the 5360....and I see I can get a 100w Grow Light Chip???? Pity they do not give a brief explanation on what is required to set it up as a working light...No doubt before long a new LED chip like an 8080 will appear...
and how come a $3 torch will produce 6000 LM ...four times as much as a $20 bulb....???

Cheers MK


----------

