Stillman Posted October 23, 2011 I am putting a few cacti grafts under lights and want to raise a few seedlings while experimenting with canna based hydroponics I have a 60 watt cfl bulb that puts out about 4000 to 5000 lumens and gives off pretty good heat. Is this about ball park for cacti Has anyone got any pics of there own set ups? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tipz Posted October 23, 2011 no pics read this . It might answer some questions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stillman Posted October 23, 2011 I'll give it a go, I am a bit worried about heat and humidity but will give it a run Photos to come in the next few weeks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
migraineur Posted October 23, 2011 I've got a light and shade like this: http://www.growroom.com.au/p446/fluro-kit-with-shade I use it in Winter when I have to bring some plants inside and it's also good for cacti seedlings. It uses bugger all electricity too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ethos Posted October 23, 2011 I built a stealth PC case like you see on Marijuana forums and use this for seeds and grafts, It has two 24 watt 2700k bulbs parrallel wired and two 80mm pc fans running on an d/c adapter for cooling the lights. The seedling sit on my actual laptop psu which give of around 20 - 35oC, both seeds and grafts are around 15cm from the lights. Humidity has never been an issue, but i'm sure if i tried to grow MJ in it leaves would burn up and die if i didn't tend to its needs every hour. Will post pics when I can Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunter Posted October 23, 2011 You want around 50 watts max per square foot for best results. Maybe as low as 30. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellonasty Posted October 24, 2011 I use one of those small double fluro' each bulb is 18watts I think, so total is 36watts per shelf, and it works well. Something similar to this but not completely enclosed, my shelves are about 20cm longer. Not my image, please see this link: My linkhttp://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=199266&sid=53bfb48f7412990a5b007849e1ee81c8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stillman Posted October 24, 2011 This is my set up its in an IKEa cupboard 60 watt cfl puts out about 5000 lumens roughly. Dosn't get to hot running 18 hours of light. I have another box similiar set up am thinking about putting on shorter light period to see if I can force flowering? should be interesting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tedzr Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) This is my set up its in an IKEa cupboard 60 watt cfl puts out about 5000 lumens roughly. Dosn't get to hot running 18 hours of light. I have another box similiar set up am thinking about putting on shorter light period to see if I can force flowering? should be interesting. Hi Stillman, what grafting stock are you using if you don't mind me asking? I have been looking for Pereskiopsis but have not found any yet, however your stock looks interesting. I stumbled in to this amazing thread the other day as one of the coolest things I've seen yet in my 3 odd year tricho Odyssey. Edited October 24, 2011 by tedzr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stillman Posted October 24, 2011 its some kind of Opuntia sp http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=29650 seems to do well so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted October 24, 2011 Do you have photos of your setup HN? Been trying to work out the best way to make a setup for grafts recently. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ethos Posted October 24, 2011 I'm in the same boat as tripis, I wanna see your setup HN I have one of those double bulb fixture but am yet to find a cab/box to suit it. do you run any fans HN? this may have inspired me to do a rebuild/upgrade on my grafting propagating setup Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoOnThen Posted October 24, 2011 I have three differant setups running at the moment. I started to try and explain what the these look like and I was confusing myself so there was no way you guys would know what I was talking about. I will take some photos and then try and explain what I have done and the problems that I have had with the setups I would like to see yours as well HN Cheers Got Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellonasty Posted October 24, 2011 Yeah I will take and post a picture tomorrow. I use my shelves for germination, I have a heat mat at the bottom, and also for hardening off grafted plants before they are sent out into the big bad world well into my greenhouse. Nothing complicated in my set-up I try to keep things as simple as possible whilst still maintaining an optimal environment for growth. I don't use any fans etc because my setup is in my garage and the side door is partly open allowing a natural exchange of air. HN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellonasty Posted October 25, 2011 Here is a picture of my shelves and lights, there is another shelf at the bottom but it was hard to see everything clearly in that photo so I had to cut if off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stillman Posted October 25, 2011 Very cool what sort of day period do you have it on? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted October 25, 2011 Nice setup! How much did the lights cost you? The only cheap fluoros I can find are the 120cm ones, which are simply too long to be useful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoOnThen Posted October 25, 2011 This is a prop box I put together about 3 years ago and has worked really well for me. I place seed trays on the top to use the heat from the lights inside. This is a shelf much like HNs I enclosed it over winter to try and keep the heat in. Shelf 1200 fluro This is the latest edition which I trialled over winter. I have just removed one of the fluros (their was two). I thought it was to hot in there over winter so I tried a number of things to reduce the heat but all of my seedlings and pere still suffered. The pere's were stunted with red leaf tips and big spines like they were growing in full sun The only other thing I could do was to remove one light and see if it makes a difference. I am going to load it back up and see if things have improved Cheers Got Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoOnThen Posted October 25, 2011 Nice setup! How much did the lights cost you? The only cheap fluoros I can find are the 120cm ones, which are simply too long to be useful As much as I hate saying it Bunnings is where I got my small ones. Jcar would also be a good bet or an electrical wholesaler like EIW The thing with them is they don’t have leads but they aren’t hard to wire up. You just need three core cable and a plug and some commonsense. All of the ones that I have bought the little junction box is marked active, earth and neutral as long as the earth goes in the right place you won’t kill yourself. Australian 3-Pin Electrical Mains Plug Disclaimer All of this kind of work should only be done by a qualified electrician Cheers Got Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellonasty Posted October 25, 2011 Stillman, light setup is 18-6 (all the time except during peak summer heat) Tripsis, cost was pretty cheap all materials sourced from local hardware would have been around $200 in total. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted October 25, 2011 Professional looking setup Got, you've gone a decent amount of effort there. I'd like to just use some shelves and put a light on each level and then wrap it with plastic. But at around ~$50 per brand new light, I just can't afford it now. Can get secondhand 120cm ones for pretty cheap, but making a box that long would require a fair bit of space. Good to see you've got one going though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted October 25, 2011 Tripsis, cost was pretty cheap all materials sourced from local hardware would have been around $200 in total. Seriously, for 6 lights plus whatever else? I was just looking at lights today. A 60cm twin fluoro costs $45. Or do you call that cheap? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellonasty Posted October 25, 2011 Double fluros cost me 35 each I think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
