Propogating lights?

[grahamhobbs]

Anyone got any experience of using propogating lights? We're moving the works office, which had big windows very suitable for raising seedlings, to one with smaller windows with grilles over. Thinking I'm going to need some lamps to boost the daylight. Only agreed to the move because the new office has a large balcony attached where I can keep my seedlings once they can be moved outside.

[Odsox]

I sort of use propagating lights Graham, but it's a very Heath Robinson affair ... but it works.
I use GroLux fluorescent tubes that are used for aquariums as they are a darn site cheaper than the gardening ones (although they are coming down in price and also coming down in wattage)
I posted a picture of my light box here ... http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... +light+box

[gregorach]

I have a 100W mercury vapour lamp I use for starting off my tomato and capsicum seedlings in my north-facing cave of a flat... Works very well, but it does chew a fair bit of power and the switch-on current surge is so high that it would need a heavy-duty contactor if I wanted to run it off a timer. Not sure I would have bought it at full price though - I acquired it at a steep discount from a old flatmate...

[Odsox]

Works very well, but it does chew a fair bit of power

This was what I was alluding to in my post. "Proper" horticultural lights run at anything between 100w and 1000w, which makes raising seedlings a tad expensive.
Aquarium tubes are cheap to buy, use 15 watts and work very well if you only want to light one tray area.
But then I'm a mean bugger

[gregorach]

In my defence, I had the lamp sitting gathering dust anyway, and I only use it for about 8-10hrs a day for a month or two at most...

[grahamhobbs]

Odsox, thanks, as ever very useful advice