65 watt compact fluorescents

The vanity strip is basically put together, just need to put a couple wires together to a power cord, I use a cheap extension cord. If you look at the pic of the back of my lights, the five sockets of each strip are pre wired so that there’s two separate positive and negatives, one set coming from each side of the center. I’ll take Close up pics tonight, I still have a couple fixtures to put together on a second fixture.

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A couple wire twists for each vanity, then I put them all into 4 way connectors to the power line.

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I am going to hit up the nearest habitat for humanity story and see what I can find. I love projects like this!

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You should interview the people at home depot and ask why they don’t have fixtures next to there lights

I also have a bunch of these. I bought 20 of them about 12 months ago. They are all still going strong without issue. I have mine packed so close to each other in a frame that they are nearly touching. Even then I checked it with a meter and you could not burn a plant with them if you tried. If the leaf touched the LED itself which is unlikely with how they are designed, even with the cover off, if there was any damage at all it would be so small and localized it would not be a deterrent from letting you grow into the lights. If you pack them close they are perfect for mothers in small tents and on their own they are perfect for cloning.
I also bought mine when they were half the price they are now. :slight_smile:

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@Seamonkey84, I see you have some fungus gnat friends. I am not sure if they are a problem for you or not but if they are then Mosquito dunks or Mosquito bits are great. You just grate the dunks into bits or just use the bits and sprinkle a layer about 1 inch under the surface of the pots when you pot the plants. Lasts long enough to protect the plant for its full season. I started doing this to all my pots and the gnat population declined steadily over 3 weeks until they were gone. I occasionally see one around my plants that came in from outside and trying to breed in the pots but I never see more than the one each time. So they keep trying but dont have a chance.

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Yea, I’ve been meaning to get some bits or order the liquid BT concentrate from microbe-lift. So far I’ve done three watering with hydrogen peroxide mix, and hung up that second strip (towards the left). That one on the right was the first one I hung up when the population first exploded. So far the I’ve noticed a Dramatic decrease, but I know I need to get on it before they blow up again.

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Yeah Hydrogen Peroxide works well too. I used to do that before but it doesnt stop them re infecting unfortunately. I also have a powder that I can mix into water and water the plants and that is the same ingredients as Mosquito dunks. However over time I have always looked at the most effective pain free way to manage it. I ended up using the bits an inch under the surface as it just becomes part of your potting process so no trouble at all and it treats it for the season until you reuse that pot. Because it is a preventative when used like this it removes the stress from your grow room rather than wait and worry, then find them populating then treating and waiting to see if it worked well enough etc. I would say good luck but it sounds like you already have a plan. :+1:

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hi
was wondering about how much of bits you would use in say a 5 gallon pot? your adding it in ahead of time , does it use all the bti up before the plant is finished? very interested.

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I just got some bits yesterday, sprinkled it on top till it had a good coating (saw more of it than perlite at surface) then worked it in a bit and watered. Is that about right? I’ve also read to add some in a mesh bag to a jug of water and let it soak, then use that to water with.

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@Seamonkey84 i water it in as well as the bits, might not be using enough lol, but gnats are screaming and choking

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@Who, I would use about 6 grams on a 5 gal pot. I add the soil to the pot but leave enough room to pot the new plant and still be about an inch to low in soil level. Sprinkle about 8 grams evenly on the surface around the new potted plant and then add the last inch of soil. For me that lasts long enough for the plant to go through the full veg and flower cycle. However, I have not flowered out any marathon runners that go for 10 weeks plus. I have always had 8 week varieties. So about 8 weeks in veg, 1 week of transition and 8 weeks of flower.

@Seamonkey84, Yeah what you did should be good. When you next pot some plants you just add it in below the surface to make it less interfered with when you water. The gnats live in the first inch or two of the soil from what i can tell. Also if it stays below the surface it stays moist longer which is what is required for the bacteria to be happy. The method to soak the bits in water would also work well as the bits are designed that you can just throw a few in a body of water like a pond and it just populates the water and kills the mosquitos and gnats etc. You wont notice the change in numbers for the first few days as it does not impact the adult gnats. It kills all the larvae so over the next few weeks you should see numbers drop till they are gone. But for them to be gone you have to make sure you have treated all the pots in your grow.

For you both, Keep in mind they can also populate through the holes in the bottom of your pots. Perfect solution is to use fabric pots but if you cant then when you pot you will also want to put some at the bottom of your pots. Just sprinkle about an inch of dirt in to cover the holes then add some bits then dirt till about an inch from the top, more bits, last inch of dirt. Done.

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@BudSy thank you ! I been guessing as to amount of bits and i like the idea of a inch under, puts the BTI right in there nest. Bits are new to me just started using ,so you just shortened my learning curve!

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I have my fingers crossed that they are as successful for you as they were for me. I didn’t realise how much my whole growing experience was tainted by the fact i kept seeing all these gnats in my grow. Its a stress we dont need.

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