This is the best I could do this spring…too many other projects going on, so made a setup in the basement using the $15 LED strips from Dollar General.
I do have a space upstairs with 3 real grow lights, LEDs, as I’ve mentioned before, but these plants in the basement are doing pretty good, all things considered. They spend maybe a week or two upstairs in the nursery, rest of the time in this setup.
Oh…and first time with some autos, and I think they’re a hoot so far. Just never know what I’ll find when I go to water. This morning, I realized this little 3" Gamgian (Thanks @Alaskagrown !!!) is shooting white hairs out of the crown.
Too funny.
Nothing wrong with cheap led options either, was a bit of a pain building though, went through quite a few different led bulbs to figure which ones gave the highest output and then compared the output from the commercial grow led setups they had at the shop down the road, this actually puts out a higher lumen rating than the ones that were available for testing.
During some remodeling projects I started using the round ceiling mount LEDs from Amazon. They were $70 for a box of 10, they’re 1/2" thick and 6" diameter. You can get them in 12w and 15w, and either daylight or what I call “hospital white”.
I think I can mount about 8 of those in a 4’ piece of sheetrock and have some pretty good light. It’s rolling around in the back of my head…have a case of them in the basement now.
Hey whatever works, works! I have a few friends who’s setups would blow your mind. Cheaper than cheap and mostly reused products but they produce great product year after year. It’s mostly down to a bit of skill, some knowledge and some good genetics imho
About 800 watts over a 4x4ft area, the globes aren’t as efficient as the LEDs used in the manufactured boards I tested but it’s not far off, this is around the same output as a mars 600watt setup but I get good lumen coverage throughout and if you’re growing in a tent you can use less globes due to the close reflective walls. The important thing is to test out different globes to see which is best, the globes I landed up using where rated at 14 watts on the manufacturers box but draw 18 watts per globe using a tester.
Slightly off topic, but hey…
Last summer I bought a Chicago Fig, supposed to be hardy to Zone 5, I think, but I doubt it’d take our sustained below ZERO weather, so after it spent the summer on the deck, I put it in the basement for the winter. Gave it about a quart of water every month.
Today, I moved it upstairs…and notice that I have a FIG.
It was only suppose to be for a veg tent but then I made up a few more strips to augment the hodgepodge of lighting and eventually I had nothing but DS lighting. Once that grow was finished I redid the mounting.
A friend of mine took an 8 foot led shop light and made this
Cheap,is good free is better is my saying
153 watts at full power
And this is dimmable if that’s a word
Actually 2 lights
They’re been on the same watering schedule, and I don’t water unless a meter says “DRY”. They get fed on the same schedule as all the other plants.
I’m sure, in my old age, it’s possible that I missed a feeding, or a watering…but this doesn’t look like a “one-off” thing.
and a 
in a grow area is good by me 
