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Philips GreenPower LED flowering lamp trial

  • #21
In the near future I'll likely be doing a tank teardown that will leave me with a 120W Taotronics reef light that I plan on testing to grow plants. I've personally seen these grow corals very nicely in several tanks I installed them in, so it seems worth a try. Nice thing if it works is that they can be had ready to go for less than $150. I'll definitely start a thread and post pics as things progress.
 
  • #22
I just found the bulbs on ebay for 122.00 bucks. My only thought is its one spotlight not a large area of light like a T5 fixture would give off.. I'm still not sold on LED units I know they work but still so expensive. .
 
  • #23
55 from hortamericas, where I got mine
Mine is w/fr/dr
 
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  • #24
That's a much better price... I looked at my bulbs and I have 6500k T5 lights and it's great ... however I just found some 10000k light bulbs. And that covers 4 X 2 feet not one spot.
 
  • #25
I'll be very interested in how the Ceph colors up under this light. Just a word of caution, I can not move a "green" ceph over to my high light shelf without serious leaf burn, I have to move them over to the lower light shelf then over to the higher light one. I don't know if you will have the same issue with this bulb.

As I've said many times before not all LEDs are created equal. The kits I've been using you can light a 24" X 12" area getting decent red coloration on Cephs for around $80-125, if you bump that up to around $200-225 for the same area you end up with

Ceph. 'Hummer's Giant'
by randallsimpson, on Flickr

On the same note if you spent $200 on the Current Satellite Freshwater LED+, you get nice green Cephs.

Not all LEDs are created equally, you have to do your homework.
 
  • #26
imho, good for a fun experiment, specimen plant, or that cool looking showpiece, but still not cost effective compared to other formats on a large scale
 
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  • #27
The think the cost effective part is going to come from the saving in power usage over the long term. For me it was just over 2.5 years the longer I use this LED setup the cheaper is becomes vs T5s or any other format. When I'm using 42W to light a 24" X 12" area enough to turn Cephs that color the power usage is the real winner here. Just under $21 a year in power costs for me. But yes a large scale would present a whole new batch of problems, I did assemble all these kits myself and if your lighting 20 feet X 4 feet + that would be weeks of assembly! With any bulb damage or repairs required taking hours instead of mins. But for an indoor mid scale grower they can be perfect, and cheaper than any other method out there.

Again every LED is different and you have to do your own research of you end up with the wrong product vs other formats you can much easier plug and play.

Either way thanks for testing these out and posting about it, practical LED use info is hard to come by.
 
  • #28
How are they doing for you in higher canopy plant applications?
Would love to see more pictures of setups in heli and nep applications
 
  • #29
I recently moved over a few Nep amps and a bicalcarata into http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php/135880-Terrarium-tank-stand-build-log/page3.

The bicalcarata took off like a weed (likely due to the constant ferts + increased light + increased heat) and I had to find it a new home (it grew from 6" to over 18" in about 4-6m. It just grew too fast and showed no signs of stopping. Yesterday I cut my Nep amp green at the base of the plant due to size issues. The other 2-3 amps in there are growing slower but nicely. Also a tray of Nep maxima seedlings are just starting to color up but I've mailed off most of the larger ones. These are in a 40 breeder I setup for orchid seedlings mainly. There are 24 of the CREE LEDs in that one so much less light than my two main Ceph racks. The few Cephs in the 40 breeder (36" X 18") are green/red for reference. I've been using Cephs as an indication for light levels since I have enough Cephs to actually do this and I'm using different color LEDs here and there so light meters are pretty useless.

Links for photos of the above plants
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/s...sized-Giveaway-for-Postage?highlight=giveaway
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/s...tting-Giveaway-for-Postage?highlight=giveaway
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/s...-maxima-seedlings-Giveaway?highlight=giveaway
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/s...seedlings-Giveaway-Part-II?highlight=giveaway

As for Helis I only have a few they just don't like the TX summers, but I've put some in http://www.terraforums.com/forums/s...ium-I-m-Trying-It!-Thermoelectric-Cooling-Fun! with 4 of the CREE LEDs. Again another project I put together to grow an orchid :) and added CPs to it. Here are two of the Helis in there, it is really hard to work in that box so without alot of effort I can not get photos of the others or better photos but since this is about the lights and not my inability to grow Helis they should work. For random people that may just be reading this...a wine chiller is NOT the proper way to grow Helis :-D. But yes I'm growing some in there.

The primary reason I setup this chiller was for Dendrobium cuthbertsonii (750m-3000m, New Guinea) and it is growing just fine and currently in bud, although its been in bud for like 6m...every day its opening a tiny bit more. From my reading not unusual for this species to take that long. Once I'm sure I can grow this species long term I'll expand into a few other Guinea orchids. After all its only been 11 months and you know how these things go, a plant can be in decline for years and the grower not really notice it.

DSC_0832 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
DSC_0833 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
 
  • #30
just for the fun of it....

specimen grown under the far red Philips Greenpower light.
(excuse low res cell phone pic)
note: Zero post processing other than crop and resize
Image taken using same lighting

IMG_2702.jpg
 
  • #31
Looks good, Butch. Similar to what I've been seeing when using LEDs.
 
  • #32
Thanks Matt, lovin' the red.

better cam, better pic
003.jpg
 
  • #33
Wherez da flowerz?
 
  • #34
dont gotz no flowerz, just bright fushcia pitcherz

:-O
 
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  • #35
Quick give it a name and get it on E-bay :-D
 
  • #36
'hummer's red giant'

lol

The ping loved the light on every level. The ceph not so much imho.
It definitely has color. However, growth rate has been at a snails pace.

I've also noticed that carpet moss especially loves it, and yet sphagnum not so much.
Not sure if its the far red itself or the overall spectral balance.
Suspect balance..

Excellent example of the varied effects spectra can have on one genus/species compared to another.


May 4, 2015 update
Ceph growth rate now at a very acceptable level.

IMG_20150502_112125.jpg
 
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  • #37
I'll have to pull out the plant physiology book to be sure, but I vaguely recall there being some type of interaction involving far-red spectra essentially nullifying the photosynthetic effects that other wavelengths initiate, assuming the plant is exposed to this light at the wrong time. Granted, what I just said is vague to the point of being useless, so I'll see if I can find a quote for you..
 
  • #38
Missed this thread, mainly because I'm not in this forum often, but I have owned the same Philips lamp for some time and the Heliamphora below has been grown under it. Growth rate has been good, but it lacks a little colouration.

10606409_954719017880520_3944706248272073539_n.jpg
 
  • #40
Missed this thread, mainly because I'm not in this forum often, but I have owned the same Philips lamp for some time and the Heliamphora below has been grown under it. Growth rate has been good, but it lacks a little colouration.

10606409_954719017880520_3944706248272073539_n.jpg

Carl,

is yours the DR/FR/W version as well?
 
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