How far should my T5 grow lights be from my seeding? Why your seedlings aren’t getting enough light Light is the number one underestimated factor of growing, even at the seedling stage. If seedlings don’t have enough light, they grow more slowly and can become leggy. Overall, growers who do not give seedlings enough light have longer crop timelines and higher rates of seedling mortality. Why do growers mistake the level of seedling light? They don’t have enough lighting. They place lighting too far from seedlings (bad coverage). They don’t leave lights on long enough. Usually, these problems are easy to fix: add lights or adjust your seedling light schedules! Here are some general seedling light guidelines to speed up production and save you money on seeds. T5 Grow Lights : These are one of the best grow lightsthat can be used to grow any type of plant. They are good for plants and they can be used in greenhouses or indoor gardens. For better results when using T5 grow lights, it is important to choose the right one ( from fixture to bulbs). I recommend a high output bulb which is cost-effective in a way that you can save money on buying electricity. After selecting a suitable fixture and bulbs, it is also vital to know how far should T5 lights be from plants. Actually, mounting lights depends on the amount of space available and the type of plant that you have grown. If it is seedlings or plants that doesn’t need more heat especially those with soft leaves, the best height should be at 12 in. However, for most plants that can be grown at moderate heat, the normal height should be at 6-8 in above the plant. How far away should I place seedling T5 grow lights? You’ve got to keep two goals in mind: the amount of light you’re giving seedlings, and the coverage of light that you’re giving seedlings.
1) Amount of light: We can measure the useful light to a plant (PAR—photosynthetically active radiation, or the parts of light that the plant can use to photosynthesize) in micromoles per meter squared per second (micromoles/sec/m²). The goal here is to deliver 120–150 micromoles/sec/m² of PAR to your seedlings. Some people will use a PAR meter to figure out how much PAR they’re getting to their seedlings and will adjust the distance of their lights based on that measurement. Don’t worry—you don’t need one of those if
you’re using LED bars or fluorescent bars. Just remember the following distances. LED bars : 8–12 inches away from seedlings T5 fluorescents: 5–6 inches away from seedlings
2) Coverage of light The next question is coverage. You can usually just eyeball this to figure out how far apart your lights need to be to deliver the same intensity of light across your entire seedling tray. Again, we’ve outlined two simple rules to follow if you’re using the most common seedling lighting types: LED bars: 8–10 inches apart from each other T5 fluorescents: 4–5 inches apart from each other
Tips for Growing Plants Using T5 Grow Lights
Growing your crops on its own is not an easy task at all since you need to constantly water them, take care of them, monitor them, and give what’s the best for them in order to collect a bountiful rewarding result. Actually, growing plants with T5 grow lights is quite difficult since you need to add additional stuff in order to set them up for its optimal effectiveness. With that said, here are a few tips for you to be able to utilize well your T5 lights for better effectiveness and efficiency. Here they are: First and foremost, what you wanna know are your bulb color temperatures. In simpler terms, you must know which color temperature bulbs go with which phases of plants development. For vegetation, you must have 6,500 Kelvin bulbs. For flowering, you need 3,000 Kelvin bulbs. Secondly, you must provide good grow room ventilation even though T5 grow lights produce the lowest heat emissions among fluorescent grow lights. It is for the sake of prevention of any unnecessary matters and all. Thirdly, take time to monitor your soil or your hydroponic system since they might dry out without you knowing. The next one that you want to remember are the sizes of your T5 grow lights. There are various T5s that comes with stand, cables, or whatsoever that takes too much space. Make sure you don’t compromise your plant’s comfort. Fifth, you must have the knowledge of how long you should run your T5 grow lights. Generally, in the vegetative stages of your plant, they need up to 14 to 18 hours of sufficient light a day. On the other hand, flowering takes up to 12 hours of light. That’s the general information, plants differ and so grow light varies. And of course, the last one is how high above your plants your grow light is. Hang them as close as you can to your plants. But be sure that you don’t burn the canopies of your crops, in this way; your plants will grow more effectively.