Best Growlights for DIY Hydroponics on a Budget
Here is my opinion on what grow lights you should use as a beginner, ever some pros. This is what I use to grow microgreens and baby greens. I even grow full bunches of lettuce, basil and mint.
Spider Farmer SF-600: https://amzn.to/3M5GKfY
**2 pack LED Lights for $19.99 (at time of this video, may change) : https://amzn.to/3xw3npG
I just sent some in and will send more next week.
Amazon Endcap Set of 4: https://amzn.to/3evmZDx
Amazon growbox: https://amzn.to/3evmZDx
@Hoocho Grow Light review: https://youtu.be/McbI4oajpMk
Online course special. Now only $9.99 (reg $39.99)
https://kog.thinkific.com
This will save you time, energy and money. Instead of watching hundreds of YouTube videos and getting conflicting opinions from several gardeners, you can get all the info you need to start growing with hydroponics the easy, inexpensive way. For the price of a couple of cups of coffee you can save yourself from watching hours upon hours of videos and start growing today. Once you take the course, you can always come back to it for reference. Don’t wait!
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My Etsy shop with my grow boxes and ebook: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mikevanduzee
True Leaf Market Organic Seeds: https://www.pntra.com/t/SENITklPRk5DSEdOSU9GQ0dLSUdOSw
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I’m looking forward to seeing how well the fan-shaped lights work for you. I’ve been needing something smaller than the traditional grow lights I’ve looked at.
I bought two of these lights and they are very bright! I did put one on my indoor radish plants and it turned the leaves orange and red. guess I got the light too close and burned them. so at least a foot or two away from the tops of the plants might be a good place to start.
Every plant has a DLI which tells how much light the plant requires to grow healthily to maturity. Lettuce and other greens have low light requirements and can be grown under a typical LED shop light lit for 16 hours a day. I start my seedlings under three 48" LED shop lights, 40 watts each, putting out 4500 lumens each, with a color temperature of 4500 K, on each shelf of a standard 18" x 48" stainless steel rack. This is great for seedlings and slight overkill for microgreens but I did have cucumbers flowering under this setup prior to putting them in the ground. Flowering and fruiting plants need significantly more light and to be successful a higher power grow light is required. What matters is how many photons of the ideal spectrum reach the plant. Not many of us will spend $250-$500 on an Apogee meter to measure photons / PAR, so REAL lamp "at the wall" wattage is a somewhat usable measurement. Older individual white LEDs put out 50-100 lumens per watt of electricity while the newer LEDs put out 175-200 lumens per watt. The higher end LED grow lamps brag about efficient Samsung 301 LEDs. DO NOT BUY red/blue "blurple" lamps, the spectrum is incomplete and it’s hard to see problems under this light. DO NOT BUY LED grow lamps with fans, fans ALWAYS eventually fail and the lamp will fry itself. For fruiting vegetables like tomatoes & cukes, I would buy nothing less than a name brand, at least, 100 watt (watts consumed at the wall) LED lamp, sized to fit the grow area, and put on a timer for up to 20 hours a day. There is much more to say about LED grow lamps.
Steampunk! I love it!
I love growing and I am cheap. Perfect channel for me!
Glad to see you’re doing this. I came up with the same idea. Got those fan lights from Costco, $20 each (Canada), gr8 return policy if they stink. Then I plug them into a patio light string, so only have one electrical cord. I can also snake the sockets wherever I need depending on the plants. You have to watch the max wattage the patio light string can take but otherwise works gr8. Only have 3 fan bulbs at the moment and plants seem to be pretty happy. Obviously a small set up.
Also Mike, would you look at the I harvest grow system, I love that it holds 30 cups, half circle shape, 2.5 cm space, but…………it is way out of my budget………..Can you think how we can make a cheaper version, ?……..
Did the $20 lights work?
Light emitting diode last longer to
perfect timing!
Love your channel, and hoochos, latest research shows full spectrum is better even green light is used. LEDs are harder to get full spectrum because the LEDs are dopped to make different colors, but they are very narrow wavelength. So if the LED is red, it’s a very narrow band of red. More wavelengths are more expensive, and some are just stupid expensive to make.
"Plants only need or only use red and blue light" I absolutely cannot wait for that myth to die 🥳
I saw those lights at our local big box home improvement store on black Friday and almost grabbed a couple. $9.99 each. I honestly can’t remember if it was 4 or 5 fins but I was thinking of hanging them over my citrus Grove (I have 3 various small potted citrus and a banana and 2 figs lol) just so they get more than the window light.
Menards occasionally sells left over black Fridays stuff this time of the year at the same prices to move it out. I might grab one or 2 and hang thrm over the Grove to see if they thrive rather than just survive til spring when they all go outside again
I got 2 Chinese led panels, both draw 30wats, everybody was saying how bad those are, and… well, my hydro pak choy grows like a charm under them lol
I’ve been starting my seeds in the black containers like the KFC container…you have a video about it. I’ve been doing it this way. After the 3rd day or so I notice I have what looks like mold growing on em. I can’t find a video that moves me from transplanting the seedling to the next containers and then to the next and final container. 😬 Such a trial and error process and not good for those of us that haveta learn the hard way😁 But those are usually the be a t lessons learned
I can’t wait for more abundant and cheaper foods, that are more health improving… Imagine the aspect of community ran warehouse – grow farms… Where the community supports each other. (Growing specialized crops, bugs for feeding of animals, fish for fertilizers, workshops for teaching the necessities).
Cheers to a more blissful reality for all!!
I’m super excited to see how these work – if they do work well, I could switch from my 3×3 table to the bucket tower system in the same place and grow even more plants because I could have even light all up and down the towers.
A lot less power
thanks for the simplistic video brother. I am in the process of building a aquaponics system. Cheers home dog
I appreciate the advice keep up the good work
I bought those lights! How are they working for you?
One thing to know about LED lights: They keep saying how LED bulbs will last 50,000 to 100,000 hours etc. Well technically they aren’t lying, because the actual LED portion might last that long, but what doesn’t last very long is the electronics powering the LED bulb. The electronic components are easily damaged from excessive heat. Make sure you get a grow light with adequate cooling. You might spend a bit more in electricity to keep the fixture cool, but if constructed properly, it might just last a decade or two.
Thanks – that’s a great idea for lighting. Love the steampunk!
Love the steam punk, Mike! Thanks for all!
Boo Boo
Nothing good is cheap but I do stand by spider farmer im running 4. Sf4000’s. Not a single issue in my 10×10
Hi Mike! Do you have an update on the Amazon Lights you showed?
I received my bags of nutrients today and im off to learning . Not today cuz it’s Easter but soon. I’m so excited!
Love the outfit.. looks like you just walked off the set of "Book of Eli".
I’m with ya bud, dang shame Brad had to close down shop. I won one of his early giveaways when he was around 100 subscribers. Then bought some later on. I have a couple 2′ LED grow light strips from Lowe’s. They do pretty well. Not extremely bright but greens and herbs have always grown just fine under them. They are about the same color as the Hidden Harvest lights. I believe they are around 35 each. They have them in the lighting department. The retrofit LED’s are a little more involved as the ballasts have to be disconnected. A 10 min swap for us electricians but some people have a huge fear of electrical. Have a great week Michael. TC and ATB, Cris.
I wish Brad kept making the hidden harvest lights. I have 3 of them- love them. Now, I have have to look at what I am growing- for seedlings and leafy greens you can use bright daylight shop lights. For fruiting plants you need full spectrum. For a lot of my seedlings.. I bring them out during the day, bring them in at night.
Wait?! If you are on a budget why are you growing the most expensive way? Hydroponic cost more, not only to start but even afterwards with extra power being used
Saving me money every video
Thanks for this! Disabled on very tight budget here, trying to grow microgreens in studio apt. I didn’t catch the name of the clip light socket thangs that the $20 amazon LED garage lights would fit into…?
I only use light to raise seedlings and small plants, so I bought a cheap 4000k (pleasant coolish white) 12 volt strip on Ebay for approx £3, chopped it to suit my area, approx 2 feet by one, hot-glued it to a simple wooden frame and soldered bus bars in the centre to minimise resistive losses. Draws approx 50 watts from a junk box PSU.
Not super-efficient but does the job.
How did those Amazon lights you linked in the description work as a grow light?
So i don’t need “grow lights”? Any LED will work?
Just found this channel a few days ago and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites on YouTube. So helpful!
It’s amazing how it has grown so much over time (just like a plant lol)
Also, that drip is fire! Pretty cool
I just ordered the two pack of lights. Looking forward to trying them out. I hope they will replace some of my other lights with the red/blue LED’s. I prefer the full spectrum as I have seen better results.
I’m using four led shop lights and 2 of those fan style light to start my seedlings. All of them were about $20 a piece
Can’t wait to see great ideas
I like your outfit. I’ll be interested in seeing how the Amazon lights work.
Love your channel, proof that "Florida Man" sometimes doesn’t mean crazy 🙂 Has anyone purchased the MASTERBLEND 4-18-38 Complete Combo Kit Fertilizer Bulk (2.5 Pound Kit) from AMZ? There seems to be some weight discrepancies in the comments, some say they got OZ instead LB? In other words, they got 2.5 OUNCES of product, not 2.5 POUNDS?
Definitely nothing wrong with going cheap on lights. The only way I could justify expensive grow lights is if I was growing plants for profit production.
You have a lot of great growing advice….but what’s with the outfit???🤓
Hi I’m just starting out and doing research when I found your channel. Trying to stay cheap because I don’t know yet if this is a hobby that will "stick". How did the fan lights work out for you? I’m starting with leafy vegetables but also considering tomatoes and other plants of that sort.
I bought a $15 hyper tough 5500 lumen led shop light from Walmart for my indoor tomato plant back in January it’s still working and she’s flowering and filling up her cage now. Worked great for micro greens, seedlings, and the adult tomatoes so far. Would definitely recommend for those on a micro budget.
Did you make a video follow up on that cheap led fan light results?
What a wind bag. What a waste of time. No useful information.
Cool glasses — I love the outfit! 😎
GrowLights have been the most expensive & troublesome investment so far, in terms of indoor growing. My family is big & our growing season is short. Growing vegetables indoors can mean the difference between my family having access to salad throughout the winter or not. House windows filter UV light to protect humans. Greenhouse windows allow UV light to pass through to help plants grow… I’ve been researching growlights for a while now but am still unsure about which lights are the most effective & reasonably priced. Thanks for another great video, Mike! 🙂