Two Types of Fluorescent Growing Lights

!±8± Two Types of Fluorescent Growing Lights

There are a few very different types of fluorescent grow lights that are being used today for indoor gardening. The most popular ones are T5 fluorescent lights and compact fluorescent lights. Both can be used effectively when growing indoors, and both will generally yield strong, healthy plants.

T5 lights are one of the newer types on the market, however they are not as new as the compacts. These are optimized for producing taller, bigger plants than other types of fluorescent lights. Also, they are most effectively used during the vegetative state of plant growth instead of the flowering state, but can still do both. T5 fluorescents are usually composed of multiple long bulbs side by side, usually around six or so. There are arched reflectors positioned above each of these bulbs to direct more light towards your plants. Unfortunately, T5 lights are fairly expensive, so if you are on a tight budget you may want to look into compact fluorescent grow lights over these. Again, these are not well suited for the flowering stage of growth, and may cause you to get only around half of your normal yield if you use them.

Compact forms of these lights are the newest types available today, and can be useful for many reasons. The bulbs are designed to maximize the bulb surface in a smaller space than usual, so they often put out the most light per surface area of the bulb. They can be convenient because they are easier to place around your plants. Instead of just putting one big T5 above all of your plants, you can put a few compact ones surrounding them, and maybe a few above. The customization aspect is certainly higher with compact fluorescents. They are also generally less expensive than the T5s' of course, so you may be able to save some money in the long run with them. The compact fluorescent lights also perform similarly to the T5s' considering it's the same type of lighting, but you can set them up easier with the compact ones.

These two types of fluorescent lights are both readily available in many stores, and they can both support fairly healthy plant growth. They may not produce plants quite as good as High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide lights would, but they will certainly work fine, especially for a new grower. If you are a little tight on money but want to start gardening indoors, definitely look into one of the two types of lights in this article.