I have tomatoes, peppers, hosta, and coleus growing under one T12 light set up. It is hanging on a homemade PVC piping setup. 12 peppers and 12 tomatoes (plastic cups) about 48 hosta (in sell trays), and about 10 coleus (plastic cups), no heat and everything is doing great.

Thanks. Are they just seedings or are you looking to harvest fruit?

May I ask what T12/T5, etc. means?

Thanks garden. Are you just looking at fluorescent lighting?

I've explored hps. There's a ton of opposing information. Many say hps is the only way to go. Just as many say t5 is the way to go because of the heat and power consumption involved with hps. Because of the heat generated by hps they need to be further from the plants.

Hi Gardev,

What a beautiful setup!

You look like a very clever newbie.

While your plants are young, (all of them) they benefit from a good amount of light that offers "blue light" spectrum. Take a look at your bulb package and read the "Kelvin" units. It will display if the bulb offers "cool" or "warm" light.

Your tomatoes and peppers will need bulbs that offer "warm" light in order to flower and set fruit. Your kale and spinach will be fine in the blue light zone.

I wrote a blog post about this in my Foodie Gardener blog.

"Grow Lights For Beginners"

I invite you to take a look!

I love your setup. Good luck.

Shirley Bovshow

Maybe I understated my status. I'm in the know about kelvins and warm/red and cool/blue. I'm still experimenting with flowering and such but that's part of process and it's fun.

Thanks Shirley

Got it Gardev!

I'd love to know how it goes. I find peppers more difficult to grow indoors than tomatoes.

shirley

I appreciate the input gardev. Are you using a combination of warm and cool lighting?

Just 6500k right now. I will add in some 2700-3000k once I get a bit more growth.

Ok thanks. Please post some pictures once you have lift off!

I just Googled stuff on the GardenWeb and on the internet and this is the most inexpensive way that works for me. My plants are doing great and I don't have a heat mat either.

I started these 01/04/2015

The top picture is of the same. I gave some away and the others are more that I have started.

I put moist media in a black KFC (Mashbowl) bowl and sprinkle seeds on top or you put the seeds in individually. Then I put the lid on it and put it all in a plastic ziplock bag. I close it up and put it under my T12 lights (I chose these because they are cheaper) (very close to it). My seeds were mixed from ebay. They germinated in four days. I put them in little clear 5 oz cups from Walmart. (I put a hole in the bottom with a hot flat screwdriver.) I fertilize with Miracle Grow fertilizer (the green one in the box). I use the small scoop in a 1/2 gal jug every other time I water them which is every Saturday morning. I water them by pouring water in a flat container and sit each one in it until the soil is moist on top and then I sit them back under the lights. I have taken the big ones from under the lights now and they are just sitting on the side of the rest of the plants.

I hope this helps. Happy Planting!!!!!!!!!!

Oh sorry my post was for coleus plants.

Here is my pepper remedy:

I put my peppers inside a folded moist paper towel. I put the paper towel inside a ziplock baggie and put it on top of my refrigerator. After they germinate and get a leaf, I plant them and put them under my T12 lights.

I have potted them up in individual cups now and they are ready for the garden when Spring comes. I did the same with my tomatoes.

Your plants will lean toward the side with the most blue light. To avoid this, you can either build a new symmetrical enclosure or add some blue LED strip lighting to the wall of your existing structure but you will have to determine the amount by trial and error. You can buy inexpensive LED strip lighting from China and power it with an old computer power supply. I have been satisfied buying from this company before:

http://www.vozop.com/index.php/led-strip/5630-led-strip/smd-5630-led-strip-light-12v-60leds-m-ribbon-lighting-tape.html

I recommend soldering instead of using connectors because the connectors are poorly constructed and expensive. Otherwise, you can find instructions for LED strip lighting on the internet.

Or, just rotate your plants 180 degrees every day.

Checking in for an update and some seedling pix! How are things going?