LED Grow Light for Peppers and Tomatoes

11 years ago

New to the forum here and not sure where to post this, but I'm starting a journal for my various plants - roma tomatoes, cayenne chili peppers, shisito peppers, and Japanese eggplant. I'm hoping to learn a lot and help others who are thinking of setting up their first indoor garden.

I will post pictures tonight for my setup. It will be in a 2'x2' grow tent with a full spectrum homemade COB LED grow lights, it's 2 large LEDs running at 50w each. I purchased the plants from Home Depot and transplanted them to #6 containers and the soil mixture is 70% FFOF and 30% perlite.

Again, I apologize if this post is in the wrong place. I am also running them at 12 hours light and 12 hours dark.

Featured Answer

aruzinsky

11 years ago

Judging from your photos, your light lacks blue. Blue light helps plants develop pigments that protect them from ultraviolet. If you transplant plants, grown without blue light, outdoors, they will become badly sunburned. Many years ago, I grew a tomato plant 1 ft. below a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS) light bulb. It grew very fast but, when I moved it outdoors, it quickly died.

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User
Original Author
11 years ago
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User
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thanks for the tip! I think my camera phone makes it look more yellow than it really is, it's more white in person. I plan to keep them under these lights for the entire life of the plant. Or would it just get too large for my tent?
aruzinsky
11 years ago
Not only would those four plants become too large for a 2'x2' area, but 100 watts of LED lighting would be insufficient to make them fruit normally. I suspect that you would need, at least, a 6'x6' area and 1000 watts of lighting, such as provided by a combination of HPS and MH bulbs, to grow those four plants to maturity and make them fruit normally. Of course, that kind of grow lighting is only economically feasible for marijuana.

Incidentally, Roma tomatoes are most susceptible to getting blossom end rot when growing conditions are not ideal.
User thanked aruzinsky
jaytee1970
10 years ago
I have been growing indoors (I live in an apartment) for the
past 8 months now (strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes etc) with an amazing LED
grow light that I bought from Bloomburst LED LLC. I am growing in a 3 x 3 space with the Bloomburst Apetala 330 (330 watts). Have mastered my indoor
skills now by realising that under LED lights the plants need extra calcium (I
used old eggshells) and haven't looked back since - family are all
participating and the produce is great when we have all been involved in the
growing of our plants and fruits....!
Stu Zone 7a NY
10 years ago
Good luck with your grow! I am growing tomatoes in a similar setup as yours and find 100w of LED COB's for a 2x2 area works very well. I have been eating tomatoes for a month or so now and they are delicious! With that said, I found the biggest problems I have run into with my tomatoes in soil is you really need big pots. I didn't have room in my grow area for larger than the 6" pots I ended up with and found they are geting pretty root bound. They are still producing tomatoes but plants stopped growing and leaves are pretty sick looking. I have begun switching everything over to hydroponics (Kratky) under the same lights and the difference is pretty amazing. Tremendous leaf growth and lots of flowers- should have tomatoes shortly. I have 4 plants in my 2x2 area and yes they are getting pretty crowded but a little pruning this weekend should keep them under control hopefully. Keep us posted on your results!