Grow tent setup

[Isaac]

So i could not figure out what category this would fall into so I thought I would post here. there were a few people that asked about my grow tent setup so though I would share some photos of it and the light in the picture is much brighter than what the camera shows. Be warned though this is still a work in progress

 

[Greenhorn]

As a greenhouse person, very interesting.

What are the dimensions of the tent?

What type of light are you using (Florescent, LED, HD...).

Understanding the reflective tent material is probably a help, what kind of coverage are you getting with each light, i.e. 1 light fixture sufficient illuminates (for growing an area of X' x X' ?

How many hours of the day are you running the lights?

What kind of impact to the electricity bill?

When I first started I ran the lights in my greenhouse for many hours after dark but it ended up costing too much. Now I just add a couple of hours to supplement daylight.

I've looked into moving to LED but the price is high and question 3 above. It seems to take a lot of LED fixtures or a couple of big LED fixtures to light a space as small as 4' x 8'. At least in terms against the single 2' x 1' HD fixture that currently lights my 4' x 8' greenhouse.

 

[Isaac]

As a greenhouse person, very interesting.

What are the dimensions of the tent?

What type of light are you using (Florescent, LED, HD...).

Understanding the reflective tent material is probably a help, what kind of coverage are you getting with each light, i.e. 1 light fixture sufficient illuminates (for growing an area of X' x X' ?

How many hours of the day are you running the lights?

What kind of impact to the electricity bill?

When I first started I ran the lights in my greenhouse for many hours after dark but it ended up costing too much. Now I just add a couple of hours to supplement daylight.

I've looked into moving to LED but the price is high and question 3 above. It seems to take a lot of LED fixtures or a couple of big LED fixtures to light a space as small as 4' x 8'. At least in terms against the single 2' x 1' HD fixture that currently lights my 4' x 8' greenhouse.

for the tent itself it is an 96"x48x78 600d reflective mylar tent link to it here
the light is a 1200 watt full spectrum MEIZHI LED
I have not done any light tests to determine the exact amount of light the whole area gets with any reliable equipment but using a lux measurement app i got around 49,000 lux a foot under the light (i don't hold that measurement to be accurate however).

the coverage seems to be pretty good however, I have a hot pepper plant off to the side of the light and it still is getting lots of flowers on it.

as for the impact on electricity I do not really know yet since it is a really new setup. I run the lights on a timer that turns on at 7 AM and turns off at 8 PM giving the plants at least 13 hours of light and they don't seem to mind the extra light one bit .

I agree with you on that getting LED fixtures cost a bit but I think they can be a pretty great long term investment given that it suits the need of the situation. Now the LED I got is more than likely overkill for a grow tent this size but the deal on the light was great at the time .

 

[Beverly]

So i could not figure out what category this would fall into so I thought I would post here.

Very interesting idea @Isaac and thanks for sending the photos. I don't think it matters very much where it is posted. If people are interested they will find it. Maybe "Garden Projects", but i think it really belongs in the "creatively experimental garden projects" (but there isn't a forum for that. I just made it up) Those look like some happy plants. People in zone 11 also make covers for some crops and plants to provide shade from the sun. Being 19 degrees from the equator, we get good sunlight year around and some crops and gardens can get sunburned and/or baked and that's the reason for the "tents" that pop up around here.

 

[mintyk]

for the tent itself it is an 96"x48x78 600d reflective mylar tent link to it here
the light is a 1200 watt full spectrum MEIZHI LED
I have not done any light tests to determine the exact amount of light the whole area gets with any reliable equipment but using a lux measurement app i got around 49,000 lux a foot under the light (i don't hold that measurement to be accurate however).

the coverage seems to be pretty good however, I have a hot pepper plant off to the side of the light and it still is getting lots of flowers on it.

as for the impact on electricity I do not really know yet since it is a really new setup. I run the lights on a timer that turns on at 7 AM and turns off at 8 PM giving the plants at least 13 hours of light and they don't seem to mind the extra light one bit .

I agree with you on that getting LED fixtures cost a bit but I think they can be a pretty great long term investment given that it suits the need of the situation. Now the LED I got is more than likely overkill for a grow tent this size but the deal on the light was great at the time .

Defiitely some useful advice. I think narrowing down the right choice of which tent wors under certain conditions can be a challenge. But this is definitely useful.