The Rusted Vegetable Garden

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Understanding Light for Your Indoor Vegetable Seed Starts and Grow Closets: Lumen & Kelvin Measurements Explained!

Understanding Light for Your Indoor Vegetable Seed Starts and Grow Closets:

Lumen & Kelvin Measurements Explained!

Grow light closets or boxes are great ways to start seeds indoors and grow your own vegetable garden transplants. They are really easy to set up, inexpensive to buy the parts and it really doesn't cost a lot in the way of electricity. A basic set up might cost $10 in electricity a month at the most.

Kelvin and Lumens Explained for Vegetable Grow Closets

The key to setting up a successful vegetable seed start or growing closet is buying the right bulbs. Do NOT spend a lot on bulbs that specialize or advertise for plant growing. They are probably the wrong bulb and will cost your 3x's as much versus buying a fluorescent or CFL bulb with the right Kelvin and Lumen numbers on the package. This video will teach you what kind of bulbs to buy.

Understanding Lumen and Kelvin numbers is essential for growing healthy seedlings for transplants. Lumens is the brightness or intensity of a bulb. You want a lumen number between 2000 and 3000. Kelvin is the color of the light. The higher the kelvin number the closer it is to Natural Light. You want a kelvin number between 4100 and 6500. Keep in mind you may not find the perfect bulb as they vary in availability. However, there is a nice range that is effective for germinating vegetable seeds and growing vegetable transplants.

You don't have to build a big grow closet. you can build a grow light box that works for small scale seed starting and growing transplants. This video shows you how to build one and provides the cost of the pieces. You can get all the parts at Lowes or Home Depot.