Question for the people who bring Tropicals indoors for winter...

[Bonsaikev1985]

Have a question for some of you that have Tropicals that you bring indoors during the cold winter.........


So last year was my first year owning some tropical trees and my winters get to cold to keep outside so indoors they came. After doing a lot of research I ended up creating a nice little grow room out of my spare room. These were the lights I ended up buying for the winter, they are 4ft/T5/3bulb Veg lights. After some getting use to the trees did great and thrived all winter. I'm buying new bulbs, because I'm sure the old ones weaken a bit. But I read somewheres last winter that people used a mix of lighting like Veg and Bloom bulbs? (Red & Blue bulbs) Whats your thought on that and will it make it a greater difference this winter? Down below I took some pictures of the details of my lights and the options for bulbs. Should I just stick with the blue Veg bulbs or should I maybe add a red Bloom bulb in the mix ? Thanks in advance!

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Just stick with the blue 6500k bulbs.

 

[Bonsaikev1985]

Ok thanks

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I'll vouch for Ryan's opinion. With some engineering you can wire up LED micro-chips to be more effective and efficient, but that requires a bit more soldering and safety skills than I have to offer; and the T5's are just ready to go.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

You really don't need the red unless you have plants that flower like Bougs, otherwise it's not truly necessary.

 

[Bonsaikev1985]

havw a few Tropicals that flower but the only one I have ever seen actually flower is the Fukien Tea. Which we all know that itty bitty flower last 2 days tops lol. Not worth changing my "already working system" for a tree that flowers for a day lol. Thanks again to everyone who reached out.

 

[JudyB]

If it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

[Giga]

You really don't need the red unless you have plants that flower like Bougs, otherwise it's not truly necessary.

not true, red is part of the active photosynthesis for plants and is needed -See graph



- I have grown plants, vivarium, reefs for a very long time 15 years and have done extensive research into this. The ideal setup with todays tech is LED full spectrum set up. BUT this is not cost effective so a good alternative is T5HO and a 4' 6 bulb configuration - with this setup 6500k-(6500k-3k-blue light-6500k)-6500k. I would tell you to save to get a 6 bulb config or a 4 bulb and do the layout in brackets. While they will survive indoors under light and even put on some growth - you want to give them the best chance to thrive and not just peter through the winter months.