Lights added to dog crate downstairs for the hardening-off plants

Strung up two of the 20 year old lights, in the dog crate in the living room.  This way when the plants being hardened off are inside because it's too cold or whatever, they can still get some light.

Currently under these lights / starting the hardening off cycle are:

- some leftover zinnias

- all hollyhocks

- one tomato (medium)

Shop lights

Picked up some shop light housing and T8 bulbs 2600 lumens, 6500k a few weeks ago.  Made more progress on setting them up today.  This will be quite a bit cheaper than the lights I bought from Lee Valley a few years ago.  Hopefully they all work well.

Lighting (reference)

Came across this excellent video to understanding what to look for when buying lights.  Various notes while watching the video are below.

Website link:  https://therustedgarden.blogspot.com/2019/12/starting-seeds-indoors-video-series-how.html

Direct video link:  https://youtu.be/z1pM_JfLWhM

He recommends 6500K, with 2500 to 3000 lumens. "Try to get close to 6500K for daylight and well over 2000 lumens (2500-3000), you'll be good to go."

You want 5000 to 6500K. That's what daylight is.

The higher the lumens (3000, 4000, 5000), the 6500K can move down to 5000, 4000.

Lumens is the intensity/brightness of the light.

Make sure it has at least a 2-ft cord, maybe 4-ft cord (so they can be plugged into outlet).  (Without a cord is meant to be hard-wired into ceiling.)

12, 14, 16 hours of daylight.  Have at least 8 hours of darkness.

Get a fixture too.

A couple of specific examples from the video:

Hyper Tough, 4-foot led shop light, with pull chain switch, 250, 45, daylight, 5000 lumens, 45 years of life.  This one doesn't give the kelvin, but it says daylight, which will be ~5000-6500.

Philips Deluxe Daylight High Color Rendering Lamps, 32 watts, 48 inch, T8, 2600 lumens, color temperature 6500k.  Other Ts work too, but when you buy the bulbs, make sure you buy a T8 fixture.