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How to Make Your Own T5 Grow Light From the Hardware Store
How to Make Your Own T5 Grow Light From the Hardware Store. A combination of T5 fluorescent bulbs in a regular fluorescent fixture makes a successful grow light for starting plants and growing low-light plants. With good light intensity, they are suitable for lighting houseplants year-round. T5 indicates the diameter of the fluorescent tube in...
A combination of T5 fluorescent bulbs in a regular fluorescent fixture makes a successful grow light for starting plants and growing low-light plants. With good light intensity, they are suitable for lighting houseplants year-round. T5 indicates the diameter of the fluorescent tube in eighths of an inch. A T5 tube is 5/8 inch in diameter.
Things You'll Need
T5 2-bulb fluorescent fixture
2 pieces of lightweight chain
2 S hooks
2 large cup hooks
T5 warm-spectrum fluorescent tube
T5 cool-spectrum fluorescent tube
Attach the cup hooks to the ceiling or a shelf above the growing area. Be sure the hooks go into a stud.
Thread the chain through the cup hooks. Attach the T5 light fixture at an appropriate height using the S hooks through the chain and the mounting loop on the back of the fixture.
Install one warm-spectrum fluorescent tube and one cool-spectrum tube in the fixture. Plug in the fixture and turn on the lights.
Place the plants under the fixture so that the uppermost leaves are approximately 4 inches from the light. Allow the light to heat up, then place your hand under the light at leaf height to test the amount of heat being given off. If it is too hot, raise the lights by lifting the S-hook and test again.
Tips & Warnings
The lights should be as close to the plants as possible. When using more than one light fixture in an area, use one warm-spectrum bulb for every two or three cool-spectrum bulbs.
