my wheatgrass growing in 10 x 20 tray and no mold!

[dmb2002man]

Just as a point of reference in terms of efficiency
The 400 watt MH puts out 29000 lumens which is 72.5 lumens per watt
That 27 watt CFL puts out 1400 lumens which is 51.8 lumens per watt

The 5600 was the color temp in Kelvins not lumens

But florescent tech has been getting cheaper, more living space friendly, and more efficient with the intro of T5. You should consider a twin 24w 2ft T5 tube fixture as it will put out more then twice the lumens over a wider area of your tray. Home Depot has Lithonia Lighting Mini Strip 2-Light Utility Light that comes with ballast and 2 foot T5 bulbs for $25 bucks. You have to wire up your own the cord FYI. You can then upgrade to horticultural full spectrum bulbs when your ready. Home depot sells single cool white T5 replacement bulbs for $10, but for $52 you can get Sunleaves VitaLUME Grow Tube T5 2' 4 Pack, so like $12.80 a bulb. I use this type of setup as an under the counter light for our kitchen sprouter.

At 24 watt they each put out 1800 lumens at a 6,500K color temp.

75 lumens per watt!

Attachment 9281

dude thanks so much for helping me out and answering my questions. I found the lithonia lighting mini strip at home depot. http://www.homedepot.com/buy/lithoni...l#.UMIDOHd1vD4

This is what your talking about correct. Then down the road i will upgrade the lighting inside it to full spectrum bulbs. How close to the wheatgrass you think the light should be and how often ran each day? thanks

[dmb2002man]

Just as a point of reference in terms of efficiency
The 400 watt MH puts out 29000 lumens which is 72.5 lumens per watt
That 27 watt CFL puts out 1400 lumens which is 51.8 lumens per watt

The 5600 was the color temp in Kelvins not lumens

But florescent tech has been getting cheaper, more living space friendly, and more efficient with the intro of T5. You should consider a twin 24w 2ft T5 tube fixture as it will put out more then twice the lumens over a wider area of your tray. Home Depot has Lithonia Lighting Mini Strip 2-Light Utility Light that comes with ballast and 2 foot T5 bulbs for $25 bucks. You have to wire up your own the cord FYI. You can then upgrade to horticultural full spectrum bulbs when your ready. Home depot sells single cool white T5 replacement bulbs for $10, but for $52 you can get Sunleaves VitaLUME Grow Tube T5 2' 4 Pack, so like $12.80 a bulb. I use this type of setup as an under the counter light for our kitchen sprouter.

At 24 watt they each put out 1800 lumens at a 6,500K color temp.

75 lumens per watt!

Attachment 9281

Hey thanks so much for helping me out. So i will go with the lithonia lighting mini strip 2 light utility from home depot and wire it up myself. Then down the road pick up some of the sunleaves vitalume grow bulbs. How close to the wheatgrass should the light be and how often run in a day? Im sure i should set a timer on the light to run around 5 hours a day starting at 6am-11am as after is when the real sun comes out in the winter months here in texas. I just did a cutting of my wheatgrass tray last night and now germinating another cup of the organic red wheat so it will be ready to plant on sunday or monday.

[Supa]

There is a bit of confusion in the Home Depot online store. Says 18in width, yet uses 24inch bulbs which are included. Says 21watt bulbs and the T5 wattage/length tends to be pretty standard across the many fixtures. I will double check my setup and bulbs, but it has been running for two years solid with no issues.

When it comes to distance from light to plant, it depends on the light type. A high intensity light like metal halide will burn any plant that is closer then 18 inches. A florescent light however runs much cooler and can be as little as 3 inches away but if it touches the bulb it will burn quickly. The issue is how often do you want to adjust the light distance and how easy is it to move without accidentally breaking a light, injuring plants, or yourself. Florescent lights contain a small amount of mercury and breaking one, especially while on, is very bad. Metal halide lights are very hot and even a small drop of water hitting a bulb can cause the outer glass UV shield to break and start giving everything and one in range a potentially serious UV burn.

[Supa]

Well I went to Home Depot and what is in the store doesn't match up to the weird online info.



It is $25 says it is 2 foot and includes 2 14watt cool white 22 inch bulbs. The $30 3 foot strip with 21watt bulbs. I remember going for the 2 foot so it would fit in the recess under a kitchen cabinet and I could find better bulbs in that 22 inch size. I picked up another 2 foot to try my hand at a wheat grass tray next to the sprouter. The stock was highly picked over and some of the bulbs were missing. Not sure what was going on there but I found one that had not been opened.

Now to recalculate the efficiency.
http://www.prolighting.com/14wt5flla224.html

A stock single 22 inch 14watt T5 cool white tube puts out 1240 lumens which is 88.5 lumens per watt in a 4100k color temp

Very impressive efficiency really. Two combined at 28watts and 2500 lumens beats the pants off the 27watt CFL at 1400 lumens.

And I can confirm this ballast appears to be capable of powering my higher wattage 24watt VitaLUME tubes as well.

So a single 22 inch 24watt T5 VitaLUME tube puts out 2000 lumens which is 83.3 lumens per watt in a 6500k color temp

Two combined at 48watts gives you 4000 lumens in a plant vegetative bias spectrum.

[Supa]

... how often run in a day? Im sure i should set a timer on the light to run around 5 hours a day starting at 6am-11am as after is when the real sun comes out in the winter months here in texas.

While most plants can only put to good use around 16 hours of light a day, many do not really need darkness till their reproductive stage. If the light is somewhere where it will not bother anyone being on after dark or effect any other flowering plants nearby, you could put it on a schedule that follows your wake/sleep schedule or just leave it on all night and let it act as a night light. The T5 bulbs are very efficient and have a very long life, turning them off and on just shortens that life really. We do that for our kitchen sprouter light and find it nice to be able to go to bed or get up in the middle of the night and navigate to the kitchen to get a drink of water without turning anything on or off.

[dmb2002man]

While most plants can only put to good use around 16 hours of light a day, many do not really need darkness till their reproductive stage. If the light is somewhere where it will not bother anyone being on after dark or effect any other flowering plants nearby, you could put it on a schedule that follows your wake/sleep schedule or just leave it on all night and let it act as a night light. The T5 bulbs are very efficient and have a very long life, turning them off and on just shortens that life really. We do that for our kitchen sprouter light and find it nice to be able to go to bed or get up in the middle of the night and navigate to the kitchen to get a drink of water without turning anything on or off.

Thanks so much man for helping with all this! I will be purchasing that light and grabbing me some pvc to build a stand within the next few days. Im pretty excited about all this! I checked and can mount it also under my kitchen cabinets and then put the trays underneath. So this is what i plan to do at first and add a timer to it. Run it while i sleep and then add to window in morning before i leave.

[Ravenna]

I have couple questions.

I think I'm doing something wrong. I soak one cup of wheatgrass berries for one tray 10 by 20. I use Green Star juicer to juice and it comes out only to about 4oz of juice. I thought it would be more from huge tray. I wonder how much of juice people get.

Another question is that when I juice it smells so bad in the whole house, it is nausea-ting. It is horrible. Maybe it is something I do incorrectly while growing it? First two times I juiced we did not noticed it, I cannot think of what actually changed since then. Last time I brought air purifier home from work to see if this helps. I juiced in the closed room this time with air purifier running on its highest (it is considered to be a good powerfull purifier), same smell of course and it took about 5-6 hours for air purifier to get rid of smell completely (versus: at work we have pretty strong smells and it works like a charm and we can feel fresh air in minutes).

Do you have any sugestions?

[Arky]

...when I juice it smells so bad in the whole house, it is nausea-ting. It is horrible. Maybe it is something I do incorrectly while growing it?

Do you have any sugestions?

You're not doing anything wrong - wheatgrass simply does smell rather nauseating, unfortunately. I suggest you try growing a different cereal grass - e.g. rye or barley. These will still smell somewhat unpleasant and they will taste more bitter/less sweet than wheatgrass, but I find the taste (& smell) of wheatgrass to be particularly 'sickly-sweet' and much prefer barley grass for taste and smell.

None of them are perfect, it's really a case of experimenting in order to find the one which least offends your palate and olfactory senses!

And, of course, you could do your juicing right next to an open window, or even outside, weather permitting...

[Ravenna]

THanks, Arky! Do you think the amount I get is OK?

[dmb2002man]

You're not doing anything wrong - wheatgrass simply does smell rather nauseating, unfortunately. I suggest you try growing a different cereal grass - e.g. rye or barley. These will still smell somewhat unpleasant and they will taste more bitter/less sweet than wheatgrass, but I find the taste (& smell) of wheatgrass to be particularly 'sickly-sweet' and much prefer barley grass for taste and smell.

None of them are perfect, it's really a case of experimenting in order to find the one which least offends your palate and olfactory senses!

And, of course, you could do your juicing right next to an open window, or even outside, weather permitting...

i juice wheatgrass with my manual juicer and dont smell nothing. Im guessing it could be the greenstar. i use a 10x20 tray and i get enough single shots for a week of juicing. I buy organic wheat berries from wholefoods in bulk section. I only use reverse osmosis water or distilled.

[Arky]

i juice wheatgrass with my manual juicer and dont smell nothing.

Take that clothespeg of your nose, then! ;-)

Seriously, though, wheatgrass invariaby smells pungent when its fibres are broken apart. Many grasses do, to varying degrees. For example, think of summertime when people are out mowing their lawns - doesn't that have a distinctive smell?

I'm quite bemused that you claim to not be able to smell your wheatgrass. I believe you, but I find it bemusing! Maybe you have a genetic difference affecting your olfaction. I do know that some people find cilantro tastes soapy, whilst others find it tastes 'intensely herby', and that this particular difference does have a genetic basis, so who knows, perhaps the same might be true with regard to olfaction and wheatgrass. I'd be interested to find out.

.

[Courtney89]

Hey, you guys! Can you tell me what kind of wheatgrass juicer you use?? What is the brand? Can you use an ordinary juicer or does it have to be a special juicer for wheatgrass? I am in Ukraine, about to go to Hungary, which is more civilized. if you can tell me the brand of juicer you use, or brands of wheatgrass juicers that work well, I can then search in Hungary for one that runs on 220 volts.I have a medical emergency - a lump - and so I really need to drink wheat grass every day!

Hope to hear from you soon. (I leave for Hungary the day after tomorrow!) Thanks for your help!!!

Courtney

[Supa]

I can't help with wheat grass juicers and I am not a doctor; I have read that broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, beetroot, garlic, ginger, turmeric, tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, pineapple, apples, grapefruit, and lemons may possess anti-cancer phytochemicals. Wheat grass might be good too, but the others are allot easier to readily find and consume for a broader spectrum of nutrients and phytochemicals. It probably helps to focus on making bitter juices so as not to over use sweet ingredients, as cancer feeds on excess glucose. So things like the anti-cancer compound of bromelain found in pineapple might be better taken as a supplement to avoid the sugars of a whole pineapple or for apples (preferably organic) focusing more on the outer skin parts that contain the anti-cancer compounds rather then loading up on the sugary flesh interior. You should see a real doctor to know what your dealing with.

[Ravenna]

I think the best wheatgrass juicer actually is the manual one, for example http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Stainl...+juicer+manual Of course you can go with Greenstar or Omega but if for wheatgrass only manual works just fine.

[dmb2002man]

I think the best wheatgrass juicer actually is the manual one, for example http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Stainl...+juicer+manual Of course you can go with Greenstar or Omega but if for wheatgrass only manual works just fine.

I use a cheap manual juicer from amazon and it works fine. I payed around $50. I actually might be starting to supply trays to a local a nutrition shop.