Let there be lights

Eventually, designing a cheap, efficient, and robust lighting system for the fountain is going to be a project of its own, but in the meantime I still need some kind of lighting in the lab to provide consistent, controllable conditions for my experiments. But aside from the light that came attached to my Aerogarden, I have zero experience with grow lights.

So how’s an inexperienced gardener like me supposed to choose?

At the moment, my lab is more of an idea than a reality. Just a few scattered corners of the house where I can leave a pot or two to germinate without risk of intrusion from the dog or the kids. (I'm working on creating a larger space, but I don't really need it yet. More on that later.)

So for now, what I really need is an LED panel that throws the right wavelengths for plants. Nothing too big, as it'll get moved from space to space for a while and some of those spaces might be fairly cramped. On the other hand, I want it to be bigger than the Aerogarden light because I might have a dozen or more seedlings going at a time.

In the end, I've decided that I won't know what I really need until I've used one for a while, so it really doesn't matter which light I start with. On that basis, I've opted for this 75 W panel from Roleadro. It gets pretty solid reviews on Amazon, and is affordable enough that if it doesn't pan out, I won't feel cheated.

But now that it's on its way, I'm getting kind of excited, because this was the last thing I needed to complete my Junior Scientist Grow-lab Startup Kit. In just a few more days, I'll be able to get some seedlings started and let the testing begin.