Can I grow a tomato or pepper full term under one of the newer high intensity lamps like as the New Wave or Teklight?
The 48″ T5 bulbs are reported to be about 5,000 lumens per bulb. So an 8 light model is somewhere in the range of a 40,000 lumens. That is just barely enough to grow only one tomato per fixture. If you wnat to grow more then one plant, it is probably beter to go with an HID light. You may do a bit better with peppers, but they really vary in what they need. You might be able to grow a few plants under an 8 light model, depending on the variety. For a point of reference, in a sunny summer location, Mother Nature will flood every square foot of garden space with 75,000-100,000 lumens of perfectly balanced sunlight. A 400 watt HPS bulb is somewhere around 45,000-55,000 lumens A 600 watt HPS bulb is somewhere around 85,000- 95,000 lumens A 1000 watt HPS bulb is about 100,00 lumens. What the T5 fixtures are good for is vegetating plants. They are very similar to MH bulb in their ability. You can grow beautiful herbs and lettuces under them. Also some orchids do well under them. They are gre
