Hello fellow Steemians. Today I’m sharing my experience with Hydrofarm’s Agrobrite Compact Fluorescent Grow Light. First things first, the following in my own true experience with this product, I’m not affiliated with the manufacturer in any way nor have I received any compensation or discount for this post. Granted I would like to be compensated for it, but that’s not the purpose of this post.
Now that we got that out of the way……..
The grow light I’m using and have been since early Spring 2016, is a 32 watt, 160 watt equivalent compact fluorescent bulb. It features low heat output, full daylight spectrum, average bulb life of 10,000 hours, 1800 lumens, color temp of 6400k (I’ll be honest, I don’t fully understand all of this yet, but I figured some people reading this would appreciate the info) and a one year warranty.
I’ve been using it for a Meyer Lemon Tree (Citrus x limon ‘Improved Meyer’) and I couldn’t be happier with the results. When I first bought my Meyer it wasn’t the most spectacular specimen to behold. Some of its leaves had to have the tips trimmed because they browned or split, there were no blooms or evidence it was anywhere near ready to bloom. With all that considered, I was still excited because of what I’ve read about them for baking, fresh eating and loved the fact they could be grown in a container. Being able to grow a citrus tree in a container is huge upside, since in Montana we have long cold winters and the Spring season likes to throw curveballs by getting warm enough to plants seeds then suddenly decides to freeze one night or for a week and you’re back to square one . My area is considered to be zone 4-5A, my gardening friends take this with a grain of salt, because in some cases you have to learn what will grow by trial and error based mainly by what part of the valley you live in.
My Meyer is still in its original 12” round plastic pot that’s about 10” deep, at least until Spring when I have the chance to transplant it. I left the original soil in it as well because I noted that it drains very well and I figured there was no point in fussing with it until I was ready to transplant it. One thing I learned from my research was that citrus like well draining soil and the right amount of nitrogen from the fertilizer. The fertilizers I’ve used are: Fox Farm Happy Frog Tomato and Vegetable Fertilizer and Alaska Fish Emulsion. On nice days during the Summer I would leave the lemon tree outside and if it was chilly at night I’d bring it inside. It received a deep watering each day or as needed during the hot days. Since October it’s been primarily indoors and only a few hours outside weather permitting and deep watered 1-3 times a week. When indoors it has its own spot with a dedicated inexpensive clamp light equipped with the Hydrofarm Agrobrite Fluorescent Grow Light. The bulb is about 15-16” away from the lemon tree and the aluminum reflector of the clamp light helps with spreading out the light where its needed. The light is on for an average of 16 hours a day, I do this because it doesn’t receive any natural light when in its spot. I’ll be the first to admit I have babied this lemon tree, which is probably why I haven’t managed to kill it and why it has an abundance of dark green foliage and is very heavy with bright yellow fruit and is continuously producing more. I attribute my success with my Meyer Lemon Tree in large part to the Agrobrite bulb. I also feel that the Happy Frog fertilizer helped to snap it out of its funky state within a few weeks of bringing it home. At first I was skeptical if I would even get any fruit out of it this season, but happily I was proven wrong. I’ve noticed the fruit production increased significantly once it had the consistent light from the grow bulb most of the day. I can’t say if it’s a direct result of the grow bulb or just that the lemon tree reached its optimum condition, whatever reason, I’m certainly not complaining.
In another spot I’ve used the same Agrobrite Grow Bulb and clamp light set up for an Aloe Vera plant. It too started out begging for help as it was crammed into a 6” round plastic pot, overflowing the sides to the point where it had to be propped up by something in order to prevent it from tipping over and smashing the leaves. Despite being in a pot too small for its needs, it was very content for several weeks under the grow light and just got healthier looking and even sprouted new shoots. In the Summer it was watered about once a month and now about every 6 weeks or so when needed. It has been transplanted to a 13”round and 11” deep plastic nursery pot. One thing I found curious is that this Aloe didn’t go through the brown, dead looking stage of transplant shock that normally happens with Aloe Vera. Not sure if this is due to being inside with the grow light or because the roots were not severely disturbed during transplanting.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this lighting setup of using the Hydrofarm Agrobrite Compact Fluorescent Grow Light in conjunction with the clamp light. It’s inexpensive, energy efficient, easy, yet effective. The only negative I’ve found is the fact that the bulb contains mercury. I did find that Hydrofarm offers a line of LED bulbs to avoid the use of mercury and offer an even more energy efficient option. I haven’t yet used the Hydrofarm LED grow bulbs yet, though I plan to in Spring 2017 and once I’ve used them for a while I fully plan to create another review.