Spring is Coming Alert – I am bringing these around today because we are fast approaching “zero hour” for about 75% of the country for starting seeds indoors for spring planting. These are the best bang for the money in grow lights on the market today. If you have a garden of any significant size they will pay for themselves in the first year. Mine are now in their third year of service, some in almost continuous use and none have yet failed.
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Given the supply shortages that keep pulsing though our system, especially on imported goods you may want to get these now. I am not advocating “buy anything you can get your hands on” like some. I am saying though if you can get a deal right now on something you plan to use in the next 3-12 months, you really may want to take it while it is here.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Barrina LED Grow Light 6 Packs. I have been recommending the Kingbo Grow Lights for a few years now. I recommended them for starting seeds not growing out plants. They are great for that, thousands of them have been purchased for that purpose, I have not had any complaints.
They do have their limits though. Chiefly they need to be VERY close to the plants, if you do that they can even do a decent job growing plants to a decent size. Again though they are limited, as I have always said. I have been looking for a new light to start recommending for the same purpose (seed starting) yet with more power so you can fully grow with them as well.
It simply stands to reason that after five years time now tech should have gotten better and we should be able to get something better for about the same price. It looks like we can get something a LOT better for a LOT less which is frankly awesome. I have been trialing these new lights for a few weeks now and I am blown away. The bang for the buck is amazing. I used them to build an indoor seed starting system based on Kratky Style Hydroponics (as seen in the videos below) For that I used 2 six packs of the 2 foot lights. These lights come in two options for length, they are…
Compare that to the old Kingbo’s which are a single 45 watt light for 27.99 or (62 cents a watt), but it gets better. First the Kingbo’s are square, at about 1 foot square it takes 2 to light a 2 foot shelf and 4 to light a four foot shelf. The Barina’s are shaped like a T8 fixture, so you can use two of them to light a shelf of the same length. Meaning the 6 pack of either would fully light three shelves of equivalent length. (At two per shelf, keep in mind I am using three to a shelf in my system.) Next up they Barnia’s daisy chain link so you can have all 6 of them running on one timed outlet with out a bazillion cords to manage. This is the timer I recommend for that.
While the Kingbo’s are a fine light for what they are I can’t recommend them as a new purchase any longer. I also do not believe Kingbo’s actually put out 45 watts of light. Even running three lights to a shelf the way I am, the Barina’s cost 30-40 dollars per two foot shelf, vs. 56 for the Kingbo lights. The growth I am getting with three to a shelf is amazing. Some of my starts are damn well big enough to just eat at this point.
I coupled them with this great little mini greenhouse indoor shelf system and whether you want to do hydro or conventional starting for 30 bucks it is hard to beat the price on it. But any shelf system will do. I have a large 4 foot shelf in my outbuilding and I am thinking about getting a set of 4 foot lights and setting it up as well. I will say if you get the mini green house and run 3 lights to a shelf like I am, you likely won’t want to close it up, it gets pretty warm in there running a total of 12 lights.
One hack on my system I want to do when the current run of starts is over is to get a big concrete mixing tray like this one here. The shelf in my system fits perfectly into one, that way any leaks or condensation drip is caught and stays off the rug.
Here is my view on what these lights represent. For the past 5 years LED lights have been getting better and better, especially high end commercial ones used for things like vertical farming. That market is now globally a multi billion dollar market. While these lights are not as good as those used in commercial operations, I feel like they are just about one tier below them, and likely as good as the best thing you could buy 2-3 years ago, for a fraction of the cost. My seed starting system could be improved or modified to be a food production system, tune in to today (10-29-20) and I will discuss some ideas about that in the TspAz segment at the end of the show.
Anyway if you have Kingbo’s don’t get rid of them, use them for what they are good for, but if you are looking to expand, grow indoors, start seeds, etc. I say give the Barrina Lights a chance, they will save a ton of money and my results so far are exceptional.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
P.S. – Some have asked about the white light versions. I have not used them but several members of the audience I trust have and noticed no real difference in growth. Barrina currently has them marked down quite a bit as well but they do cost a bit more per watt.
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There is a good reason to consider them though. If you have nosy neighbors they tend to attract less attention when being run in the early morning or late evening. Again while I have not used them several members told me they ran them and the pink ones side by side with no real difference in growth. Due to the smaller quantity they will cost a small bit more per watt but they are in stock and on sale, find them here.
Here are the two playlists showing to of my set ups, check the growth in these systems…
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