basically can the tinting actually change the wavelength of white light to say blue or red light ? also if not will it fool a plant at least.
hps bulbs are expensive let alone buying the ballast to run themDo colored incandescent bulbs actually produce the colored light i'm seeing?You are correct in your assumption about the coating of colored light bulbs. However the energy yield is no where the output of the HPS lamps you mentioned. A substitute is the so-called plant lights that are rich in blue and red wavelengths. You may need to have more bulbs in the reflector and closer to your plants.
If you want a cheap source of HPS lamps, wait for the police to raid a marijuana grower and go to the police property sales they hold periodically! Do colored incandescent bulbs actually produce the colored light i'm seeing?The color from some of these bulbs (at least the incandescents you specify) isn't produced so much by the light, but a coating over the light. The bulb will produce the %26quot;normal%26quot; color, but the coating filters out other wavelengths. This results in a %26quot;dimmer%26quot; light for the wattage and it also burns hotter from the absorbed energy (the light energy is converted to heat energy).
The better bulbs (hence their cost!) use gasses inside the lamps that burn in specific color wavelengths that plants use more of rather than using a bulb coating - this lets more light through the glass and the light doesn't absorb as much heat.
Rather than invest in incandescents, another option is to buy a full spectrum compact fluorescent to use in the incandescent fixture. These cost about $5-6, produce light in wavelengths similar to natural sunlight, burn cooler than any incandescent, and save money by using less electricity. If you have lots of plants, you can set up fluorescent shop lights (48 inch fluorescent tubes) over a bench or under shelves. I have a set-up like this in my basement where I start seeds for outdoor gardening and keep houseplants that spend the warm weather on my back porch.
