Grow lights- Not a Scam, just Unnecessary

 Olin:
 
<< When I was studying at the University I was told that there is absolutely
 no benefit to the colored "grow lights", except a significantly higher
 price.  Despite the fact that they are marketed as superior growing light
 sources and they appear colored to your eyes, all that matters is what the
 plants need.  As far as photosynthesis and most all plant functions are
 concerned the absorbtion peaks at the blue (550 nanometers) and the red
 (660 nanometers) wavelengths are by far the most important to the plants.  
 
 Regular cheep cool white flourescent tubes have beautiful absortion peaks
 at 550 and 660 nanometers.......all your plants need.   All your paying for
 in grow lights is nice packaging and a neat violet colored light bulb.  
 
 Hope this helps, and maybe saves a little bit of fertilizer money!!!!!
   Rick from Wisconsin>>

      -- What he said!  LOL  
As a trial-variety tester for Organic Gardening magazine, I start lots of
different kinds of flowers, vegetables and herbs under lights every
winter-spring in my basement.  I use plain old 40 watt fluorescent bulbs in
$10 shoplight fixtures from Wally-World.  They work great.  But there are a
couple of important things to keep in mind:

1.   Put your lights on a timer.  I'm assuming you have better things to do
in your life than run downstairs at 6 a.m. to plug them in and run downstairs
at 9 p.m. to unplug them.  14-16 hours of sunlight every day [just like a
summer's day, not a winter's day!] is what seedlings need.  I've six fixtures
which are plugged into a power strip, then the power strip is plugged into
the timer.  And yes, a smoke alarm above the whole apparatus, since it's
probably the sort of Rube Goldburg thing would would make my local fire
marshall shake his head.

2.    Keep the bulbs no more than 4" above the tops of your plants [probably
3" above the tops if all you can find are those dadgum lower-wattage
"energy-saver" bulbs].  Flurorescent lighting, unlike incandescent lighting
in common lamps is cool light.  The plants won't get burned.  I've mine
hanging from lightweight chains nailed to the floor joists.  This allows me
to raise and lower the lights as needed for plant growth.  [I end up with a
Tall light, a medium light and a short light, and end up juggling pots around
a couple times each spring.]

Andrea  who was surprised to find 4+ gallons of water per cu. ft.  You learn
something new every day!  
 
 
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