indoor growing...using sunshine 'assistance'

[william tipton]

I have our plants in a very well lit area by the window, but obviously more light would be better than what I have.
What do you guys think about adding light, not replacing the sunlight but just giving a bit of a boost, with the GE plant and aquarium bulbs?

I'm going to keep the plants where they can get the light from the window, but wanted to add some extra in since they get pretty much no direct sunlight at all.

Are these bulbs 'ok' for just adding some extra light for the tomato plants, do you think?

[Roger]

Hi there! I would imagine they wouldn't hurt if your plants aren't getting enough sun where they are. I don't think they are as good as real sunlight, but I would suppose they would be better than not enough sun. I do know my wife uses them for certain plants that she brings inside during the winter.

[william tipton]

Hi there! I would imagine they wouldn't hurt if your plants aren't getting enough sun where they are. I don't think they are as good as real sunlight, but I would suppose they would be better than not enough sun. I do know my wife uses them for certain plants that she brings inside during the winter.

winter was another consideration.
I want to grow them thru the winter like some others Ive read who do it, and I figured Id have to have some sort of artificial light source given the shorter days.

[Inamon]

Ina, the better half of Inamon, received an aerogarden this year as a birthday present from her brother. (basically a hydroponic herb garden) The upshot is is that it use gardening strength grow bulbs. the unit is active for 17 hours in any day and the herbs are doing wonderfully inside (much better than out). In my opinion you could quite conceiveably grow all your palnts inside without the need for natural light using these bulbs. Are they going to damage your plants no! Are they going to raise your electricity bill? Yes.

In the interest of your carbon footprint you may not want to do this, in the interest of you palnts you may.

[william tipton]

The bulb I got is 20 watts.

I'm not too fresh on the math, but a 40 watt incandescent running 24/7 was only a few bucks a month....will it be about the same or does florescent draw more power ?

[Inamon]

As far as I'm aware florescent bulbs draw alot less power than regular bulbs.

[william tipton]

As far as I'm aware florescent bulbs draw alot less power than regular bulbs.

Cool

Well, at this point its unimportant. That 'leaf blight' or whatever its called that I brought in with the early girls is pretty much ruined all three plants. That stuff is really fast acting and I didnt realize how fast until the whole plants are pretty much engulfed in it.

This doesn't bode well for my father in law because it came from his garden and I do remember seeing it on the other three early girls when we dug them up.

I guess its good we're trying to grow indoors and season doesnt matter so much because it looks like Ive got to throw out these plants and start fresh. Well, we do have the new cherries that are doing really well, but now I'm afraid that I may have infected them by touching them after touching the infected early girls.

I'm going to throw it all out, including the soil, bleach the crap out of everything around, and start again with these Burpee Better Boy and Big Boy hybrid seeds we bought.

At least now I know that when you have a clean environment DO NOT bring potentially diseased plants into the house

[Inamon]

[quote="william tiptonAt least now I know that when you have a clean environment DO NOT bring potentially diseased plants into the house [/quote] A good case for growing from seed.