On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 10:29:50 +0000, Joseph Meehan wrote:

It does depend on the type of plant and the type of lamp, but most
plants like a specific mix of light colors. Fluorescent lamps do not
have a nice complete mix of colors, if you look at their spectrum you
will see they are bright line with lots of large holes. A little
incandescent light which has a smooth spectrum can help with many plants
and allow a lower total light with better results.

If it works for you then don't worry.

If you was to mix a cool white with a warm white you would end up with a
near complete spectrum. I've had great luck with a shop light (blue'ish
light) mixed with a kitchen/bath (red'ish light) You could also purchase
full spectrum bulbs (growlux) or fish tank bulbs. These have a phosphorus
coating inside the bulb which help to create a fuller spectrum. All in
all, a fluorescent lighting system can be rather cheap or it could get
expensive, it really depends on what you want to spend on it. After you
buy a light fixture (10 to 50 dollars) and two bulbs (5 to 45 dollars),
you could be in for a 100 dollar bill. If your looking for a better
lighting system I would suggest a hps (high pressure sodium) or a mh
(metal halide). The hps bulb puts out red light and mh bulbs put out blue.
There are bulbs that put out both. The ones I've used are called ag-grow
which are equal red and blue. They are great. A 150 watt hps system can
sell for as low as a 100 dollars and they give far more lummens than
fluorescents ever could produce watt for watt.