"Vox Humana" wrote :


"Popcorn Lover" wrote in message
3...
I have a gloxinia, a hydrangea and a few other indoor plants on a plant
shelf
in the living room. I've been using a fixture with dual 40 watt
Gro-lights over them for years now, but it's not real great for getting
some of the plants that require more full sun, to bloom.

What other kinds of lights are available, that won't bust the budget or
use
massive amounts of energy, but will simulate direct bright sunlight
better?

I have read that Gro-Lights aren't any better than standard fluorescent
bulbs.

They appear to be somewhat better, because they have the spectrum that
plants seem to like, but I'm looking for something that more closely
approaches sunlight.

Maybe you just need a fixture with more bulbs (or higher output)
that is closer to the plants. The amount of energy received by the
plants is inverse to the square of the distance to the source. Moving
the fixture closer to the plants will significantly increase the amount
of light energy they receive.

Yeah but gro lites just don't seem to have the intensity that full sun
flowering plants need.

In aquariums, especially heavily planted
ones or reef tanks, people are using high output fluorescent fixtures
and/or metal halide (mercury vapor) lamps. I would probably look into
the high output fluorescent bulbs as they are more efficient and don't
produce large amounts of heat. Here is a link to a search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ut+fluorescent
&btnG=Search

Thanks.

--
- Popcorn Lover
If you love popcorn too, there are no popcorn groups on usenet but
there IS one in Yahoo Groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Popcorn_Lovers
The internet's first-ever-in-the-world popcorn group!
Share the word on making great popcorn - come join us!