The nice thing about CFL's is that they don't get really hot. You can
build just about any type of fixture around it that you want. You
will loose some output of light, but you could make a very nice wood
and/or wicker shroud and then paint it flat white on the inside to
reflect a bit of the lost light out to the plants.
Back when I had a large "tomato" growing operation years ago in the
wharehouse district of ATL we tried all forms of light araays,
reflectors, tubes, leds, MH and HPS. We were lighting about 15000
square feet of floor space and up to about seven feet tall. The best
was just a HPS bulb screwed into a socket that hung straight down in
the rows of plants, no reflector, safety glass or sheild of any kind
and MHs overhead. Now that is not practicle for orchids or safe for
that matter. Ever spray water onto a 1000 watt unprotected bulb that
has been on for a while?.... BOOM! It can make you water yourself, And
as moms allways say... "You could put someones eye out with that!"
I was wandering the Homers Depot the other day and found in the
electrical section (not in the light bulb area) a whole mess of full
spectum CFLs 56watt with mogal bases for 4 bucks each! They should do
nicely for a lot of my house plants this winter. I went to the counter
with 12 bulbs and will start testing with them this weekend.


On 3 Nov 2005 08:12:41 -0800, "jadel" wrote:


? wrote:
On 3 Nov 2005 05:10:58 -0800 in .com jadel wrote:

Slight tangent, does anyone make CFL fixtures appropriate for plants that can
take the 200W bulb that are stylish enough to go in a parlor with a wicker
and wood theme? If not what sort of clearances are needed for heat
dissipation?


CFL's don't get very hot. The fixtures are all utilitarian, not
decorative.


J. Del Col


Stanshavebigoneshangin