The size of the lights you choose will be regulated by the space you need to light. If it is small, use 48-inch, 40-watt lights in single strips or pairs.
Use 6- or 8-foot, 74-watt rapid-start slim lines to light larger areas. These should be equipped with standard utility reflectors.
Peggie Schulz, in the under-bench areas of her Minneapolis home greenhouse, uses single strip eight-foot warm white fluorescents mounted in inverted white enameled galvanized steel trays.
Reflectors For Fluorescent
A tinner made these 100″ by 16″ by 1 1/2″ trays for $8 each. The trays are screwed to the bottoms of the benches to serve as reflectors.
A single strip eight-foot rapid-start fluorescent and its ballast cost approximately $15. With a reflector, it will light an area 1′ by 8′.
A pair of these lights with a reflector costs about $28 and lights twice the area. Each lamp is suitable for ten to 12 thousand hours of service, but the light output decreases as the lamps age.
Growing Plants Under Lights
Plants growing under lights need the same general care as those grown in the sun. The lights should burn from seven or eight in the morning to 10 or 11 at night.
Use an electric timer (about $10) so that they will turn on and off automatically and regularly.
A growing space of 15” inches between the light tubes and the bench’s surface is a good average.
African Violets
African violets grew in 4”-inch pots will flower if placed approximately 11” inches from the 40-watt tubes.
Start seeds as close as three inches from the lights, and as they germinate and show strong leaves, lower them to 6″ or 8″ inches from the sunlight.
Your local electrician will be glad to assist you in obtaining and installing fluorescent lights.
44659 by Elvin Mcdonald