I really like the Ott lights that look like a regular compact fluorescent light bulb so can be used with any lamp. Michael's usually has them so you can use one of their 40 or 50% off coupons.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ott lights

Hi Tiff, I just use regular ol' garage utility lights that you can get at Home Depot or Lowe's. I bought 2 4' lights and hang them side by side to give a wider area of coverage. They aren't the most attractive, but then they're not really mean to be. I think they cost $9 each and then a little extra for the bulbs. When I lived in an apartment, they were hung in an unused corner of the living room and now that I'm in a house, they are in the basement by my washer and dryer. I can post a picture if you'd like.

Nancy

It depends on how many plants and what varieties you grow. If it's not that many and they don't require high intensity lighting the utility lights can be sufficient. I use HID (metal halide and high pressure sodium) for larger mature plants and T5 fluorescent tubes for small plants and seedlings. Here's a link to a good grow light comparison guide.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grow Light Guide

Would this be sufficient enough. I will be posting pictures of my current situation in a follow up..

Here is a link that might be useful: Light

Most of these plants are babies/cuttings from a friend and are in small pots. It looks more crowded than it is. If you need further clarification on whats there let me know. I have 2 Scheffs, pothos, jade and callisia fragrans in the dining room where there is supposed to be better light...faces south...but with the storm coming through, it has been dark and ugly gray for the past few days...

To the right of the far right dresser is a window. I moved the short dresser there as it was in front of the window and worried about the draft.

Tiff
if your really seriously thinking about it,
I'd just get a regular old 4ft (48") (2-tube) flourescent shop light.
should be available for under $20, (my 1st was on sale for $6 i think) get a pack of ceiling hooks, and some chain (shoestring whatever,,) and just be done with it.
its not really Permanent, and can later be used about Anywhere,,, the light they provide is amazing, i now have (3) of em,, 2 over the plants, and 1 over my /workbench/building/drawing/junk/desk,,
couldnt live without that one.
I understand your at the FIL's tho, and would likely need permission,,,
but if you could get that (tell em it helps deter burglars too!? lol), and keep all your plants comfy together u.nderneath it,,,
well, im just sayin,, thats what a lot of people (apparently) Use, and its significantly cheaper in the long run. dont do it NOW, dig around a bit, thrift store, craigslist,, google 'shop light sale' who knows, maybe have it delivered right to ya?
in my neighborhood theres some kind of 'Habitat Rehab' ~ store, they sell lots of things like used home-building materials, everything from doors n windows, to doorknobs, screws, lights and lighting fixtures, bags of nails even,,,,
...bulbs might be extra, but they last awhile. ...or just Dont Worry about it?
my 2-cents. :)

...study up a bit first, you'll feel better about any decision ya make :)

(Growing under Lights)

Can you click on my link up-thread, "Lights". Tell me if if this would be sufficient enough. Here is a picture of my current situation...I would like to put the light on the shorter dresser and place the plants that need more light on it. Rather than get a big bulky light that I dont feel like dealing with here...something like would maybe work????

I feel like I saw a recent pic where the shorter dresser was right in front of a window. Did you rearrange?

Purple i did rearrange. I move the little dresser where the crib was and moved the crib to the opposite wall. There was a cold draft coming in the window so it had to be moved!

O I C. Can't have frozen kids!!

Purple, you have a good eye for detail.
LOL, last comment.

Tiff, I too was going to suggest a regular shop light, but your baby's room is set up too nice.

Is that a light or window on the upper right hand corner? I also see hanging strings, what are they for?

Purple mentioned a window??

Tiff, The clamp-on lamp from your link would work fine for your needs. You could get the same thing from Home Depot or Lowes probably for cheaper. As for the "bulb" itself, get the 5000K bulb but at the home center they might sell some that are rated to 6500K which will be better for the plants in your picture. Often these lamps are labeled "Daylight" or something similar. Get the highest wattage available.

5000K & 6500K ("K" stands for Kelvin) refer to the color temperature of the light emitted from the lamp. A lower number tends to the redder side of the spectrum and a higher number tends towards the bluer side. For example; A 2700k bulb provides increased output in the red spectrum which promotes flowering & budding in plants. A 6500k bulbs are full to blue spectrum bulb which promotes overall plant growth. Bluish-White light is most easily absorbed by chlorophyll.

Hey Tiff,
im not sure i can comment on the, ...luminal-output, ...adequacy~ in your specific current situation,, ..without doing some more research,,, u.ngh! lol srry :/

...i just kinda looked at the Price of that Single lamp,,,,? :x

..but i understand its Considerably less obtrusive (than 2- ceiling holes?),,,

i would look for a clip-on lamp at the dollar-store (they shouldnt be no $30.00!?)
get the BULB if ya must,, but even That's more than i paid for (1) fixture,, ?? :)

ohh man, I really Luv how its all arranged in there now!
Thats soo Cool! :)
...man, i wish i was 1/2 as Obserant as Purple is,,, dang Her lol
ohhh Jake-cicle! eh?? lol srry,,,,

btw,, i saw yer Scheff repot, Nice job, and kudos to you for being so pro-active!
im srry, i was wayyy off-base on that,,, thus im kinda, ...hesitant to offer any more comments,,,? are you sure you Need the light? could ya get the bulb, put it in the ceiling fan and 'aim' it at the plants,,? i dunno srry :)

"Jake-cicle"

LOL! (As long as it's just chat!!)

You guys are silly. Purple, how do you get the print like that? Italic.

Toni. There is a window on the right hand side of the picture. The strings though are for the ceiling fan above.

Dellis. I am thinking I got the wrong thing today. Here is a picture of what I bought. The guy at Lowes directed me to the light bulb, specifically for plants.

Went to Wal Mart for a lamp and the clip on ones will not support a 65w bulb. So I got this floor lamp. So I plugged everything in and shined it on the plants and I will have to say I expected a much brighter light than what came out. It doesnt really feel like it does much more than the medium light I already get. I think I might return these things.

Here is one of the light plugged it. I know I need to put it closer but this was a general idea...

tifflj,
Take back the bulb and get a CFL "daylight" bulb for that lamp. I have the same exact lamp, but I use a daylight bulb in it. The sticker on the inside of the lamp shade will tell you the max wattage supported. You shouldn't have any trouble finding a compatable bulb at Walmart that fits it.

Ideally, you're looking for one that says "daylight" and offers a color range of 6,500K. I think I have the 75W equiv 20W CFL bulb. The lumen output is decent at approx 1,190. I use mine for a jade plant... it could definitely use another lamp or two at the very least, but it's a sight better than clip on lamps that get about 800 lumens apiece w/ daylight bulbs.

Hope this helps!

Jeni

Jeni, Thanks a bunch. How much does a bulb like that usually run? I think I paid $6 for this bulb I have currently. And you said they DO carry this 'daylight' bulb at WalMart?

And if this bulb equates to a 20W, I could use a clip on? I am trying to save space. I was going to clip it to the taller dresser and shine it on the smaller...

Unless someone has a better idea.

Tiff

I bought it in a pack of three and I think it was about $9 or so? It may be a little more, though, I just can't remember what I spent on it. I know for a fact my Walmart carries the bulb because I bought it there, though you may have to do a little searching to make sure it's a CFL Daylight bulb (vs. "cool white").

Hope you find one!

Jeni

Tiff..read the box the lamp was packed in. It should list watts...
Warning: Don't place a bulb w/higher wattage than instructions read. More could cause a fire.

Watts isn't the correct term, but you know what I mean. Toni

THanks Ladies. Yeah I know Toni, Thats why I didnt get the clip on lamp. It only supported 40W.

Yeah, That is the wrong lamp.

You should never buy one of those "Plant" lights sold at most stores, particularly if they are incandescent. Incandescent lamps can waste as much a 90% power the electricity consumed as heat, not light. Also, The color of the lamp is too wide spectrum and much of the light emitted is orange, yellow & green which is not used by plants. Even if the light you see from it looks whitish, this is what it consist of. Even a cool white fluorescent has a better output then one of these for growing plants. Oh well, most of us make that mistake. . .

Also, as far as the light fixture is concerned, The lamp you have is loosing too much light through the shade so only about 30% or 40% of the light from the bulb is going to your plants and the half globe is also absorbing/blocking much of the usable spectrum from any type of lamp you would put in there.

The wattage ratings for light fixtures are based on the amount of heat emitted from the lamp that is out in, not the amount of electricity flowing through it. You should have been able to find one rated to 60 watts, 40 is pretty low. The advantage of fluorescent lamps is that the light output to power consumed is about three times that of incandescent, maybe a little bit less with CFLs rather that tubes. So a single 40 watt lamp gives off approximately the equivalent of 120 watts of incandescent or three times the light from the bulb you've bought.

The CFL in the picture below is 43 watts or 47 watts or somewhere around that.

Tiff,
over the weekend i peeked around at HD, they had 2 different clip-lamps in the $7 range, pretty sure 1 was rated for 125W !?
CFL's wont get hot enough to even be concerned w/that tho,,

if thats what your wanting,, like Dellis said the cliplamps reflector-shade would likely direct the light better too,,

bulbs likely the more xspensive part,,,
where ya at with all this? is there anything else floatin round the garage/basement where the pots turned up maybe,,? what a bout a FLourescent desk lamp?
functional AND stylish !? :)

Hey, silent, I had a lamp almost exactly the same and was SO BUMMED when it broke. Now I miss it all over again, it was such an awesome lamp.

Tiff, HTML code works in these forums. Substitute for ]

Italics: [I]words you want to italicize[/I]
Bold: [B]bold words[/B]
Bigger writing: [FONT SIZE="+2"]big words[/FONT]
Another color: [FONT COLOR="red"]red words[/FONT]
Pretending you changed your mind: [STRIKE]crossed out[/STRIKE]
A link: [A HREF="http://www.url.com/";]link text[/A]

You can combine bigger writing, or another color, this would be big, bold, blue writing:
[B][FONT SIZE="+3" COLOR="blue"]big bold blue[/FONT][/B]

aww, sawwwy Purple, :x
weird tho, cuz i have 2 of these,, for so long i cant even remember where i got-em?
theyre nice,, handy for aging eyes, AND Plant supplementation~ lol

omg!? you wont believe this, ive been Rt clicking the webpage, to 'View Source',,
(which opens another (same) page in all its HTML glory lol)
then copying the html code into a Notepad for future reference, whenever anyone posts something like BOLD, Strikeout, Font Color, embedded Hyperlinks,,,
..doin it for Weeks now!
and youve get em ALL nicely summed up Right Here! ahhhh,, lol

Silent sends PurpleTiff a BIG HUGE HUG !!! hehe :)~~

There are a lot of fun things one
can do with HTML code but


a lot of them don't
work on a forum.

For a whisper, there's small writing.

This text has a subscript.

It might be easier to get a basic book on HTML, or explore a website like the one below. I used to have a great book but don't seem to now... and don't know why this post has so much space at the top.

Here is a link that might be useful: HTML reference site

Hey, I just remembered you can also change the font type. It seems the font tag has been eliminated in exchange for css coding. I don't really understand what that change means. Browsers will still interpret the font tag.

Like change the font generally.
Like change the font generally.

Like change the font specifically.
Like change the font specifically.

Like change the font specifically.
Like change the font specifically.

What does eberyone think if I line the lamp shade with aluminum foil? I mean the plants are doing well.. But maybe it be better?

That can help but place a dab of rubber cement between the foil and the shade so the foil doesn't slip and come in contact with any electrical current.

Alrighty then, nix that idea. I an accident waiting to happen, so probably not the best idea for me to try. Plus, i dont have any runber cement.