Wow, I didn't know you could do that with fluorescents. I would have thought the light spectrum wouldn't be good enough. I wonder about grow lights? This could be a good way to keep a garden going indoors during the winter. I have this 12 feet wide, eight feet high dining room double doors that get wonderful light (morning and afternoon...just floods the room), so I might not need the light, and I don't have the issue with the Florida sun as mentioned.

But I am wondering if anyone has had any experience using fuorescents or "grow" lights on herbs to keep them going during the winter. For the smaller herbs, I could certainly replace some of my under-counter lights with the proper lights to suit the herbs.

Sorry I didn't answer the original question. heathen1, where are you?????

There is a ton of information on the web about growing plants under fluorescents. The best are cool white bulbs that you can buy at any hardware store. Grow lights don't work as well actually.

I think some of the guys on the hot pepper forum overwinter their peppers using fluorescents, and most of them start their seeds that way. I've had great luck with them. Even have peppers blooming and fruiting inside.

Fluorescents are great for seed starting, and OK for growing small plants for longer periods. The bare tubes need to be as close as possible to the foliage (about an inch from the tops is good), making them unsuitable for full-sun plants such as herbs that are taller than 6" or so. Best results if it's about 60°F at night, 65°F during the day, with plenty of fresh air and humidity. 16 hours per day is about right. Plants indoors are especially susceptible to insects such as aphids, whitefly, and spider mites, so keep a close watch.

yeah, I think if you have the space and the sun, flourescent are a waste of money and electricity.

Agreed (except for seed starting).

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb Forum: Growing under Lights

Well, I have a dining room that gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight through huge double 8 foot doors, and the rest of the day it's flooded with indirect light. I guess I'm OK too. The plants I transplanted inside seem to like their new home....so far lettuce leaf basil, greek basil, rosemary, pineapple sage. More to come. :-)

I have just started an herb basket indoors.Placed under kitchen cupboards where I mounted fluorescent lights. Indirect light during the day also through a southern window.

Basil,marjoram and sage dried out. Lemon balm, chives and parsley doing well.

When the basil dried out it seem to leave a mold on top of soil. Also I think I have alphids.

My basket has only been in existence for 3 weeks.

Any suggestions.

thanks

Mine are on a time set for ON hours between about 6:00am to 12:30am. The lights are the 2 bulb shop light fixtures with two fixtures per 2x4 foot shelf. I use plant grow lights bought from Home Depot at about $4.50 each (pet stores charge $16+ for these same bulbs!). A few have one cool white or a warm white bulb instead of the purplish plant bulbs. My plants go crazy after about 4 weeks and then need to be moved to a 500 watt mercury vapor lamp that cna be 2 feet away from the plants. Any closer and the leaves can get really cooked!

I will try different bulbs. Can you think of any reason i would have a musty smell???

Thanks

Soil can be giving off that smell. If its wet, its probably some bacteria in there doing that. I use seed starting soilless mixes that consist of coir (shreaded coconut husks) a bit of perlite, and few other things. The moistened seed starting mix has a nice aged compost smell, which should be mild. If your using soil dug from outdoors or regular potting soil for seed starting, it may be the cause of musty smell too. Starting off with sterile soiless medium will help prevent damping off, fungus, mold, bad smells, and any thing that may kill, or weaken tender young seedlings. I can even use a butter knife and seperate seedlings (up to 2 inches tall) even if they are butted close together. They come loose very easily and I just put one seedling in another pot thats has no sprouts yet. I do this with all my plants, herbs, veggies, and flowers. I never use peat pots either.

diana's gardener, I like regular white bulbs better than the purplish grow bulbs. How often are you watering? The mold makes me think you might be watering too much. (I recommend you water only when the dirt feels bone dry).