good day! it is exciting to read of such a wonderful course. first, i recommend visiting your local library, university library, inter-library loan, for any books on indoor growing you can. there are a number of books along the lines of "growing under lights" as their title.

growing indoors is a feat in its own. when growing indoors, the grower becomes mother nature creating the growing environment with all necessary factors for plant growth: proper light intensity and wavelength, air circulation, temperature control, humidity, etc. i grow indoors under artificial lighting only in two dormitory room closets. i grow herbs and we had tomato crop for a while that succumbed to an insect infestation from a previously infested plant. here's my setup and tasks:

in a 10x4x2.5 foot closet, i have three shelves. top two shelves are about 1.5 feet high, the bottom one is quite high. i have three 4' shop light fluorescent fixtures, one on each level. the fixtures have two 48" 40watt "grow lights" purchased at the local hardware store, found in the same place as the other fluorescent tubes. the experiments i've read regarding the best lights to use commonly find fluorescent lights as the most efficient with best results. fluoros come in all different forms, compact fluoros being good as well for large growing areas, regular tubes being quite suitable for smaller. high intensity discharge (HID) like metal halide and high/low pressure sodium are often used in commercial greenhouses, i'd like to read about high output fluoros used in commercial greenhouses, i'm sure it exists. also, fluorescents don't get hot, unlike the HID's. a study done at my university in crop production tested different lighting on the growth of the same plant and the grow lights were most superior to growing in a greenhouse using sunlight. when growing without the aid of sun, grow lights are the best i've found.

lights should be placed several inches above the soil surface in germination, and several inches above plant tops in other stages of growth. lights placed too far away may cause plants to stretch toward the light harming seedlings a great degree and producing leggy crops in more mature plants.

my plants sit on a table, or the shelf surface. i use clay pots, plastic is fine and make sure they're well cleaned before use. i use sterile growing medium, for a while i used commercial soil, if you do i recommend organic soils because commercial soils are found to carry insect eggs. i'm a personal fan of growcoir (www.growcoir.com) which comes sterilized and in a small brick which is expanded 8x it's size in water. i have had wonderful results with this soil. it can be purchased online or in a hydroponic store if you're lucky.

air circulation is important to avoid disease and insect when growing indoors. set up some fans on foliage level of plants, blowing at a nice medium-low breeze not too harsh, may cause wind burn. each plant requires specific requirements regarding temperature. this can be studied per plant and controlled indoors. keeping a thermometer and doing the best to keep proper temperatures is in order. for humidity, a nice method is the humidity trays used by bonsai growers. shallow trays filled with gravel or small pebbles is filled with water, pots are sat on top of trays and the evaporation results in a "steam bath" of humidity for the plants.

there are nice methods for treating insects. a detergent such as "dawn" can be sprayed onto plants infested with white fly or spidermite, popular insects in indoor growing. there is insecticidal soap that can be purchased but spraying the detergent is cheap and just as good. infected plants should be sprayed daily until insects stop. also, taking out plants from soil and washing soil off roots and repotting in new soil works very well if caught early. keeping clean work space and medium use is good prevention, of course.

in growth chamber, reflective material may be helpful in directed light to plants best. white walls or mylar can be used, but not required. if there is any other questions you have feel free to reply. my apologies if i've written more than called for!