The light I am considering is a 150 watt HPS (linked below)

Will this light do what I need? If not, is there something else out there I should consider? I'm thinking I might add a mylar curtain around the three sides that are not window at some point to help contain/maximize the light..

here is another picture of what I need to light...
Thanks,
Mark

Here is a link that might be useful: 150 watt HPS light..

I have grown large tomatoes indoors.......the only problem I had was getting them to set fruit. Used a 400 watt metal halide which I think works best over a sodium.
You can get sodium conversion bulbs that will work in the MH ballast.
This is the next bulb I am going to try.

http://store.bulbstock.com/22142.html

Very reasonably price and at 7200k it gives you much more of a light spectrum that comes from the sun. In the past I used a 4000k MH and it worked fine but I am going to try this bulb and at only 14 dollars very cheap.
My tomato plants were big and blooming but I think I was allowing the night time temps to be too warm which retarded fruit set on the blooms.
You can try a 150 watt but I don't think you will like the end result. In general summer vegetables need a lot of light and I have found 400 to be the bare minimum.

Oh one more thing I have used that same light from your link. They work fine, the unit gets hot and is heavy. I would suggest getting a light with a remote ballast that sits on the floor. So the only weight you have to hang is the bulb and reflector which is much lighter than hanging the ballast.
Take a look at this as a possibility. I own a couple of these and they work fine.

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTGSupply-400-watt-Metal-Halide-Grow-Light

400 watt is going to be too expensive to run.. That is why I'm trying to take advantage of the big 5' x 5' south facing window to provide as much light as possible....

I could possibly start with a 150 or a 200 and then add another and stagger their times so that the first 2 hours of the day both are on, the next 2 hours only 1, the next four hours both off (sunlight only), the next two one of them on, and the last 2 both on.....

Does that sound workable? I'm pretty low on money (lost business when economy crashed and have been struggling ever since) so I need to keep the utility bill down as much as possible...

The price on the light you linked is not too bad..... Have to think on this a while.... I have two other windows along the same wall I need to grow plants in, and will have to light them too.. although, they will only be about a foot deep instead of the three feet this window requires... so I will probably use one or two 48" t5 flourescents in each of those and drop them down to right over the plants...

Not too concerned about the heat or weight.. will be suspending them from the ceiling or a heavy duty wall mounted plywood bracket, using pulleys (which reduces the amount of force required to lift and lower them) and the ceiling is 10' high in a 600 'sq room that needs some heat in it during the winter anyways...

I have to rethink the whole 400 watt thing... maybe I can justify it by using it to help heat the room and won't have to use an oil filled room heater at all...

gotta do some calculating..

How high above the plants should it be to prevent burning them, and also get enough spread for a 5' x 4' area?

I'll probably need fans anyways, so maybe I can use them to help redirect the heat to heat the room?

This post was edited by ongodsmountain on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 12:31

How much heat does the ballast unit put out on that 400 watt unit?

Well Gregory123,

I took your advice and bit the bullet on the 400 watt light... It's way more than I was planning on or could afford.... but at least it's something I can use years into the future... and 'handles' this part of my veggie garden...

I just need to save up some moola for a couple 4' T5 grow light for each of the other two windows now...

Hopefully, this does the trick...