I'm no expert on lights but from several forum posts I've read many consider T5's to be too strong for violets & two of them might fry your plants. Hopefully, someone who grows under T5's will give advice as I have never used them but I understand some growers had to rig up shade under the bulbs. I use the old T12's & will as long as they are available. I do have one shelf lit by two T8 24" grow bulbs. For the first few months, the output at 8" to 10" above the violets was too much for them & I had to replace them with plants needing stronger light. After awhile, the output diminished & I could grow violets again and this may be true with T5's as well.

Terri

The 14W bulbs should be plenty bright, and you might not need to run them 8 hours either. I'd just use normal cool white, or 1 cool and 1 warm white if you can get them. In general, full-spectrum grow lights are expensive and tend to make plants look strange because they don't emit white light. I might start by running your lights for 5 to 6 hours a day and adjust the time from there. If your plants reach upwards, increase the time 1/2 hour per week until they lie flat. If the leaves start bleaching, decrease the time.

Mark

Thanks so much everyone. I feel so much better now and less confused. I will try to find one cool and one warm light. One question though when you say 14W do you mean T5s?

Would these lights work okay?

Cool light

http://www.lowes.com/pd_133047-371-89069_0__?productId=3063317&Ntt=14w+flourescent+cool+white+tube&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3D14w%2Bflourescent%2Bcool%2Bwhite%2Btube&facetInfo=

and warm white:

http://www.bulbs.com/espec.aspx?ID=11746&cm_mmc=GooglePLA-_-NonBrand-_-none-_-brand%3Dphilips&AffID=6&adpos=1o1&creative=60817934598&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CNCr58XKksMCFUc7gQodWLwAPA

This is one cool white and one warm white

Also do they need reflectors on them?

I've seen LED bulbs for sale that are rated 4500K- 6000K and are marked "daylight". I believe these will do very well and are quite inexpensive and easy to put into any lamp.