I use shop lights. T12 or t8 I believe. Check on the growing inside forum for sure. Keep the lights within 1 inch of seedlings for best growth and 16 hours on 8 off. I was just talking to someone the other day and they left some of the lights on 24/7. And had very leggy seedlings.

Melissa, I'm using lights that were in the kitchen before our remodel. The kitchen had the dropped ceiling that was popular in the 70's/80/s with textured plastic sheets set into a wood frame--you know the ones. Well, there were "shop" lights above the frame that lit the kitchen. ANYWAY...I'm just using those.... Before, I purchased smaller lights from Walmart that are set in a hard plastic frame. I'm not sure I"m making sense. I'll try to take pictures if I can find the Walmart ones AND if I can clean off the light shelf to show the current ones. It's a little embarrassing right now. My set up isn't pretty, but it seems to work well.

I use shop lights.

I use shop lights and they work just fine. I've used them about 20 years with no problem. There's no reason to spend more money for 'fancy' grow lights---they are not necessary.

I can't think of a reason, either. Think of all the plants growing in malls and offices. Under regular fluorescent lights. I had to buy a couple replacement lights last year for the grow cart, and saw my brother had bought the special plant grow lights, so I did, too. (They're very expensive!) This this year I'm using our regular shop lights to overwinter some plants, and they're growing like crazy. No more specialty lights for me!

However, I read the first ever planting directions on a package of seeds that had the caveat that New Guinea impatiens grown under artificial lights high in the "red" part of the spectrum of light would limit germination of some colors. LOL (The shop lights aren't that--but I found it interesting.)

For everything that we do in gardening, there is a thrifty way to do it, and there is a spendy way to do it. A lot of folks convince themselves that they have to do things the spendy way, but I've found they get results overall that are no different than those of us who do things the thrifty way. I tried the more expensive grow lights one year to see if they made any sort of obvious difference and they did not.

It is the same thing with seeds and with almost all other gardening supplies--some folks only will buy seeds from the really huge seed companies like Burpee, for example, and will pay a lot more money for the exact same seeds they can get elsewhere for a lot less. The only things I tend to buy from Burpee are Burpee exclusives that cannot be found anywhere else. Why spend more than one has to?? Many seed companies buy their seeds wholesale from the exact same multinational seed growers who grow most of their seeds in foreign countries. Why pay more for the seeds that go into a big name seed packet than those that go into seed packets of smaller, less well-known companies? It makes me crazy when someone tells me they only buy from one specific seed company because it has been around for so long and is so big or whatever, when there's tons and tons of other options that are more budget-friendly. I also prefer to seek out smaller companies that grow all or at least most of their own seeds here in the USA. It is the same with gardening supplies of all kinds---you can spend a fortune on them or you can comparison shop and find the more affordable options. I know folks who spend a lot of money on peat pots, cow pots or fancy seed-starting flats that promise things.......and their results are no different, and often not as good as, my results using standard Jiffy seed starter in cheap flats of little paper or plastic cups. Gardening can cost a lot of money if a person chooses to spend that way, but I'd rather put my money into seeds and plants than into fancy lights and such.

Thanks everyone!! I was leaning toward just regular shop lights as I was definitely NOT spending the money on costly grow lights. Whew, those things can be so expensive!!

Jen, I know exactly what you are talking about, you are making complete sense lol. I had 2 shop lights that were actually given to me years ago but when we moved to the city, we didn't really have room for them since we were in a temporary apartment living out of boxes. Sadly, DH gave them to my sister-in-law. I still might be a little salty about it. lol

Dawn, I agree wholeheartedly about gardening the thrifty way!!! I have found that if I am in town and have time (and patience) I go into Tractor Supply. They have really good clearance on gardening stuff sometimes. My kids know that I have a "clearance sniffer" when we go to Lowe's, Home Depot, or TS.

My entire adult life I HAD to be thrifty. And so I still am. Unless I'm ignorant, like I was last year when I thought, "Well if my bro bought these lights, they must be the lights to have." But watching the jungle that is developing under my fluorescents this year, realized the silliness of that. One thing that Dawn said rang true with me, though. That was that there were some seed companies that were very conscientious about keeping their heirlooms true. And so I sort of keyed into that and have gone with those. Here's an example. I ordered Mortgage Lifters from Swallowtail, but then when the discussion came up about which variety of Mortgage Lifter, Swallowtail didn't have the details. So then I went in and researched the different varieties, so ended up going back to SESE and ordering Charlie Radiator, specifically named. And guess what, it mattered to me that Swallowtail didn't bother to mention a variety. Right now, wanting to grow the best seed, since I'm a beginner, those kinds of details matter to me. I paid a fortune. . . that is, in seed language (lol) for New Guinea impatiens from Swallowtail, for very few seeds. Figuring the success ration would be slim, I wondered if anyone else had them for less. Stokes. The planting directions from Stokes were like a scientific experiment. THAT impressed me. And so bought bunches more at far less the price. I'm willing to spend money if I have to, but mostly don't have to. I could NOT care less about our furniture or flooring or house furniture. I care about good cheap food, the best thrift stores for clothes (LOLOL. Got my personal thrift store up in Mpls, where my DIL gets my orders for), would never in a lifetime pay full price for new furniture. Yes, LIVE the thrifty way!!

So, I went to Lowes.com and was looking at their T8 lights to start with. They have some on sale but then I noticed they had either bright white, cool white, or daylight. Oh my gosh, why are there so many choices?!?! I found some T8 and T12 on clearance. Which ones would you all go with?

I ordered T8s last year after researching. . . interested in what others say.

Melissa, as a general rule, if you look at the Kelvin rating, below 3000 is recommended for flowering plants. Above 3000 is for foliage growth. The scale breaks down a little more than that into the various bright, cool, red, blue, daylight or whatever. I generally buy the 6000-6200K for seed starting.

Thanks so much okoutdrsman!! So, if I am looking to purchase for growing microgreens, would you suggest the 6000-6200K?