Do NOT buy anything labeled "grow bulb".
All the studies show that a standard fluorescent tube
called "cool white" has all of the light components necessary to grow well. Do not mix cool white and warm white, that is more old wives tales (myth, disproven by science). If you can get one called "high output" - then that would be even better. Look for something called
"lumens" - that is one measurement of how bright the lamp is, and the higher the number, the better. Hopefully the lumens will be more than 3000 per tube.
Plants have to be really close to the lamps, and if you can keep them within 2 inches, you will get the best results. Your plan of shelves will not work, because only the top shelf will get sufficient light.
Many of the seeds mentioned are not suitable for indoor growing under fluorescent, such as corn.
Have you tried to get on the medical marijuana program? I use medical marijuana and it helps me tremendously. Also, you can grow marijuana under fluorescent lighting, it will save you a huge amount of money on medications, plus the quality of homegrown is excellent, because you can tailor the strain and degree of ripening to the effect that you are looking for (more ripening = more sedation, less ripening = more stimulating effects). Also, marijuana tends to keep my mind clear so I can think better, as opposed to regular medications that make me very groggy, and hung over.

Well the disease I have any kind of smoke makes me go blind second hand smoke makes me near blind, any smoke makes me loose my center balance and I get shaky and loose muscle control. I used to smoke cloves, and my disease is making me behave healthy, ie no smokey smokey for me. Can't even be near family since they smoke and keep walking up to me with lit cigarettes then get their noses out of joint when I avoid them. I need to grow something and chill and not think about them.

Thanks for the tip.

P.S. That plant isn't legal for any type of use here.

I am just looking to stimulate my brain with activities like growing plants and looking at something green, and iff I get fresh tomato's and herbs and maybe some lettuces that's neat, I will wait till September to plant the sweet corn if residue light isn't enough.

Fortunately medical marijuana can also be taken by baking it (into brownies). I also don't like the smoke, so I eat it. Eating results in a very prolonged effect. Many states have passed legislation allowing for its use. You can start a petition to have it placed on the ballot next time there is an election. More than 50% of all Americans believe marijuana should be legal, not just medical, but all.

Not to mention that smoking marijuana, while it has a notably lung cancer rate than tobacco smoking, has a notably *higher* emphysema rate. If you're going to ingest it, the healthiest way is through the digestive tract.

But that's neither here nor there, ne? The person was just looking at info on how to get started growing indoors :)

Okay, first off, lights! There are five main types of lights used to grow plants indoors:

* CFLs
* Tube fluorescents (of varying kinds)
* HID: Metal halide
* HID: High pressure sodium
* LED

There are also several types of lights *not* recommended for growing plants indoors:

* Incandescent: Way too much heat for the amount of light output, so you'll burn your plants, and your power bills will be off the chart.
* Low pressure sodium: High luminous efficiency, but plants don't grow based on lumens (a scale based on the human eye) -- they grow based on PAR/PUR, which is just the opposite. Low pressure sodium is too yellow, a color which is both poorly absorbed by plants and also lacks red and blue stimulation for proper hormonal growth cues. LPS-grown plants tend to have starchy, chlorotic leaves and poor yields.

Now, for the types that people *do* use!

* CFL: All kinds of fluorescents need to be *close* to the plants, including CFLs. No more than a couple inches. This generally means that if you want more than a pot or two of plants, you need to build yourself a custom CFL fixture. One person on this forum made a very attractive one out of some aluminum ducting. CFLs are slightly less efficient than tube fluorescents, but are generally more available.
* Tube fluorescents: These come in different varieties. T8s and T5s are generally a little more efficient that T12s and CFLs. The fact that they're long makes for convenient placement over plants. It's a good idea for any fluorescent lighting system to be hung on an adjustable rope or chain so it can be easily moved up as the plants grow.
* MH: Metal halide bulbs are a type of HID bulb (HIDs tend to be very bright, and a little more efficient than fluorescents) that is biased toward the blue side of the spectrum (bluer = more vegetative growth). Like all HIDs, you need a ballast to run them. Magnetic ballasts are cheaper, but ill-advised; they're less efficient (and FYI, power costs are the real killer with indoor growing, not upfront costs -- do the math and you'll see what I mean) and will give you shorter bulb life. Shell out the extra for an electronic ballast. One thing to note in particular about MHs: If they're damaged, don't use them, and never use them in a fixture they're not designed for; some types can emit dangerous levels of UV if damaged or installed improperly.
* HPS: High pressure sodium bulbs are a type of HID bulb that are biased toward the redder end of the spectrum. The standard rules about HIDs apply. Oh, and also, the way to tell how high above your plants a HID or fluorescent should be: put your hand where the plants are. The light should feel gentle and warm, but not hot.
* LEDs: If you're looking to start a fight on a board about growing plants indoors, bring up LEDs ;) I personally love them. They use a fraction as much power and yield excellent growth *if you use them right*. That means using either multiple lights or a proper reflection setup to ensure adequate light penetration (also, while they're sometimes advertised as being 3-6 times as efficient as HIDs, they're really more like 2 times as efficient, so don't under-light your area). The downside to LEDs is very high purchase costs. However, if you run the numbers, you'll find out that in the long run, they're well worth it due to their power savings.

On to the rest of the post:

I have windows covered because they are to big, west facing, and turn our one bedroom into a baking oven.

Well, what you do think having a bunch of grow lights (especially non-LED grow lights) is going to do to your room? Don't turn down a free gift; instead, if you're concerned about solar heat, install a low-E film (or low-E glass) to reflect the sun's infrared, only letting in the useful visible light.

Think about it this way: if you have a 20% efficient grow light in your room that created the same spectrum as the sun, you'll be releasing 5 times as much heat into the room as if you just let the sun in for the same amount of light. Even if your grow light didn't emit the sun's IR, you'd still be heating your room 2.5 times as much as the sun.

Also would like to know how to keep leave tender without drowning the roots would be nice.

Are you asking how not to overwater? Feel the soil under the surface. It should feel *dry* before you water. Also, water from the bottom, in trays; it gives a lower chance of disease. Lastly, increase the amount of inorganic and aerating material in your soil; that'll decrease the odds of root rot. Never have too high of a percent of your soil be peat, or you'll be increasing your odds of rot.

Other indoor gardening things of note:

* Some plants are more likely to go leggy than others. These include lettuce and brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, mustard, etc). On these plants, take extra care to get them tons of light. Also, a fan will help them build stronger stems, in the way that the occasional breeze outdoors does.

* Use yellow sticky traps -- not so much to catch the bugs, but to find out if you ever have a problem so you can deal with it right away.

* Indoor gardening, while more expensive (mainly due to that power bill), really is a treat. You can get beautiful, near-flawless plants, insect-free (if you care for them right), and work on them from the comfort of your home without heat or humidity or cold or a long walk or tilling or weeds or anything else that might annoy you. Also, another great thing is that they need a lot less water indoors than outdoor plants need. Especially if you don't use a fan, you'll be amazed at how infrequently you need to water them.

* Not all plants like it, but you may find that a 24-hour grow cycle gets you better results than 12-hour. Peppers especially respond well to it.

Corr: "notably lung cancer rate" should read "notably lower lung cancer rate"

Thanks for the great responce everyone.

Since I have to start new seedlings I got a cool white twisty bulb by GE 60 watt since its going in a clip on lamp and it can't take more. I was to scared to try 100 watt since lamp says max 60 watt, even tho twisty bulbs 60 watt rating doesn't actually use 60 watt more like 15 watt, and 100 watt uses like 25.I already had the light, bought it right before I got sick so never got a change to try it.

I have to say thanks for the low-e film recommendation, I don't know if I can talk my husband into it, since we are just renting, but no matter what I am pointing out to my girlfriend who just bought her home.

I had look everywhere but didn't use the proper term so was finding installers, not the diy film.

I have grown really big gardens and propagated in real greenhouses, but those had the expensive low-e type plastic opaque panels, and I set misters over the beds on a timer system in FFA and Agriculture. This wasn't really done on my dime, my propagation and Jim's paid for that.We built the green house with plastic/Plexiglas treated to reduce sun and heat, because the first one was built of glass and died a monsoons death.

Over 20 years later and that mother is still standing!

Yeah! Mr Bushner knew how to get things done!

Me I have always been name retarded, its why I could never be a vet or dr of any kind. Worse than any absent minded professor could be.

"Ok dude, that dude over there has a well known ick, but its ok, just take 20 mg of um um um penicillin , yeah that's it penicillin 4 times a day till its all gone, and come back and see me about you thingy."

That didn't work in a mechanics shop either let me tell you.

Now my short term memory is shot to boot.

Anyways I am making notes on the low-e film and lights so, even if my husband won't do it here, hopefully when we get our own place we will do it there, and also maybe less expensive to make my own low-e panels when I have my own place and can make an actual green house. If you have a decent size yard and no HOA, and are handy, that's what I recommend, plus if your in a low light colder climate I know there are panels you can get that absorb the heat and magnify the light. It just takes time and planing, and at least 2 people if you make a decent sized one. On the size to pay for our programs we made green houses and sold them, cost was 200-800 depending on size and whether they included greenery beds and misters and drips, we sold them for 1200 and up, nice way to help fund high school projects and events, way more effective, safer, and easier than selling candy and magazines door to door, selling candy is for cheer leaders dude.

Also our particular green house had a swamp cooler for hottest months.

I don't have a swamp cooler here just a/c, which dries air that has like nil moisture. that's why I was seeing if anyone knew of a way besides misters to keep leaves moist, maybe I should say hydrated. See the desert here is unique I can have moist soil and plant can't distribute it to the leave fast enough, so the shrivel, and plant doesn't grow.I can't keep them in the plug starter for forever.

For the ganja advocates out there, thanks but no thanks, I am a disabled vet, and have been a forestry advocate and was in the field, if I can get my body and DES to a level will go back to working the forestry. I do love learning new things. I will say I do support hemp legalization, its a wounder flood fighting tool on the ships, its all natural, and better and more renewable, easier to renew than cotton, it has much more applications, easier on the soil to grow than cotton, easier to recycle as well I hear. If people want to smoke it. Well people who want to smoke will smoke just about anything, including rat poison, hallucinogens, neural inhibitors, bat waste, and banana leaves. Gov needs to concentrate on the real problems, countries where hemp is legal, have less issues with harder drugs. Of Course hemp's a weed, and was rally made illegal because they were unable to tax all the people growing in in their yard.

alright now that I am lost again.

This post is to long, but am to tired to edit it.

Thanks again everyone!!!!!!

I was to scared to try 100 watt since lamp says max 60 watt, even tho twisty bulbs 60 watt rating doesn't actually use 60 watt more like 15 watt, and 100 watt uses like 25.I already had the light, bought it right before I got sick so never got a change to try it.

Your bulb is 15 watts, then, not 60. You really should get as close to that 60W limit as you can. It's hard to impress upon first-time indoor growers just how much light indoor garden plants need. It's a lot. Indoors is full shade, even with normal overhead ceiling lights on. Rare is the garden plant that can tolerate full shade. And the sun is a blazingly bright orb indeed!

It doesn't look that much brighter outside than indoors because our eyes see light kind of logarithmicly -- something that looks twice as bright may actually be getting hit by ten times as much light. A good way to experience this difference is to look at how solar panel power output collapses to almost nothing when there's even a little bit of clouds between the panel and the sun, when it doesn't really look all that dim outdoors.

Think of your job as to try to create a new sun indoors. :)

Your plants will let you know if they're not getting enough light. Their stems will be long and leggy, and eventually the plants won't be able to hold themselves up. They'll have few true leaves and a weak root system. Those are the cues that you need more light. Also, adding a fan to help stimulate the stems can help, but the real issue is getting those light levels up.

because the first one was built of glass and died a monsoons death.

Ouch. I know what it's like to lose a greenhouse; I used to have one, but the frame rusted away and was no longer usable, so I tore it down and put in an apple tree. That's why I switched to indoor growing (I have an outdoor garden, too, for the big stuff)

I don't have a swamp cooler here just a/c, which dries air that has like nil moisture. that's why I was seeing if anyone knew of a way besides misters to keep leaves moist

Moist leaves can lead to disease. In general, dry is good, so long as they can uptake sufficient water from the soil. You'll find that indoor light is generally gentler to plants than outdoor light -- you shouldn't have any problems with water uptake rates unless there's a root disease or infestation.

Best of luck! :)