FIXTURES: 2 bulb Lights of America 8045E, quantity 2

BULBS: T8 32W Phillips Daylight 6500K/2750 lumens

4 bulbs total, 2 per fixture.

(planning on overdriving those, but it'll be awhile - I have 2 other identical fixtures but one of them has a bad ballast and the other hasn't been tested yet)

So I've finally got some fluorescents set up for my curry leaf plants that I started from seed. I've had them on a heat mat in a south facing window (tons of light through that, very good orientation to the sun here, lots of solar days).

I'm actually not sure what a leggy curry leaf plant would look like, but some of the early basil starts in the same flat are much leggier than some of the later starts. I think that came about because we had a run of 3 or 4 days in a row of overcastness, really unusual for this area at this time of the year, right when those early basil starts were coming up. Those early starts are about 3" tall while the later starts are more like 1". They're all putting out first leaves about the same time though.

So I've got them REAL close to the lights right now, to where the taller plantlets are sticking up into the space at the sides of the bulbs. None are actually touching the bulbs, they all seem to have magically fallen into the spaces between bulbs/edges.

I have a fan on them and my Hydrofarm thermostat with the sensor stuck up in the center of one of the grow lights right between the 2 bulbs. The thermostat is showing that pretty steady at 77F - 77.5F. Fan is on low setting.

Hoping to maximize light reaching the plants by keeping them way closer than usual to the actual bulbs. Because it'll be awhile before I can overdrive those fixtures, and I'm not scheduled for new fixtures until after the first of the year. I think I can get 10 bulbs (5 double-bulb fixtures in 15.5") in the space I have for lights on those shelves.

But that will be then, and this is now.

Safe? Or dumb idea?