During the winter, my days are short, the sun is low in the sky and it's often cloudy or raining. I use artificial lights to get my garden plants growing strong by the time I can set them outside. I used to use fluorescents in various configurations. For several years I've been using LEDs. They work very well, don't overheat, and my plants are healthy. They also get whatever daylight comes through the glass in the sunroom, but this time of year most of the intensity and day length is via the LEDs. I keep them quite close to the plants, 6 inches or so. They are mixed wavelengths.
Reading this website might help with light choices. LED Information. For someone who is new at it, info about equivalency to fluorescent or incandescent bulbs probably doesn't matter, but my old brain still thinks in watts for incandescent bulbs. The new bulbs I decided on advertise this: I don't know if that's best or not. It seems reasonable. I used to just use "daylight" tubes. These are two 40 watt (actual wattage, not incandescent equivalent I hope) which would be something like 200 watts incandescent. Seems like a lot, more than I used to use. They also include reflectors so I wont have to cobble one together. The videos posted in this topic were helpful. I do wonder if the guy who made them had them too closecto the plants or overdid the lumens.
