I'm having success with leafy greens, herbs and green onions using a 48" t8 fixture of 4 bulbs. You could probably get something at 24".

You might also try a few cfl bulbs that are 100w (real 100w, so 400w equivalent)

Hi Oldbat2be!

I wrote a blog post about the best kind of lights to use to start seeds.

I don't think you need to spend $320 to get started if you have a basic light setup for seedlings as well as a heat mat.

Take a look at the article and let me know if you have any questions.

http://foodiegardener.com/grow-lights-for-beginners-start-plants-indoors/

Shirley Bovshow

gardev - ack! Space is actually 10 feet x35', so I'm considering 4 fixtures with 4 bulbs each. At 100 w, my power will go through the roof!

Shirley, thanks. I sure hope the heating mat(s) end up being less than that. I'm still looking for better pricing. Any chance you've written a blog post about that? :)

Did you do the math based on your kw/h? Do you have a discount based on time-of-use? I pay about 30% less over night and on weekends.

7 cents / kwh = 7 cents to run 100w for 10 hours. It might not be as bad as you think if you actually produce some food.

I'll admit, I don't know how to calculate how much light I need. Very glad to hear about the 7 cents per 10 hours / 100w, will need to check my bill to see what mine will be.

I posted over on the lighting forum (davidtay is the best) and following his suggestion, started looking into the Philips HO T5 grow lights. I called Philips and was given an email address, for help with plant lighting questions. Sent an email; will post what I hear back.

If you can direct me to a resource to figure out the wattage I need per square foot, I'd be grateful.

Thanks again gardev. We went shopping yesterday and picked up 2 - 48" long, 4 bulb each, T5 HO fixtures (~400 watts). DH is figuring out how to hang them. They have reflectors built in, but I'm guessing we will need to add some sort of side lighting too, at some point in the future.

$320 for a 12" by 10' mat seems like a lot. I bought 3- 24"x 48" mats for $150 from Amazon and Home hardware had the same mats on for $60. Since the standard size for trays is 10" x20 " you are going to have 2 " along the side with nothing on the mat. On a 12" X 10' mat you will only be able to put 6 trays and I can put 4 on each of my mats. You'd have to buy temperature controls for each mat if you want to control the temperature but I only have it on 1 mat and use that one to set cooler temperatures for the seeds that require it. Without the temperature control the mats work well for most seeds

Of course I guess it depends on what kind of light set up you are thinking of having and how wide your shelves are but I still think $320 is very expensive for what you get

Thanks dowlinggram. We ended up ordering 3 Viagrow heat mats. 2-48's and 1-24", so 10 trays total, with 3 thermostats. Total - $220. (No bargain, but I felt we could use the help of the thermostats). For anyone else who is looking, would you mind posting the mat you found at Home hardware?

Here's our light set-up. Considering we have seedlings 4 days after planting (and without the heat mats - they are due tomorrow), I think it's a good start. Currently, we only have three trays under the lights. When we add additional ones, we will need to raise the lights and rotate the trays 90 degrees. I'm not sure what that will do to the plants on the sidelines. (We have a light meter but are not sure how to use; another thread, I'm sure!).

Edited to include this little honey:)

I did not even use heating mat in my 60 dgrs. basement. The 4ft fluorescent lights 1 inch above seed domes generated enough heat to get 81 or 82 dgrs temperature under the domes which was good to germinate my hosta seeds, see another post. With heating mat on I would have overheated.

Belatedly, thanks bernd. Yes, my domes are definitely overheating! At this point, I am turning off the lamp over remaining domes during the day.