gobble said:
So the ones you bought that initially dropped their leaves were left under lights all winter and didn't spring back to life again until summer?

Exactly. I was brand new with plumeria and was terrified it was dieing when the leaves all fell off in a matter of days after arrival. I called Easy to Grow bulbs and the owner told me it was simply normal transportation shock. She also forewarned that the leaves likely would not return til Spring. And it just sat there like that all Winter - no change at all.

gobble said: That makes me think the lights didn't really do anything.

Didn't seem to one way or the other for the plumeria.

In the grow area, I also had about 40 other types of plants. Virtually everything went in to a holding pattern. Some dropped leaves, 5 types of Bauhinia for example. The only thing that seemed to be unphased was Tropical milkweed. It kept growing and blooming all winter.

drdawg said: For the first time ever (I have grown plumeria for 25 years) I am going to keep six different varieties, all in bloom/bud now, in my new solarium and see what they do.

Ken - Please do keep us appraised of what these do. Maybe start a thread that you can update periodically?

@Gobble - Mark A note on flourescent bulbs. I have no experience with LEDs.

If you want more detail, try a search and there is tons of info available.

Standard "shop" - cheap - junk - useful for "shop lights" :-)
Cool - only the cool ranges
Warm - only the warm ranges
Grow - most expensive - provides light spectrum found best for "growing"
Natural - sometimes labeled as full spectrum this is the best reasonably priced bulb for all around use

Before the advent of Natural lights, some folks (me included) would place one warm and one cool bulb in a fixture. This combo provided the broadest spectrum. Since Natural became available, they are the only ones that I use.