I always used 48" shop lights in the past, one "warm" bulb and one "cool" bulb.
But since moving, I haven't drilled any holes int he ceiling, so I've been using mucch less satisfactory screw-in CFL bulbs (some spotlight bulbs and some normal bulbs in a hooded reflector) on a "pole lamp").
If you can possibly hang them from something, even some rigged-up PVC skeleton, those 48" shop lights are the best value in dollars per lumen. (T8s or maybe T5s for more intensity and a few more dollars).
I think the LED fixtures are still either too expensive, or too short-lived if from China, but some people speak in LED's favor.
(Stressing the "I" in this paragraph): I think that grow lights are just expensively packaged CFL bulbs with broad-spectrum phosphors plus a weird color. If you believe it makes a difference, shop for a box of "white" bulbs with broad-spectrum phosphors to get more lumens AND pay less AND not have the weird blue-purple color.
If grow bulbs ever do make any difference (either the weird color or the spread-spectrum), I think it would only be for some unusual species, and possibly only during flowering. For seedlings, NO difference. For common plants, I think very little or no difference.
I could be wrong, especially for flowering unusual species that I have never grown. But everyone I recall with a basement full of seedlings uses shop lights with normal tubes, either random white tubes, one warm white and one cool white, or both cool whites.
I think the choice among T8, T5 and T5HO is just "How much can you spend?" and "do you need or want UNUSUALLY strong intensity?" The brighter tubes are more expensive and less efficient and usually don't last as long.
T8s are already brighter than old T12s, so the cheapest, most efficient, LEAST bright modern option is already better than anything sold a few decades ago.
Unless the T5 price keeps dropping, T8s are what I plan to buy if I ever drill hole in my ceiling. (I mean, "clear out that corner of my bedroom again and then hire someone able to climb ladders".)
What's the tradeoff for seedlings, considering the choice between brighter $$ tubes and cheaper, more efficient tubes? With brighter lights, you don't need to keep the tubes AS close to the growing seedlings, hence you can adjust heights less often. They will stay stocky and strong instead of leggy and weak, even if the lights stay high enough for you to work easily with the plants without moving light fixtures out of your way.
And maybe with brighter tubes, you could place your 1020 trays perpendicular to the shop lights instead of parallel, getting twice as many trays on each shelf (like four instead of two trays). But I think that's a stretch unless you're talking T5HO. I don't know that; I'm just guessing. I hope someone with more experience scoffs at that idea or says that they've done it.
Look how perfect those are! What cultivar is that?
About 80% of the seeds I received are pink mixes (the vast majority) or yellow mixes (a few), so I have a LOT to give away. I kept the few seeds that seemed to align more with my deeper-color hybridizing goals.
) I'm wondering if I need grow lights?
