Gar, I'm glad you asked this because this will be my first year planting seeds and I'm hoping to get my plants to a 'blooming size' faster, too.
Mind if I insert a few extra questions to your seed-starting thread?
I hope you don't think I'm hijacking your thread, but your questions are good ones that parallel mine.
Here's a couple of questions I have to add:
* Do 'daylight' lamps (or 'natural' lamps) work as well for growing as lamps official sold as grow lamps? (My understanding is that as long as it's a blue-ish color of light, it will work as a grow light.)
* I plan to re-purpose K-cups to start my seedlings this fall (likely in October)--any idea how long I can expect to keep them in K-cups before they will need repotted? Or will K-cups last me until Spring planting time (late April/early May)? Does this vary wildly depending on cultivar, or do they mostly start growing at roughly the same pace?