timmko

What does everyone use for indoor lighting when they bring their plants in for the winter? I have a 12x18 shed with a 9ft ceiling that I will be bringing my plants in for the coming winter. Last year I used a 400watt MH bulb but my plants were only1-2ft tall. Right now they are anywhere from 3-5ft and by fall hopefully much larger. The local floral shop says they just use florescent lighting for all their plants (but they don't have tropicals, just regular house plants). I was looking at some t-5 lighting fixtures from Home Depot but don't want to spend a lot. The specialty stores sell t-5's but they are way too expensive. I currently use them on my reef tank as well and have had great luck. My plan was to buy a few fixtures there since they are cheaper and buy some bulbs online to get the 6500k or higher output. Any suggestions on amount of lights needed and period to let them on? I have 5 larger bananas (maybe more by then..lol) My building is heated so that won't be an issue and I don't need them to grow like nuts in the winter just want to keep the leaves looking healthy. I have 2 windows roughly 3x4ft one facing north and one facing south, the south window lets in a fair amount of light. I wanted to start on this project over summer while the weather is nice to work on it.. Thanks for any advice

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