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African Violets

Growing under lights---any recommendations?

19 years ago

I would like to try growing some African violets under lights....a tabletop setup would be ideal. I was wondering if these tabletop lightstands can be purchased at big box stores in the garden departments---such as Lowe's or Home Depot for instance, or does one have to send off to a supply house for these kinds of things? I am totally a novice, so any advice appreciated!

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Comments (3)

fred_hill
19 years ago
Hi,
You can check Lowes and Home Depot to see what they have. Most of the time you will find shop light fixtures that are 48" long. You can purchase flourescent bulbs cheaper for 48" fixtures than for 20" fixtures. Some people here have set up a pre fab metal stand they found at a home store and put a couple fixtures on it so the lights were about 10 - 12 inches from the top of the plants. They leave them on for about 10 - 12 hours a day.
Fred in NJ
fishermans_wife
19 years ago
Ladybug,
I am fairly new to the whole growing with lights thing, but there is a fairly helpful fourm on this site that is dedicated to that. I started my seeds this year under lights and had great success (not African Violets, just seeds in general). Just go to light fixture section at Lowes and find the shop light fixtures, you know the ones that have the long floresent (sp?) bulbs in them. We had a fixture that had 4 bulbs, but they sell them with just two bulbs as well. The bulbs you buy are not as important as how close the bulbs are to the plant. Go to the growing with lights forum, there is some great info there and hopefully something you can use. Good Luck!!
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Judy Lodin
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks a lot to both of you for this info!

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