I'm planning on making my own lights, with a bit of help from my dad, who's an EE. I found a calculator online that approximated how many bulbs I would need for a given square footage, the watts per square foot, and the watts per bulb. I then reduced that a bit as I have a window in the room, and I'm planning on using a lot of reflectors to increase light in the room as well. I'm planning on getting a light meter once I expand a bit, but for this first setup I'll either borrow one, or eyeball it to keep costs down. Current list of plants: Arugula Blueberry, Sunshine Blue Carrot, Little Finger Lettuce, Garden Babies Lettuce, Garden Fern Lettuce, Sea of Red Microgreens (blends) x2 Spinach, Summer Perfection Basil, Genovese Onion, Walla Walla Oregano, Greek Pepper, Habanero Pepper, Jalapeno Pepper, Orange and Red Suave Summer Squash, Black Beauty (Zucchini) Sweet Potato, Bradshaw Thyme, Creeping This post was edited by Aysling on Fri, Jan 10, 14 at 7:29

thanks for your replies...but I want to make sure I understand. Just to clarify, I planted each kind separately in a different pot but I just poured the seeds in and did not space them out. All of the tomato plants are stuck next to each other and same with the cucumber plants.... I flipped over the basil and the root were all the way down to the bottom and the roots all mixed together so what ur saying is pick how many plants I will use and use scissors to cut the roots of the ones that I won't use to ground level and replant into a bigger pot. I am afraid that the hot humid weather here will kill my plants. I am in a desert climate...about 8months out of the year it is 90 to over 100 degree weather and very humid and then 4months its like beautiful windy 70 degree weather. and I don't seem to have a shaded area. Any advice? If I were to plant in the ground, would they live?

I'm not totally sure of this, but I don't think mosquitoes will be able to breed unless there is a puddle of standing water (or a layer of stagnant water). BUT, I try not to let the surface remain too wet, just in case. I've wondered if pitchers would be possible breeding grounds, but they fill up so fast with caught insects, I haven't worried too much. I have a carnivorous plant bog and haven't had any real pests so far. A very few slugs, easily caught. Spiders and ants (those surprised me) seem to enjoy the bog too, despite the wetness (and despite being eaten in the ants case). But they are hardly pests. What kind of bog (types of plants) are you planning on? Have fun with it!

If they are Bonnie Plants that say for containers then I am going to guess at a few types. 1 Husky Cherry Red 2 Better Bush 3 Bush Goliath 4 Patio 5 Container Choice If it one of those then I would say you can easily use a planter that is 12 inches across, by 10 inches deep at a minimum. I say this due to the fact that they sell large bush plants in the container with the cage for $14.98 or so. I bought one a while back. It is doing fine, and not showing any signs of being root bound. I have been eating cherry tomatoes off of it for the past couple of weeks. It was badly pruned by a hail storm. I was temped to pull it, and start over. The thing is every time I am going to it has more fruit set on it. For a planting medium as has been said above use a potting mix. Also several of the people I know have said to avoid Miracle Grow Moisture Control. All have nothing good to say about it. (More than 6 people.) I was using either Vigro, or Miracle Grow until I started making my own. Note the plant is in the 3rd round container on the right. I will if you wish try to get a better picture of it tomorrow when I get home from work.