I know you folks probably think I'm nuts anyway, but you're not going to believe what I just did. I'm really disgusted with the progress of my toms, peppers, and (fried) eggplants under this supersonic HID system that's 800 watts. It's heavy, bulky, hot, and a real pain to adjust. Plus, it just annoys the heck out of me that the "distance under lights" advice is so non-specific: "Hold your hand under the light at the point where it feels warm and place the tops of the plants there." WHAT??? So... I unplugged the HID, and found two 48" shop-lights and cool bulbs. Already had a shelving system, so pretty easy to set up. Moved the surviving babies under the tubes, and re-sowed another batch of toms and eggplants. Placed the lights about 2 inches over the tops. I know this HID system can grow man-eating orchids, but it's "too many things" for a few seedlings. Maybe I'll sell it and buy... MORE SEEDS!

Followup - it's the end of June and those original seedlings are blooming their little hearts out! I have some more tiny seedlings started which are growing great. Thanks so much for the advice Irina, they are very happy that distance from the 4 tubes. Just in case I can't keep them under the lights during the winter, I'll have to see where everything that comes inside fits then. Would an east window with my violets be possible. I do have a drop light shining on the violets during the winter because the hybrids seem to need additional light (the optimaras bloom fine without it) Or during the winter months would they prefer a south window or a south window with a sheer curtain? There is slight tree shade in both windows. I will have plastic up on the windows to stop any drafts. Thank you :)

There are some plumeria that need sheltering, some epiphillium, a few tropicals like murraya koenigil, and the mango trees. This is what it looks like inside during the day. Poor Ice Cream Mango on the left still needs to be lowered. By altadenamara, shot with E4500 at 2007-12-16 This is half of the light track on the top. By altadenamara, shot with E4500 at 2007-12-16 This is a branch or two from my Owari Satsuma out in the "cold".Citrus do okay outside. By altadenamara, shot with E4500 at 2007-12-16

Thanks lynn2006 and aliris19--love the pun, aliris! We don't have flowers all the time lynn (wouldn't that be nice though?), but I should have taken a new kitchen pic with my beautiful Valentine's Day bouquet--DH drove to the store that Friday morning (after, during? the snowstorms we had) to pick them up for me! Flaten, I have a couple sets of Chilewich placemats (one set I got at Century 21 for something like $4 each--I couldn't believe it when I got home and googled them and saw that they retailed for $20/ea!), so I know how nice some of their materials can be! Here are some pics I have in my PB showing a few of our shades: Guest Bathroom: MB (reflected in the mirror--you can see how sheer that particular fabric is): Guest Bedroom (you can see part of the shade): The shades in the Guest Bedroom and in our "Spare Room" are the prettiest ones we have fabric-wise (IMO), and those have the most texture, too. The shades in the two bathrooms, and our bedroom are solid color, flat weave, and are fairly sheer during the day--we wanted to maximize our ability to look out the windows during the day, while leaving the shades down (on nice days, with the windows open, we raise the shades to the height of the open portion of the window). We have room darkening micro-pleat shades mounted behind the screen shades in both bedrooms. We lower those at night, and raise them fully in the morning when we get up. Privacy micro-pleat shades are available as well, BTW. I haven't seen them in person, but would think they allow more light into the room. Some light does seep in with the room darkening micro-pleats--there are pinholes up/down the length of the shades for the strings that help to raise and lower them. FYI, they do NOT make the Roman Shade style Designer Screen Shades anymore (like the two in our bathrooms, and the ones in our office and FR which are not shown here). They are only available now as a completely flat shade (like the one in our Guest Bedroom). They offer a range of fabrics; from very sheer to fairly opaque, completely smooth through textured, etc. HTH!