Jerry sorry about the delayed response hee hee been way to busy to remember where I post, lol. Some things that need a warm cool warm season like helebores I started those in september but I wonder if I was to late for those. Most of my containers I have started on december 21st to february. I have several things I need to get going but sometimes life just gets in the way, hopefully I will have time this weekend to get in the dirt. As for information the winter sowing forum has a ton of info under the faq's and then Trudi has a website also it is called wintersown.org. There are a ton of people willing to help with any question you may have in regards to winter sowing for the first time, though pretty much you have the concept down. I use water bottles but most use milk jugs. I use whatever I have, whether it be cottage cheese containers or grated cheese containers to water bottles or juice bottles. I think I have in the picture one of those rotisserie chicken containers that is in use also even an ice cream bucket. I use my containers as I would a starting seed tray, just make sure there is plenty of drainage and of course ventilation. For the water bottles we just toss the lid for the cottage cheese or rotisserie chicken containers we just cut some holes in the top. I have even used a lasagna pan inside a comforter bag. I have drainage holes in the bottom and I cut ventilation holes in the top. This is the most recent picture I have of the lasagna pan, I think it was taken a few weeks back. As for the pictures I know there is a link somewhere how to add pictures. Though a simple way to tell you is upload your pictures to a third party photo client. I have been using photobucket some use flikr. They will provide you with an html code and just simply copy and paste the code into the message box. inside the brackets > insert height="500" width="600" for the size of pictures here in this message. I sure hope that helps. People on the wintersowing forum are extremely eager to help and extremely friendly, they love questions don't be afraid of them. They will welcome you with open arms!! Oh and there are several from canada that winter sow!!

A bulbs' "Color-temperature" (C/T")can play a big role here... * "Warm-Whites" are noticeably AMBER. These are skewed toward the "RED" end of the spectrum. This C/T-range is typically ~~ 2800deg.-3300deg Kelvin ("K"). * "Cool-Whites" are much less amber...looking much "Whiter". Their C/T ranges from ~~ 3400K-4500K. * "Daylight" bulbs cover the upper K-range. These are usually sold in the 4500K-6000K range. Bulbs here are BLUER than warm whites...literally, since that's the part of the light spectrum they're moving towards! Scroll down to the picture in the attached link. It's a good graphic for bulb K-ranges in our visible spectrum. Notice that bright sunlight at noon is ~~ 5500K. Faron Here is a link that might be useful: Bulb Color-temps...

Is it really necessary to have separate switching of the two lamps in the cases? If not, then you can just use an ordinary small can type 2-lamp electronic ballast and fit new T8 lamps. That's the easiest answer. If you do need separate switching then you'll just have to find room for two ballasts. Usually if one will fit, two will, if placed end to end. You will probably have to drill and tap new holes for the second ballast. If room is extremely tight in the fixtures, maybe you could remote the ballasts. Another possibility would be to use 3 or 4 PL type CF lamps. The mag ballasts for them are usually very small, about the size of a voice coil transformer from an AC-DC table radio (if you're old enough to remember those). You'd have to change out the lampholders too, of course. I see many hours of labor in your future. ;-) Maybe new T-4 or T-5 undercounter fixtures would fit in the cases.

it's just one fluorescent light fixture set inside a box that is roughly 2'x6' and 7" deep. Because it's so long & narrow, I think you have to fill it in. Sounds like the box is set in between the ceiling joists? (How tall are the ceilings in the kitchen & living room?) Patching in with drywall is an inexpensive solution. I totally suck at drywall finishing but, lucky for me, I love Spanish knife/ skip trowel texture. It's easy & fun to do and covers up drywall oopsies. So, if that appeals to you, one option would be to patch in, tape the seams and texture & paint the ceiling in the kitchen & LR. Cost would be less than a coupla hundred dollars plus the cost of a new light fixture.