Hi there Pp,

What all that means is - You have 2 foot, 24 watt, T5 (tube diameter-5/8") High Output (HO), 6400K (light measurement in color & intensity) fluorescent light bulbs.

These are great for indoor or supplemental lighting, especially for vegetative growth. I use the same bulbs. Now the questions are... #1 - How many light fixtures do you have?

#2 - How many bulbs fit into a fixture?

#3 - What's the lowest temperature in the area you want to grow in?

Some pictures of your equipment may be helpful.

Rob

Agreed; pictures of your fixture would be great! Just as an fyi; I use just plain old fluorescent bulbs that I buy at Home Depot. For many years I bought the more expensive grow-lights, but I have found that it really doesn't make any difference; my seedlings and cuttings do great with just the plain ones, so long as I keep them quite close to the lights. Right now I have many big healthy young delphiniums and hollyhocks under my lights; I also have 9 big rose cuttings thriving under them. The biggest challenge is to keep things humid and cool enough for the young roses, but I usually manage ok. I'm sure you will too!

Ooh those look lovely. I suggest you think about purchasing one of those plastic greenhouse thingies. One that looks something like this :

This will help keep the moisture and heat in. Also, you can try using heating mats under the pots and seed trays. I've also heard that old electric blankets work well for this sort of thing.

Lastly you need to put the lights as close to the plants as possible without touching them. Otherwise your seedlings will grow very tall and spindly and will become weak plants. The roses would benefit from the stronger light too.

also, nor humidity can bring fungus so be prepared to spray them should they get blackspot or mildew and remove any leaves or plants that become infected to avoid spreading of the disease. These things spread fast in such close quarters.

You'll soon find that these grow lights are great to have for getting a jump start on seed staring each year. I've had petunia and marigold seedlings even start to bloom under my lights. And like Francis says above, you don't need fancy full spectrum grow lights for this. Any florescent light will do, but the brighter the better and more neutral is better too (not too warm, not too cool) as white as possible.

If you are new to seed starting try starting out with Petunias. They are super easy to grow from seed. Also Zinnias, snapdragons and marigolds are all very easy from seed too.

Happy growing!

Thanks a bunch SoFl. So do you think I'll be ok if I don't use the plastic house? Could I buy a stronger bulb for more heat and try to mist plants daily? Are these bulbs mainly for light not really heat? I know absolutely nothing so hope to do it right. Judy

Pp - I'm assuming that being in Georgia you have substantial humidity. No?

I'm certainly no expert on roses, but I do know a thing or two about growing under lights. When I hear someone say to use just "Regular" or "Plain" fluorescents, it makes me think they are referring to the old T12 bulbs (which are no longer being made). T5 6500K bulbs are not exactly full spectrum lights. The "K" represents the Kelvin Scale, and 6500 is high on the Blue end (if they were being sold under residential, they would be labeled as "Daylight"). As far as price goes, I get them- 5 bulbs for $20, and they last longer than a year running 16 - 17 hours a day. That being said, any fluorescent bulb being sold as a "Grow Light" is an over priced scam; and provides no extra benefit. If you truly want full spectrum grow lights, a mix of Metal Halide, and High pressure Sodium bulbs work, or many people these days are using - Full spectrum LED's. (All three of those are quite expensive.)

LED example - ****************Now that I've pasted this photo the page wont let me continue further down. If you need more info I'll post another comment.

Rob

It all depends on how cold it will get in your car port. If you think it will be warm enough and have enough humidity, you won't need the green house. I don't think the lights provide much heat, however. Mine don't get very hot.

Thanks so much SoFl and Rob. I really have no clue if there's enuf heat or humidity. Is there a certain temp the carport needs to not go below and these lights still work?

Prettypetals, this bit below is from another forum which I belong to, have a look,

"The combination of red and blue LEDs seems like a good idea. It makes sense to produce only the wavelengths of light that plants can actually use rather than to waste energy producing full spectrum light suitable for human vision. It is cheaper to produce single wavelength LEDs than white LEDs, so it should be cheaper to make grow lights with red and blue LEDs than white LEDs. There are a lot of different red/blue LED grow lights on Amazon. Here is one that looks like it could replace fluorescent fixtures: http://tinyurl.com/hgtvnls
$44.99 for ten 10 watt LED strips mounted on aluminum channels seems like a reasonable price, although you also need to buy a 12 volt power supply. This one has three red LEDs for each blue LED. I'd be tempted to add some white LEDs just in case."