Smokemaster - thanks for your reply. You're right, I have no idea what kind of soil these should eventually be put in, I'm trying to do as much research and figure it out as I go. I don't have any yard, just patio / roof area, so these plants were all going to be in containers - so couldn't I tailor the potting soil I use to the plants I'm growing, when it comes time to transplanting them? I think I'm confusing myself haha. Starting seeds in the fall sounds like a good idea, but there's pretty much no way I will ever be able to set up a grow light area, just not enough space where I live. I guess if my spring-time experiment doesn't work out, I'll just stick to buying nursery plants in the future. I was planning on buying a couple nursery plants this weekend as a backup plan. So if / when my seed experiment goes awry, at least I'll have those. Thanks again for your help!

Unless your planning on growing full-size plants in your basement, lighting doesn't matter too much. For sprouting plants and growing seedlings, shop lights work fine. Up until last year, I grew all my seedlings with a ccombination of compact fluorescent lamp (previously used for construction) and an old joy-rigged fluorescent drafting lamp (previously used for architectural drawings). The price was right for both... Free. Only recently have I bought a new set of fluorescent fixtures - still not what anyone would call professional, but they use a lot less duct tape and are nicer on the eyes :)

Stephen...Well that's correct, low light plants placed close to lights. If I put the african violets outside, they would be dead within the week-too hot, too cold, too many bugs, too sunny, not enough sun. I don't know how they ever survived outside. And they are an enjoyment to me at night or when it's too hot out or too cold, I have plants to look at and they require less light than some of the orchids that people grow inside under lights. Daniella I have them on wicks-a piece of acrylic yarn that is wound around the bottom of the plant pot and hangs into a salad container of rain water or purified water with a small dose of fertilizer. So they are relatively low maintenance. I'm sorry you're allergic, they looked so nice I had to take they're picture. They're cute, the little fussy baxters.

It depends on the light, actually. For the most part, to be entirely honest (and I'm going to get a lot of argument, screeching, arguing, and people insisting they have a magic formula), it's just not as straightforward as Veg and Bloom. Nature does not work that way. The sun does not suddenly irradiate plants with oodles of blue or red light when it's time to flower or blossom, and indoor plants are no different. The vast majority of plants will want both settings on at most times for maximum energy output if the lamp can handle it and if the plant in question wants it. The Veg setting--depending on your lamp--ramps up the blue (or ramps down the red) by some amount. The flower setting ramps down the blue or ramps up the red. If it's reducing energy overall to below what the plant likes, that's a problem. Keep it at a higher setting overall even if the spectrum is a little too blue/red. If it's over what a plant likes, pull it back. Again, even if it's too blue/red. Note that this isn't usually a problem. And check the species in question. Some are more particular than others, and there are too many indoor crops to count. Most, frankly, simply don't care. What do I use? I use a mixed-spectrum of LEDs of warm whites, full spectrum, mid-white, and red. It covers the output from 395 to 800 nm with no gaps, including the allegedly "useless" yellow and green areas of the spectrum (they're not useless, they've been omitted due to historic reasons that are no longer necessary; plants do use them). The system in the room I'm sitting in has been designed to be not terribly unpleasant to my eye (which is extremely particular in terms of color; I paint in this room; the light has a noticeable red-violet cast to the white, but can be easily overwhelmed by my painting lamps and I've learned to compensate). It's assembled less by spectrum than light strength, and plants do beautifully under this one, the one downstairs, and the less-well designed one in the bathroom (very noticeably red). Flowers get sprouted, and blossom easily, every year under the lights in the cellar. Those are the cheapest fluorescent tubes I can source, 850 plants a year, raised from seed with no other significant light source. Most are budding to blossoming by the time they go outside in May. I just use 1 warm white and 1 cool white per lamp, 2 lamps per shelf, 6 shelves.