thanks herb. I understand what you are saying, but for the life of me what I can't understand is why a sink is so offensive! How many feet away does a cleanup sink have to be to not be offensive to diners? People are going to see the sink from everywhere in the kitchen, dining room, AND family room. If people hate being by sinks so much why do they always congregate in the kitchen? So much I don't understand. People always talking about hiding dirty dishes. I put my dirty dishes immediately in the dishwasher. Then I wipe out the sink so it's clean. ah well. Let me ask you this: do people who design their kitchens with you typically mind if their main cleanup sink faces a wall with no window? Maybe I need to be more open to this idea. It really bothers me though. In my own plan the only place the sink can face a window is if it's towards the dining end of the kitchen. The only other spot I see as an option is in the island, offset towards the opposite end (far away from the dining) maybe two feet away from the edge of the island, with the dishwasher being on the very end of the island. My prep would take place to the right of the sink at the 5 foot expanse of island, across from the range, or next to the range on one side or another. Then I could move the wall ovens to the spot closest to the dining area. Snackers could access the fridge, a snack counterspace and the dishwasher all outside the prep and cook zone. something like this except swap the trash and dishwasher and perhaps i don't need a prep sink, or perhaps the prep sink should be on the other side of the range: [img][/img]

There are certainly a zillion kinds of lights and everyone has a fav. These T-5s are 6400 so I guess I will just see. It would be interesting to know if, on plumerias, anyone notices any difference between the T-5s and Glow Panels. I could just run out and get every new thing that comes along. But I have to remind myself of the many a successful cattleya growers I know who still use standard T-12 fluorescents + a $12 plant light (red wave length). Lol! Hopeful, my T-5s will do the job. I sure do have enough of them.

It all depends on the conditions in which you keep it. The voltage of the lamp is also important. Usually it should be kept for about 11-12 hours. When I first started doing this, I often encountered various problems. I used weak lamps, which were not enough for the plants to germinate normally. After three months of useless work, my friend said that my lamps are absolutely not suitable for my plants. It was very difficult to find a good lamp, but he advised me to use nextlight mega . It turned out to be a great investment for me. Plants do much better. If someone encounters a similar problem, then I advise you to purchase it. Have a good harvest everyone :)

I have 2 - 4'x8' growing tables in the basement that are about chest-high. Each table is built so it sags slightly toward the geometric center and covered by a 4'x8' sheet of FRP panel (Fiberglas reinforced panel) with a hole in the center through which any overflows or spills drain into a bucked that rests on a 4'x8' storage shelf below the top. The image shows the T-12 fixtures with 1-1/2" 40W bulbs I first used after I built the tables about 20 years ago. There are 11 fixtures with 2 bulbs each above each table. The plants are grouped by ht and fixtures are hung at different heights so they almost tough the tallest part of the foliage mass. Several years ago, I changed over to T-8 bulbs with color temperature 5100K. This fall, I bought all new LED fixtures for the basement grow area and the garage. They provide 5200 lumens in color temperature 6000K. The old fixtures were 80 watts each, the new are 42 watts each. I run them 16 on: 8 off every day from the time I bring plants in in late Sep/early Oct until they go back outdoors sometime around Memorial day. They turn off at 11PM and come back on at 7AM. Al