The color all depends on what you're growing. As Al said, blue/cool white lamps promote foliage, and the red/warm white lamps promote more flowering. For orchids, I agree with Toni....one of each. Keep in mind though, what you think is bright, isn't necessarily bright. 2 lamps isn't very much light, especially if you have a T12 fixture. You must be pretty much right on top of the plants with a 2 lamp fixture, because fluorescent light intensity drops off VERY fast. As I said in other posts, if I were to start growing under lights again, I would replace my 400w metal halide I used to use, which worked awesome, with a 4 or 6 lamp T5 highbay fixture. Joe P.S. Buying the cheapy shop lights from big box stores will cost you more in the long run. They are inefficient, and they don't actually contain real ballasts, in turn burning up lamps faster then a normal ballast fixture.

Hi Paul, yours is such a nice looking plant. Do you mist the strands? From your picture, I see you are keeping it indoor. Nope, never have misted the strands -- not even during the winter months when my humidity reaches a "high" of 33% (and that's with TWO humidifiers running). Yes, it is kept indoors year round -- I live in an apt so hanging it outside has never been an option. I think I have just the right (plastic) pot for it that is wide (10cm) but shallow. Coralred, if you do choose to go that route, then I should probably mention the following: 1) I did drill/melt a series of drainage holes in the bottom of the container. 2) Under the pot, there is another container, a "saucer" if you will, of roughly the same dimensions -- perhaps a tad larger -- to catch any water that drains through the holes in the pot. The pot does not touch the bottom of the 'saucer' but rather has about 1-2cm of clearance. A wick was inserted through a hole at one end of the pot, laid across the bottom of the pot in an "S" shape, and emerged from the other end of the pot. Both ends of the wick dangled into the 'saucer'/cache basin. After two years, it would not surprise me to find that the wick had disintegrated and the roots of the plant had entered the saucer/basin. (However, I have not had any desire to disturb the plant to check. I have this happen with other plants though, so ........)

"Have you done grow tests to compare production, dry mass of harvested plants, anything to support your claims?" On a dry yield, no, as most of our targeted plants are used fresh (basil, cilantro, parsley, lettuce, etc) Wet, yes. On a trial run of African basil (which the lights currently illuminating my cannabis plants were originally designed for,) I attained growth under that 20w nearly comparable to 96w T5HO array using 4 24w 6500K Agro-Max tubes. That is just at home. Here: http://imgur.com/xiqMp.jpg If you wanted something that is typically measured dry, I'm quite sure Google would have plenty of answers and cited journals in Google Scholar - perhaps you should look there. Plenty of information I've read on there pretty much follows exactly what I'm saying all along - most of today's typical UFO panels have too little blue, and it hinders development. "You come here posting how LEDs should be built" The original topic was how to use LEDs properly. At least that is what it says at the top of my web browser "How to properly use LEDs for growing - Growing under Lights Forum - GardenWeb" I do not think I mis-titled my own post. If I wanted to discuss how LEDs should be built, I would be posting diagrams of new p and n junctions, and talk about diode composition, and lambertian radiation patterns. I'm not here to talk about that, I do that at another forum. "but refuse to provide veritable data to back your claim." I haven't even started the grow to show and you're already dismissing me before I give a demonstration, which this thread is all about. Pull up a chair, sit down, enjoy the show, comment afterwards. "My olfactory sense is not 100 percent but close and I smell a rat." Always the doubters and naysayers that have to resort to negative words. "Anything else, beside the wavelength and number of LED lights I should consider?" If you want to do a comparison, follow my method - single mother plant, cut same-size clones (six inches.) 12/12 directly from roots being visible from the bottom of the rockwool cube. Put clones in the systems to be used for testing. It is how I do most of my tests (besides algae, which I use tissue culture methods.) For your blooming panel, follow a 40:30:30 ratio of 460:660:630, which is my panel specification for all my 50w+ units - your LED placement in the panel for optimal blending is up to you. I am using 1w diodes, and if you must know the diode manufacturer it's Seoul Semiconductor, just so we can do a more even comparison.

mamapinky0, would you like me to mail you some of the Japanese detergents? They are in individual single use packs, so it'll be pretty easy! The ones I have are Heyaboshi Top (the Japanese hang dry clothes, and due to the high humidity levels musty smells are a huge issue - the heyaboshi is supposed to help that) and Attack (that's a link to the Singapore site which is in English). We were in Japan for 3 weeks, and did our laundry twice with JP detergents. Unfortunately even though they claim that everything is good for both colors and whites some dark shirts faded terribly, which is why I'm not too keen on using them again. I guess in order to balance out the cold water only washes they have to have some really harsh ingredients in there. By the way detergent is incredibly, shockingly inexpensive there - a box of Attack (which is considered TOL, if I understand correctly) was like $2. Oh and the washers are bizarre, for example, they can be set up to reuse bath water (which the whole family has taken turns soaking in). We rented an apartment in Kyoto through airbnb and our washer was on the balcony!