Not to mention that smoking marijuana, while it has a notably lung cancer rate than tobacco smoking, has a notably *higher* emphysema rate. If you're going to ingest it, the healthiest way is through the digestive tract. But that's neither here nor there, ne? The person was just looking at info on how to get started growing indoors :) Okay, first off, lights! There are five main types of lights used to grow plants indoors: * CFLs * Tube fluorescents (of varying kinds) * HID: Metal halide * HID: High pressure sodium * LED There are also several types of lights *not* recommended for growing plants indoors: * Incandescent: Way too much heat for the amount of light output, so you'll burn your plants, and your power bills will be off the chart. * Low pressure sodium: High luminous efficiency, but plants don't grow based on lumens (a scale based on the human eye) -- they grow based on PAR/PUR, which is just the opposite. Low pressure sodium is too yellow, a color which is both poorly absorbed by plants and also lacks red and blue stimulation for proper hormonal growth cues. LPS-grown plants tend to have starchy, chlorotic leaves and poor yields. Now, for the types that people *do* use! * CFL: All kinds of fluorescents need to be *close* to the plants, including CFLs. No more than a couple inches. This generally means that if you want more than a pot or two of plants, you need to build yourself a custom CFL fixture. One person on this forum made a very attractive one out of some aluminum ducting. CFLs are slightly less efficient than tube fluorescents, but are generally more available. * Tube fluorescents: These come in different varieties. T8s and T5s are generally a little more efficient that T12s and CFLs. The fact that they're long makes for convenient placement over plants. It's a good idea for any fluorescent lighting system to be hung on an adjustable rope or chain so it can be easily moved up as the plants grow. * MH: Metal halide bulbs are a type of HID bulb (HIDs tend to be very bright, and a little more efficient than fluorescents) that is biased toward the blue side of the spectrum (bluer = more vegetative growth). Like all HIDs, you need a ballast to run them. Magnetic ballasts are cheaper, but ill-advised; they're less efficient (and FYI, power costs are the real killer with indoor growing, not upfront costs -- do the math and you'll see what I mean) and will give you shorter bulb life. Shell out the extra for an electronic ballast. One thing to note in particular about MHs: If they're damaged, don't use them, and never use them in a fixture they're not designed for; some types can emit dangerous levels of UV if damaged or installed improperly. * HPS: High pressure sodium bulbs are a type of HID bulb that are biased toward the redder end of the spectrum. The standard rules about HIDs apply. Oh, and also, the way to tell how high above your plants a HID or fluorescent should be: put your hand where the plants are. The light should feel gentle and warm, but not hot. * LEDs: If you're looking to start a fight on a board about growing plants indoors, bring up LEDs ;) I personally love them. They use a fraction as much power and yield excellent growth *if you use them right*. That means using either multiple lights or a proper reflection setup to ensure adequate light penetration (also, while they're sometimes advertised as being 3-6 times as efficient as HIDs, they're really more like 2 times as efficient, so don't under-light your area). The downside to LEDs is very high purchase costs. However, if you run the numbers, you'll find out that in the long run, they're well worth it due to their power savings. On to the rest of the post: I have windows covered because they are to big, west facing, and turn our one bedroom into a baking oven. Well, what you do think having a bunch of grow lights (especially non-LED grow lights) is going to do to your room? Don't turn down a free gift; instead, if you're concerned about solar heat, install a low-E film (or low-E glass) to reflect the sun's infrared, only letting in the useful visible light. Think about it this way: if you have a 20% efficient grow light in your room that created the same spectrum as the sun, you'll be releasing 5 times as much heat into the room as if you just let the sun in for the same amount of light. Even if your grow light didn't emit the sun's IR, you'd still be heating your room 2.5 times as much as the sun. Also would like to know how to keep leave tender without drowning the roots would be nice. Are you asking how not to overwater? Feel the soil under the surface. It should feel *dry* before you water. Also, water from the bottom, in trays; it gives a lower chance of disease. Lastly, increase the amount of inorganic and aerating material in your soil; that'll decrease the odds of root rot. Never have too high of a percent of your soil be peat, or you'll be increasing your odds of rot. Other indoor gardening things of note: * Some plants are more likely to go leggy than others. These include lettuce and brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, mustard, etc). On these plants, take extra care to get them tons of light. Also, a fan will help them build stronger stems, in the way that the occasional breeze outdoors does. * Use yellow sticky traps -- not so much to catch the bugs, but to find out if you ever have a problem so you can deal with it right away. * Indoor gardening, while more expensive (mainly due to that power bill), really is a treat. You can get beautiful, near-flawless plants, insect-free (if you care for them right), and work on them from the comfort of your home without heat or humidity or cold or a long walk or tilling or weeds or anything else that might annoy you. Also, another great thing is that they need a lot less water indoors than outdoor plants need. Especially if you don't use a fan, you'll be amazed at how infrequently you need to water them. * Not all plants like it, but you may find that a 24-hour grow cycle gets you better results than 12-hour. Peppers especially respond well to it.

In Portland Petco now carries many good, premium cat foods. My picky princess likes the Wellness Core, Merrick's Before Grain and also their Turducken and Thanksgiving Day. Silly names - good food. Not cheap but much healthier than cheap food full of fillers and who-knows-what. They also have some foods from Blue (Buffalo) that are popular at my house - anything in gravy. They also have some Halo and a few other premium brands. Small cats often can't eat a lot at one time and they need really good food to keep them healthy.

bronwynsmom there are so many 'haint blues , fun colors has done essentially a treatise on them that is on line. I was lucky enough to find the original color under the luan ceiling that had been placed over our original 1890 porch ceiling. One must look to the area one lives in order to find the exact color that one should use. It really does matter. I have since found 2 more intact ceilings in my area and they have the same blue as mine from the same decade. It you go to SC or to LA or MS you will find a whole different color and many more stories as to why the 'haints stay away. I also have a blue bottle tree in my garden to add to the repelling of 'haints !! It is common in Louisiana and Mississippi and other southern areas to paint the trims on doors and windows a blue for the same reason..the spirits can't cross the blue. I will take all the protection I can get :) I hope the po is finding this helpful and doesn't think we are nutso ! c

Hi all! I currently live in a small studio apartment. My windows are north facing, but there is a large building close to me. This causes one half of my apartment to get very, very little light. Does anyone have any recommendations for maybe a bulb or light that is white and could maybe replace my ceiling fan light, so that I can put plants throughout my entire apartment?