What are the best way to grow indoors without spiking your electricity bill?

Question

my wife just decided that she wanted to start a mini nursery in our basement with the kids to grow cherry tomatoes cilantro and peppers. im know this fad wont last long but she pretty stuck with this. so its a hydroponic setup she saw on youtube. so what should i tell her what bulbs she should buy?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

get a t5ho lighting fixture designed for aquarium use and use 6700k spectrum light bulbs. these fixtures are low energy/high output and will do the job quite nicely. you'll be looking at spending a few hundred dollars though. i'd check ebay for cheap or used fixtures. depending on the area you are planning to grow the plants, you will probably want at least a 4-bulb fixture.

Answer 2

Just use CFLs. Target sells a floor lamp that has 5 sockets on it, and they are on flexible arms so you can bend them down to point the light directly at the plants. It costs $30. Purchase one or two of these and get some 100 watt output CFLs (they only use 26 watts of power), some cool blue light, some warm red light, and some soft white ones. Mix them and it will give the plants a full spectrum of light while using 75% less power than regular bulbs. And a lot less power than high output bulbs. I have an indoor garden and was afraid to see what my electric bill would be and it was actually the lowest it's been this year. They work great, the plants are thriving very well. Hopefully you will have a green thumb. Good luck.