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Supplementing poor sunlight with CFL?

Posted by rongurl1015 Texas (My Page) on
Wed, Feb 27, 13 at 14:41

I'm desperately wanting to grow vegetables on my apartment patio, but I'm concerned about the amount of sunlight I get. It's a southern facing patio, but the sunlight is almost totally blocked by another building that is set about four feet higher than mine. In fact, the view from my patio is a retaining wall!

I believe I get at least an hour or two of sunlight a day, but I'm not sure how direct it is. So, I'm wondering if it would be helpful to replace my standard incandescent porch light with a CFL "grow light." Would a grow light have to be very close to the plants, or would a foot or two of distance make much of a difference? I suppose I could always elevate the containers if this would make a difference...

I'm also flexible on the types of vegetables I grow - I'm still working that out. I'm assuming some would be more OK with less sunlight than others? I'm very new to this and I'm trying to get it all figured out!


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Supplementing poor sunlight with CFL?

Hi! I'll link to a thread with similar concerns a bit down the page from your post at the moment. It can be done.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grow lights


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RE: Supplementing poor sunlight with CFL?

Wonderful - thanks! :)


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