Growing under lights

Growing under lights
Tim Eck (Fri, 06 Nov 2015 14:35:29 PST)

Interestingly, with fluorescents due to their geometry, it's closer to a
simple (first power) inverse except at the ends of the rows.

-----Original Message-----
From: pbs [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Fred Thorne
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2015 7:46 PM
To: Pacific Bulb Society
Subject: Re: [pbs] Growing under lights

Using a light meter is an important part of growing under lights.
Understanding the The inverse-square law for light will aid in your
placement.

-----Original Message----- is an important part
From: Jane McGary
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2015 11:04 AM
To: Pacific Bulb Society
Subject: [pbs] Growing under lights

I have no experience growing tender bulbs under lights in winter, since at

former house there was a solarium where I could keep many plants frost-
free. Now I have a small (but very convenient) house, and the only place

overwinter plants is in the garage, where a former owner installed a tall,
sturdy workbench with a fluorescent light fixture above it. I recently

replaced

the common sort of lamp with a modern fixture intended for growing plants,
purchased from a neighbor who is closing down his indoor growing now that
his "crop" is legal in shops here in Oregon.

I just moved my tender plants onto the bench, but I'm not sure whether all
of them will tolerate the light level provided. Many are South American

and

South African, both monocots and dicots, and I'm sure they will enjoy the
bright light, but I also have some of the less hardy Cyclamen species.

Should I

shade the latter? I think Cyclamen persicum is probably as light-tolerant

Cyclamen graecum, which grows well for me in full sun, but I know Cyclamen
creticum grows in woodland. I don't know the habitat of Cyclamen
rohlfsianum.

I was going to move a pot of Hyacinthoides lingulata (formerly Scilla)

indoors,

but it's doing so well in the unheated bulb house that I left it on the

covered

patio. PBS member Paul Otto recently photographed this charming fall-
flowering bulb "taking over" a raised bed in his garden on the southern
Oregon coast, where most winters are relatively mild. I have seen leaf
damage on it after freezing, but the bulbs survive. I may add some next
summer to the area under large Douglas firs now planted almost entirely to
Cyclamen hederifolium, if I don't think a mass of blue, pink, and white

will be

a little vulgar.

Advice on the Cyclamen species will be welcome.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA

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