The photo associated with this post is the black tub in the post dated January 19, 2008. In less than a month the lettuce is ready to harvest.
These plants were grown using a compact fluorescent rated at 125 watts.
A few short years ago the thinking was that fluorescent lighting was only good for starting seeds. In the last two years there has been a paradigm shift and currently compact, and high output fluorescent lights, such as the T5 tubes, are now being used to grow pretty much any crop to full maturity.
I have read some studies that determined the T5 tubes outperformed metal halide lights in growing peppers in a controlled experiment.
The fluorescents are economical to operate, do not produce a lot of heat, and can be placed close to the plants. In my case the fixture I am using has an output close to 30,000 lumen.
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