Halogen Lamps for growing indoor plants...

["Peter]

Greetings all,

I'm in zone 7b and need to bring a few sub-tropicals inside over the wintertime.

Has anyone suceessfully used Halogen Lamps for light. Lamps are adjustable and wattage can be varied from 100 W (2000 Lumens) to about 1000 Watts.

There is be some ambient lighting, as location is by a east window... but for the most part...supplemental lighting will be necessary and I'm wondering if halogens will do the job.

Thanks !!!

[Steve Wolfe]

wondering if

They will certainly work. However, halogens are not nearly as efficient as fluorescent or HID lighting, so you do use quite a bit more electricity to get the same amount of light. As a comparison, a 100-watt metal halide bulb will give off around 9,000 lumens, 4.5 times more than the halogen you mention. However, the initial expenditure for metal halide and the lack of dimming ability can overturn any advantage in efficiency, so it's all up to what you want, and what you're willing to pay for!

steve

[Peter]