LOL! Didn't think you had that much light space, to keep 'em! (Regarding the carrots.)

Lately I've been plotting a seed-starting light rig, for starting my spring / summer outdoor gardens. I wonder how good it'll be for greens...

Making my own, ish. A 48" 2-bulb T8 flourescent fixture, hung from a sturdy plastic utility shelf. Possibly keep it in the garage for the first month or so - the shelves are already in the garage, and the first round of seedlings are mostly cool weather plants (pansies and snapdragons). The few warmer, bigger plants for the kozy coats experiment, I could start as AG outriders. The later heat-loving crop plants (tomato, pepper, eggplant) I might start directly in my pro100 with just the 7 holes, after giving my latest greens garden a couple months. Cucurbits need no special treatment - they're super-easy to germinate. And move the seed starting lights indoors by the time the warm-weather seedlings need 'em - the cool weather plants can go outside by then. (Well, maybe not the snaps, but it won't do them any harm to be warmer.) Planning out the seedling starting is strangely complex...

Yeah, the AG's definitely give seeds a great kick-start. But they can't stay in there long, if I plan to grow the plants out in soil. And for cucurbit starting, it's a waste of prime AG real estate. And for this long parade of seed-starting - there's a different batch of seeds every 2 weeks or so, spread over months. Not really willing to use a whole AG for that, when a $25 or so wonky light rig (or none...) will do. Most of these seedlings I managed last year without hardware.

Ah. Just felt kinda dumb calling 'em "cukes&zukes" all the time. Unfortunately, "squash" seems to exclude "cuke". You know what I mean, though, right? "Squash-cuke-melon family".

Haven't actually bought this stuff yet. Assorted websites say assorted things... People who do it all the time seem to buy "cool white" by the 10-pack. I think that's more like 4200K. But others suggested add a full spectrum daylight t8 bulb, which is 6500K? Maybe one of each to hedge my bets?

Edit: Hm. Another page seems to suggest "daylight" = 5000K.

I'm still not very up on all this... they make flourescents weirdly complicated.

Sounds like the most all-purpose setup would then be one of each, 4200K and either-daylight (5000K or 6500K, whichever they have cheapest...)

6500K would give me the option to try using it for cucurbits some other time, though... But two t8 bulbs probably isn't enough light for a cucumber to bear fruit, do you think?

But I decided to stop dreaming up expensive fruiting rigs, and instead stick to the possibly much-cheaper task at hand - start strong seedlings.

FWIW, seeds I managed last year without a seed-starting light rig :  pansies, petunias, spinach, dill, basil, cucumbers, zucchini. The earlier seedlings (pansies, petunias, and snapdragons) spent some time nestled between AG minis for overflow light. But mostly I started these by my west-facing slider, where it's 55-65 degrees in midwinter. (Only pansies started in midwinter...)

The cukes and zukes were only inside to sprout at a warmer temperature - they didn't stay inside more than a week or two. It's just that the same week or two would have taken 3-4 weeks outside.

Seeds that didn't work or I wouldn't even attempt without better lights:  snapdragon (failed last year - they get very leggy without enough light!), tomato, pepper, eggplant.