What is the best light for indoor plants?

I have an indoor plant about an inch tall that is already showing green. What would be the best light (bulb or wattage) that i can use and how far from the plant should the light be? I've looked online and come up with varying answers. if anyone can help i would greatly appreciate it. thanks

What is the best light for indoor plants?
'CFL's (compact fluorescent light) are new kid on the block when it comes to grow bulbs. Lights of America makes a 13W 'Daylite' CFL that I've used to get orchids to bloom. A lot of new bulbs everyday, hard to keep up with them all, check them out. RScott
Reply:I use the regular grow bulbs. They are available at WalMart and hardware stores. I keep them at least a foot from any plants. I use them during the wintertime in my basement where I keep my container plants. For the rest of my houseplants I just keep them near a window and give them daylight. They do just fine.
Reply:Fluorescent tubes provide one of the best artificial light sources available for plants in the home. Other light sources such as sodium-vapor and metal halide lamps may be used but are not as readily available or adaptable for home use.





Many indoor gardeners use cool-white fluorescent tubes. Warm-white fluorescent tubes also seem fairly effective, but fluorescent tubes listed as white or daylight are less desirable for indoor plant growth. Cool-white tubes produce a small amount of red rays in addition to orange, yellow-green and blue rays. However, the red light produced usually is not enough for plants unless windows or other artificial lights produce additional red rays.





Special fluorescent tubes also have been developed for growing plants. These have a higher output in the red range to balance the blue output. Many home gardeners have found that these tubes can be used in combination with cool-white tubes. Use one special plant-growing tube to each one or two cool-white tubes. This method is more economical than using all special tubes, since cool-white tubes cost less than the special plant-growing tubes. Also, fluorescent plant-growing tubes use less electricity and produce less heat than incandescent bulbs, and you will not have to provide fixtures for both incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes.


http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/aggu...





The "best" light for your indoor plant depends on your plants requirements.


Standard Fluorescents are an excellent choice for starting seedlings to get a jump start on spring plantings. They also are excellent for cultivating a cool weather harvest in the basement year round. Leaf lettuce, spinach, and herbs all will do well year round under fluorescent lamps. Fluorescent tubes are an excellent choice for the display and grow lighting of african violets, small cacti and succulents, and many kitchen herbs.





The trick to using them successfully is to keep standard fluorescent bulbs no further than 4 inches away from the tops of the plants. Since the tubes burn relatively cool to the touch, you do not have to worry about burning plants unless they are actually touching the bulb.





New advances in color blending make full-spectrum fluorescents one of the truest color rendering lamps on the market today.


http://homeharvest.com/whichgrowlightisr...





Fluorescent grow lights: Compact and T5 full spectrum fluorescent lights, at 75 to 90 lumens per watt, these lights are energy efficient and extremely effective especially when used in numbers. Fluorescent grow lights also have better color rendering properties (more of the light emitted is used by the plant) and produce much less heat than incandescent and HID grow lights. This allows them to be placed closer to plants (within a few inches) greatly decreasing lumen loss from the bulb to the plant.


http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/guide3.s...





P.S. I use a grow light to start my plants. My Peace lily %26amp; fern doesn't like direct sunlight so they are near but further away from the window. My other house plants are in the window %26amp; don't need any other lighting.


Good Luck! Hope this is helpful.