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Fluorescent lights offer affordable gardening opportunities, turning any inside room into a suitable environment for plants so that you can enjoy fresh vegetables all year round. As food prices continue to skyrocket, more and more consumers are growing their own food in simple inside operations, getting the most out of their space.

10 to 15 percent more efficient than a metal halide light, fluorescent grow light and HPS bulbs are best used as supplemental light, ideal for plants that flower. Fluorescent grow lights are ideal for growing seedlings, although several can be combined at once in order to grow larger plants.

Standard fluorescent and HPS bulbs emit a blue spectrum light, which can make a plant grow too leggy during its vegetative stage. This is similar to the sunlight at midday and is ideal for flower growth. Enhanced performance HPS lights, however, emit a wider blue spectrum, enhancing the plants’ growth significantly. It leads to a fuller, healthier plant.

Bulbs should be hung high enough in order to not negatively impact the growth of the plants. The higher the lamp wattage is, the hotter the lamp will be, so hanging the lights too close to the plants can burn the vegetation and dry out the soil. A light hanger makes it easy to adjust the length of the light, allowing you to vary it according to the growth and height of the plant.

Plants need different periods of light depending on the type of plant. Most require 12 hours of light, although some long day plants may require 16 hours. A timer is most effective at rationing the right amount of light. It saves you the trouble of having to remember to turn the lights on and off, and also allows you to take vacations or leave growing operations for several days while you are away.

Bulbs should be replaced before they burn out, generally every 1 to 2 ½ years, depending on how many hours per day you run the light. Older lamps may look fine, but their performance deteriorates considerably and the plants will suffer. Even after a year of use, an HPS bulb generally only produces light 85 to 90 percent as effectively, and continues to depreciate after that. Keeping bulbs fresh will have a dramatic affect on your plants’ growth.

Why limit your green thumb to nice weather and the traditional growing season? Indoor lights allow you to enjoy gardening throughout the year, continually reaping in a harvest of fresh vegetables.

The recent resurgence of the Chicago outdoor advertising business has many a search engine and radio ad sales rep scratching their head. Indeed, classic media for advertisement are now en vogue once again as consumers limit their purchases to the essentials and as local businesses are now cutting prices to compete with large national companies and internet businesses as broadcast media and internet advertising is finding it difficult to make inroads for businesses who can’t differentiate themselves in a five-word advertisement.

Chicago outdoor advertising serves the Chicago business especially well because as a thriving metropolis, there are so many different types of traffic that can be attracted to certain businesses – regulars, passersby, and once-in-a-while customers – all of which require slightly nuanced approaches to be reached, but all of which can be reached efficiently by inexpensive, indelible, and brand-building billboards that boldly look onto the streets and sidewalks of Chicago.

With people spending less and less (purchasing fewer things) fewer and fewer of them are spending inordinate amounts of time shopping around online. More and more, people are “shopping around” their local businesses in the streets, comparing prices at local businesses that they would have never bothered to contemplate just six months ago.

This isn’t all bad news for premium product or quality-oriented product or service businesses. The key for Chicago businesses looking to make a splash is to continue advertising and to shift from online to street advertising. Only by differentiating your business from local competitors can you be sure that your brand is getting a fair shake from customers thinking about buying whatever product or service it is that you sell. Forget the old “new” online advertising format and focus your attention on attracting customers to want what you are selling or to buy from you because you are closer, better, or cheaper.