Hydrofarm Agrobrite FLC32D Compact, 32 Watt, 6400K Fluorescent Spiral Grow Lamp, 1 Count (Pack of 1), Brown/A

I'm a huge fan of this light, and I both recommend this product and intend to buy it again. I live in an area where it freezes at night from around October through April, even though it gets into the 90s during many of those days, but I am too busy to move dozens of potted plants in and out each day. I have too many plants to put them in windows, so I converted a guinea pig cage into a small, indoor "garden." (This had the added benefit of protecting my plants from the cats!) I looked into full fluorescent fixtures to support my plants during the long indoor months, and couldn't justify the cost of the multi-bulb fixtures, so this bulb in a cheap clamp-light fixture more than fit the bill.I have a few cheap grow-lights (single fluorescent bulbs sold in their own small fixtures from, say, Wal-Mart or True Value) and this bulb all on top of my "plant cage" (about 18"x36") and it's obvious that the plants under this bulb are growing the most intensely. My spider-plant bloomed under this bulb, when it wouldn't bloom outdoors, and even potted miniature roses thrived. Now that it's summer, I've moved most of my plants back outdoors, but this bulb is still getting plenty of use.I have a 50-gallon aquarium, and I'm too cheap to buy enough plants to landscape (aqua-scape?) the whole tank. I bought a few aquatic plants from my local fish store, and currently have them planted in a corner of the tank where this light bulb is placed to shine through the glass. There is noticeable plant growth even from day to day, and I believe that in a month or so, I can spread the plants throughout the tank for a much lower total cost than if I had just bought that many plants to begin with. For those of you that know aquarium plants, you know that Amazon swords and wisteria really require a LOT of light, and that the light intensity decreases as the rays pass through the water. I think the fact that this bulb can encourage plant growth underwater speaks pretty highly of its intensity and quality as a grow-light.Regarding the bulb's lifespan: I have this grow-light on a timer, and it's been on for between 12 and 16 hours a day for nearly 6 full months now. Before I got the timer, it was on 24 hours a day for a week or three. That means I've easily gotten 2,000 hours out of this bulb so far, and it still seems plenty bright, and is still supporting rapid plant growth. If and when this bulb burns out, I'm definitely buying more. It may not be the most glamourous bulb, and the cheap clamp-lights that I use are hardly elegant, but if you want to support your plants without sunlight, this is the bulb to get.

I bring in plants from outside every fall such as potted orchids, kalanchoes, Christmas cactus and foliage plants. Window lights and regular incandescent or CFL grow lights have worked fine. This year, in October, as the first frost was forecast, I brought inside a 4 ft. tall potted trained-as-a-tree gardenia plant which I had purchased in the summer expecting only a seasonal use. It started losing leaves fairly soon after coming inside. I ordered 2 of these 32W CFL bulbs as a trial. The light was so bright that I installed only one in a 3 bulb reflector lamp, keeping the other 2 with regular 16W CFLs. Within a week, the leaves stopped dropping and new growth started. I turn the plant slightly every day to get more light to all of the plant. Now, in late December, at least 20 flower buds have formed, and I expect to have fragrant blooming gardenias in the house in January and February. Imagine that. A fantastic lamp.Edit: It is now mid March, 2013 and time for a followup. The light is on 12 hours a day and has been for about 4 months. The gardenia has and is blooming. The light also covers 6 orchids and 4 large potted plants (which are outside in summer) on a table and window shelf. The orchids on the window shelf are in full bloom and the potted plants look like they have been outside in the summer in full leaf. In decades of bringing plants inside, never have they looked this way. When they are returned outside in late April, they will look like they were just purchased at the garden center. Again, fantastic lamp.

My medium-sized potted philodendron was obviously giving up the ghost when I stumbled across this product on Amazon. After a few weeks' daily use of two-three hours a day, that plant has regained growth, glossy leaf surfaces, and a more upright 'plant posture'. I have lived in a natural-light-deprived duplex for nearly seven years, and have had to put quite a number of house plants outside in order to keep them from dying. This outdoors-to-stay rotation has been quite disappointing, mainly because I had hoped that indoor plants would improve the air quality in the house.I bought two of these easy-to-use bulbs. Glad I did. I can now grow at least a few hard-to-kill potted foliage plants in both the living room and the main bedroom, and feel confident that the air in the house is better for their presence. I had considered investing in a standard grow-light, but found the prices and shipping fees a bit prohibitive. My concerns about possibly having to install the typical growth light were sidestepped by the ease of application: all one need do is screw these into a sturdy lamp or light fixture. The growth-promoting bulbs are supposed to last for a considerable period of use, but I hope to purchase more when these need to be replaced.