I  think plant lights are more expensive, but more than that, they aren't designed like some of the new florescent lights where you can get the equivalent of the same wattage with a lot less use. These new things are supposedly energy efficient....

Florescent lights do come in warm and cool.....Full spectrum lights are said to mimic natural daylight and provide a type of light that comes closest to true light. If you look at something under full spectrum lights and then look at it under regular light, you'll notice that the regular lights make things appear somewhat yellowish whereas the full spectrum lights reveal colors in their truer form.

If you can find a way to rig up something that will allow you to use two bulbs, you can put one cool bulb and one warm bulb in the fixture and accomplish the same thing you'd accomplish by using a plant light, but for much less money....Moreover, if you're using the new more energy efficient lights, they will last longer too.

I turn mine off at night -- as Sharry said, because that allows them to get the illusion of real daylight and darkness. 

Susan, the Texas Yankee, the Texas Rangerette and the Assistant Administrator

SKBeal's Snazzy Tra