You’re going to tell me to put the paper cups in a sunny window. I don’t have one downstairs and it isn’t feasible upstairs. This is a townhouse. There is one window on the front in the kitchen and it has a tower in front of it with hanging pots, pans, etc. There are no windows on the sides. The back sliding glass doors go onto a roofed deck, no sun there plus one is now in over 100 degree heat.
The downstairs of this townhouse is dark unless a light is on which it is over my chair. The grow light, then, could make these seeds sprout inside.
Actually, this part of Texas is the pits FOR ME for sprouting seed. If had sunny window could do it, but I don’t have that. Then, can’t sprout seed before winter is over, either. OK, I fixed the winter one - got that very small greenhouse so could sprout seed before spring actually gets here - fixed that. Now, have to fix the summer sprout seed problem with some type of grow lamp.
Then, there’s Johnny who snaps his finger and has a whole garden growing around Fort Worth.
A) Seeds, with very few exceptions, do NOT need light to sprout; just the opposite, really.
Way back in the 1950s, 1st or 2nd grade, we did a classroom science experiment: planted seeds in paper cups, then put some on the west facing window sill; some in a box with a light constantly lit, and some in a dark cupboard. Cupboard sprouted 1st; light box sprouted poorly or not at all.
B) A “plant light” can most often be totally wrong for growing plants. Most so called ‘plant bulbs’ found in stores or online are designed to make indoor plants ‘look greener and healthier’, rather than help them grow! They don’t put out the the wavelengths the plants need for photosynthesis, but just enhance esthetics.
C) A true plant growing light puts out a steady, set amount of useful energy; and each plant needs a certain, and ever increasing amount of energy as it grows. That means any particular growing light can only service a more less set number of plants of any particular size/age; and fewer of them as they grow. It must be close enough to the plants to provide the energy they need. Getting the right, and right sized, light takes a lot of careful consideration; and it can be tricky to keep the seedlings growing optimally.
D) The lights also (unless really expensive LEDs or ‘heat dissipating’ setups) also produce heat, so can not be too close to the plants, or it will cook them to death. Therefore, it must be set up so it can be raised as the seedlings grow.
E) Even if they don’t get too hot, but get enough light to grow, if the bulb is too far away for optimum growth, you’ll get long, ‘leggy’, week seedlings.