First of all,
contrary to
Anarchist's Cookbook, I've heard that interrupting the
daily cycle doesn't produce more
females but plants turn to
hermaphrodites. Of course, if you don't
fancy males and all signs show that it's what you're going to get, the
interruption can be consider
useful.
Other important issue is light. There has been a lot of debate about the most efficient setting but it seems to be that experienced home growers promote high pressure sodium lamps.
Furthermore, more than 400 watts is recommended but this may cause problems with temperature (in the case of you're growing your "flowers" in a closet or something). But don't worry, below you may found the solution of dedicated DIY-experts. I hope the ASCII picture can be seen without serious headache.
____closet______________________
| | |
| wire | (electric fan)
| ______|_______ air out ->
| | Lamp | |
(fan) |_____________| |
air in-> |
|-------------------- thin glass ----------------|
| ## edges of plants ######## |
| ####################### (fan)
| ##################### air out ->
| ################### |
| #### plants ######### |
| ################# |
(fan) ############### |
air in -> |
|______________________________|
The thin glass could be plastic (harder to cause damage, lighter). The lamp should be hanged from the ceiling of closet so that you can relatively easily change the height of it. The advantage is that thus you can keep the lamp closer your plant. The glass should be attached into same wire as the lamp so that you can change the heights of them simultaneously.
Air-conditioning in the upper part of your closet garden is essential! Otherwise flowers will suffer from overheating. An electric fan used used upstairs can be powerful because the glass keeps the plants safe. The air-conditioning downstairs should be controlled by temperature i.e. it can be considerably less powerful.
And last thing to note about water you use: It's a good idea to let water bottles (without tops) to stand still over a night because thus they become oxygenated and your flowers will like it.