# You know that's not what they meant--but still . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-not-what-they-meant-but-still/563798 "2010-12-11T17:28:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-not-what-they-meant-but-still/563798/1 "2010-12-11T17:28:26Z")
I still think it’s kind of funny that one day my straightlaced 70 year old dad, who is an enthusiastic gardner, was fretting about how all his plants froze in the winter. He comes to me asking if it’d be possible to set up some kind of system of high powered lamps indoors to create artificial sunlight for plants, and why hadn’t anyone ever thought of that before? Um, well, dad, I’m pretty sure _someone’s_ thought of it, but I don’t have any phone numbers handy, sorry . . . ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-not-what-they-meant-but-still/563798/2 "2010-12-11T17:35:53Z")
There are stores you could take him too. Just make sure he knows to say “tomatoes.” ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-not-what-they-meant-but-still/563798/3 "2010-12-11T19:43:32Z")
Tons of folks start their crops indoors under lights and transfer them outside once the Spring weather is mild enough. I do wonder what percent of grow lights are used for legit purposes.