Trouble growing rosemary indoors
 

First is the light issue, the compact florescent light bulbs seem to keep them from getting too limpy, and it only costs 23W which beats 400W sodium bulbs. Results are satisfactory.

Second is the humidity issue, putting a plastic bag over the top works ok, but I would like to know if anyone has built a mini green house with a humidifier.

Does anyone have experience with growing rosemary indoors for the winter?

Re: Trouble growing rosemary indoors
 

I have a little bit of experience growing culinary herbs indoors (apartment situation with only poor north facing windows).

On a shelf system I used two shop lights (long fluescent tube lights, 2 bulbs/light) to light up a whole shelf of plants including rosemary, majoram, sage and basil. Each shoplight had a daylight and a soft white bulb (this was to give a wide spectrum of light). It worked okay, the herbs were flavorful, but nowhere near fresh herbs grown in a good sunny location outdoors in the summertime.

The rosemary only grew to about 14-16 inches tall (my memory may be off) where my outdoor rosemary became a beast after 2 years. The leaves from the indoor plant were thinner. But the flavor was there and was still better than buying dried stuff from the grocer.

Using CFL may be a bit tougher and I think you will need more lumens. Maybe try setting up 3 or 4 lights in a triangle or square configuration all pointing towards the rosemary (or a small group of plants if you are doing multiple herbs like I was). I had to experiment to see what worked and what didn't (had many spindly plants on my first few tries).

Re: Trouble growing rosemary indoors
 

This sounds like a nice set up but I am wondering about how much the electric is just to grow the plants and anyone using alternative like solar panels to run the plant lights? Just curious about the energy costs for growing the herbs.