Seedlings

Things I've learned about starting seeds indoors:
- The flats must be placed 3-4 inches under big shop lights with multiple bulbs, and kept on a timer for at least 16 hours a day.
- The shelves should be placed in a location that has plenty of maneuvering room around it, like a basement. With the shop lights, it does not need to be near a window.
- The bulbs should be plain old cool white, no special type of bulb required.
- Too much heat and too little light will result in leggy, weak seedlings that may not be able to recover.
- T12 bulbs are being replaced by T8's. Any lighting you buy should be T8.
- Light fixtures are expensive.
- Seedlings are tiny and can be planted quite close together.

My current seed starting set up has resulted in a lot of disappointment so far.  The lights are too hot and not bright enough, resulting in lots of leggy seedlings. I'm considering just starting everything outdoors at this point. I don't want to ruin any more seeds with my current set-up. It's either start outdoors or go out and buy a bunch of shop lights. Not sure what to do yet.