Smallish, relatively self-contained light for my office? (meyer lemon)

[GreenThumbOneDay]

First post here, so I hope this is all where it's supposed to be and not a dumb/annoying question!

I recently got a meyer lemon tree that I will be bringing to my office if all continues to go well with it. Right now It's maybe about 20-24" tall, from the bottom of the pot to the highest leaf. My office has a wall of windows facing south and some fairly bright (at least by people standards) fluorescent lighting overhead, but I'm really worried that won't quite be enough and I don't want to hurt my little tree. However, when I went to look for lighting solutions online, the overwhelming concensus favors lighting setups that are either super expensive or are fairly large/obtrusive and involve space for a rack and hanging fixtures for longish fluorescent lighting tubes. I don't have a ton of space and I really need to try to avoid something that's going to be too large, or involves scaffolding type stuff to hold everything together, or generates a ton of heat, or costs a bunch of money. I realize this is a tall order (for a not-so-tall tree), but I'm hoping to just come up with the best solution possible. So far I've come up with three possibilities...

1. One of those clamp on long-arm/swing-arm telescoping drafting lamps with a higher kelvin bulb. The problem here is that all the ones I'm seeing are such low wattage (100watt incandescent equivalent) that it doesn't seem that it would make much of a difference. I don't think I'm going to need a *ton* more light, and who knows, maybe I won't, but I want to make sure I have enough if it comes down to it. If I go this route I could also use some help coming up with ideas for good bulbs for the fixture. On the plus side, this would easily look the most 'at home' in an office setting...

2. There seem to be a lot of light fixtures that are just a clamp attached to the bulb housing. I suppose this could work, but I'm going to be a little limited on where I can put this because of the way it attaches and because there's no telescoping arm. This doesn't really seem practical or ideal at all right now, and all these seem to only go up to 100 or 150 watts anyway (so not much better than option #1). Like the previous option, if I go this route I'll need help finding the right bulb....

3. I recently came across the possibility of getting a portable LED "workshop light" (for mechanics, job sites, etc) such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Snap-Worklight-Photography-Construction-Workshops/dp/B00OJOCDJO

This seems to put out a ton more light, shouldn't put out a bunch of heat (so it won't cook me in my fairly small workspace and so I can get it close to the plant if I put it on a shelf or something) without ever having to worry about the possibility that it's too close and might overheat some of the leaves. This work light seems to my inexperienced eyes like maybe it would be a good solution, but I would really like the opinions of people smarter than I am on the subject There's a whole lot out there about what lights are 'good' and which aren't, and how plants 'see' different spectrums than we do, and I want to make as good a decision as possible here.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions, my tree and I appreciate it

 

[ChanellG]

It's possible to grow citrus indoors, but I've never tried. Your best bet may be to treat the plant like a bonsai, but unless this is a home office where you can move it inside and outside, it may be more trouble than it's worth. This is my first year with a Meyer lemon so I am hardly an expert, but if you don't have a ton of space, keeping the lemon in your office might not be the best idea.

What's your growing zone? Would you mind updating that info in your profile? It helps people advise you better on the forum.

 

[GreenThumbOneDay]

Oops, sorry! Ohio zone 6a. I know it's an experiment and not sure to work, but I would love to have this guy at work.

 

[asilker]

I'm in a similar zone here in Chicago and am wondering the same things. Id like to grow a Meyer lemon in the apartment for some texture and color during winter.

In the interest of keeping energy costs down, my biggest interest is in LED lights. I realize that to get the best results, I will need LED's which put out the correct red and blue color wavelengths. There are connector bulbs that look like this:

They claim to put out exclusively the wavelengths the plants absorb best, which would maximize power efficiency for this task. They're very inexpensive because they're from China, and I'm inclined to believe that these sorts of electronics work as advertised because I have DIY electronics experience and have ordered solder irons, preamp kits, op amps, etc from China all with excellent results.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of bulb? I'm thinking for a single small tree it might get the job done