when do you need grow lights?

We are just about to finish our 8X16 Rion and I thought that I would be able to start using it soon and then ,lo and behold, I see everyone talking about grow lights. Living in Texas I thought that I had plenty of light. Inside, where I am starting my seedlings, I have them under the grow lights for about 14 hours a day. And then I thought, maybe I need to have more hours of light in a greenhouse if I want to do seedlings. So, would somebody enlighten me on when you need to use them? Thanks,
Annie

I don't use them at all Annie and I'm in the Fingerlakes region of New York State where winter sunshine is a rare thing. I find that natural daylight gives my plants all they need.
I imagine there are some plants that may need more sun so I'm assuming those who use lights do so because their plants require them.
What kind(s) of plants are your growing Annie? I grow daylilies and hostas primarily.

MollyD

I grow lots of things! I am a plant addict! I will be starting seedling in January of tomatoes, zinnias, celosias, moon vines, coleus, herbs, etc.... I will also be using it to house such things as Satsumas, limes and lemons and possibly some plumerias and gingers. No telling what else! Good thing all of my hostas are in the ground or I would be dragging them out there as well!
Annie

I think it's really a question of whether you're doing plants vs seedlings. If you're doing plants, then you won't need grow lights, plants are used to having shorter days during the winter so they should do fine without supplemental light. But if you're starting seeds, seedlings need lots of hours of light, so if they only get the short (and sometimes cloudy) days of winter, you'll probably end up with some leggy seedlings.

ecrane that's not what I'm seeing here. I start mine from seeds and they do fine. They don't get leggy or yellow at all.

MollyD

I germinate/grow seeds in the grhouse and never use growlights. The grhouses get a lot of light though, probably from 8:30-9 in the am to maybe 4 right now. I also grow a lot of plants in them and they seem to be ok too.

Tigerlily,

In the winter we usually get very little sunshine. Some winters there have been as few as 20 days of sunshine but the plants always seem to do very well. I think what they are responding to aren't the rays we can see as much as those they can 'feel'. Indoors is probably a different matter since light is restricted to what enters through a window.

Annie: last year I started squash and tomatoes in mine without lights and they were sturdy green plants that did very well for me. btw on hostas don't be tempted to put your adult hostas in the greenhouse. Once they've had one winter outdoors they require the same thing each year for their dormant period. Without it they can go into a decline and die on you. Seedlings are a different matter. Mine go into the ground around June and stay there unless I need to move them for some reason.
If you are into hostas you should visit the hosta forum here on Dave's. Lotrs of good info there.

MollyD

MollyD,
I have the Hosta forum as a "favorite". Without it, I probably would have done everything incorrectly. All of these forums are a great resource for me and I am so thankful for this!
Thank you to everyone for your input regarding grow lights. I understand the issue better, now.
Annie