"grow house"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 3/11/07, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:
> These seem to be based on "grow lights", which goes back much further.
>
> This is my first search in Google Books, so be gentle. The earliest
> drug-related "grow lights" seems to be around 1983 (A GPO report on the
> drug problem). A 1983 citation from Sunset House Plants, 1983, provides
> a definition of grow lights, suggesting it's a new term (though my
> mother had grow lights in her basement as early as 1972).

I see hits on Google Book Search that purport to be from 1977, but
Proquest has cites at least as far back as the early '70s:

1970 _New York Times_ 13 Oct. 56/1 (caption) Florist Luther Greene
turned his narrow entry stairwell into a lush garden by roofing it
over and installing grow lights to supplement natural light.
[HNP Doc ID 78196850]

1973 _Chicago Tribune_ 19 Feb. II2/2 Plants need light almost more
than they need water. So, if large window areas are not available, the
fluorescent grow lights are good adjuncts.
[HNP Doc ID 606658832]


--Ben Zimmer

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