welcome to the forum. Lowes, Menards, home depot...oh you said a lamp. What you need is some help wiring a fixture. MOst lamps have lamp shades or covers of some kind, and are rated for the heat put out by incandescent bulbs. They are not appropriate for use in a grow area. You will have to know how to wire your own, or hire it done. Not to worry, its simple as abc, or in this case, Black, white, Green.
Buy a fixture, oh say like the 'Y''s shown in Major Tokes latest journal (nice set-up by the way Major) to get an idea, several others have shown ways of mounting fixtures. Don't let the bare wire scare you, look at the colors, Black, White, Green. Take an extension cord, the orange one will be fine for cfl's, and cut the female(non-plug end) right off of it. Keeping safety for your fingers in mind, use a sharp object, like a wire stripper, and cut about 1" of the outside cover off. Look at the colors again. They will be Black, white and green. You will need some wire nuts, and some electric tape to make the connections and I recommend any one doing this type of project for the first time buy a good quality wire stipper. It will make you feel like a pro cuase it makes it so much easier and saves your fingers from knife, razor cuts, etc.,remember safety. Strip a little of the insulation off all three wires on the extension cord and the fixture. Connect them using the wire nuts, BWG. wrap electric tape around each set of two wire covering the wire nut in the process. You don't have to cut the electrical tape, its made to work by tearing it. When you tear it it stretches, which tightens it. Try it you'll see. If you want you can try it out now, just to see if you got it right( I almost always do) before buttoning up the whole operation. Put your bulb in the socket, turn off the circuit breaker and plug your new lamp in. Go back to the service panel and turn the breaker on. If you don't hear a funny noise, and see the switch flip 1/2 way off, you probably got it right, go look and see it the bulb is on.
If its not don't panic. Maybe there is an on/off switch somewhere on the fixture. Check that first. Remember, electrical safety begins when you turn off the breaker. That way no one is near the fixture when you power it up. If you follow this rule you will be glad you did.
Now here is a tip. If its not working at this point you would need to check all three connections. Don't bother. Turn off the breaker and unplug the lamp. Cut all three connections off as close to the electrical tape as possible and do it all again. Its faster and you need the practice. VV
