THAT I can swing! And the cost of using LED grow light is comparable to running a 30 watt light bulb. So I save on the initial cost, and the power it takes to use them. Because I miss fresh salads in the winter more than anything, not to mention the 'recall' on lettuce so often, this might be the best solution. I am currently experimenting with growing lettuce 4 varieties and spinach.
Fertilizing is not a problem, since I have 'adapted' your 'weed fertilizer tea' to kitchen parings. The one thing you did not mention when growing indoors, is that air really needs to circulate WELL to 'strengthen' the plants. Outdoors our gardens get a constant buffeting by breezes and even strong winds. I suggest turning a gentle fan on your seedlings and plants for a few hours every day to make them 'stronger'.
I continue to experiment. It sure would be nice to grow a natural garden indoors all winter long, inexpensively! Let us know how everything turns out! LED s are a great alternative to incandescent and fluorescent lights for all the reasons you mentioned. The grow light stand featured in the video is not listed anywhere?
Thank you!!! Thanks so much for the video. How much of the light in the wavelengths that is useful to plants is called the light Quality. If the hose was running for 15 hours a day in New Hampshire, the bucket assumes it is in June. When the hose only runs for nine hours a day, the bucket assumes it is in December.
How long the plant is being lit between dark periods is called Daylength. Daylength is used by the plant to tell what time of year it is, and mostly relates to flowering and fruiting responses.
A fancy purple horticultural LED which is actually a combination of red and blue wavelengths may only need to run for 10 hours to accomplish the same level of growth, while a cheap purple LED may need to run for 34 hours per day, which is impossible!
Keeping the lights close to the plants and raising the lights as the plants grow is a technique to get the most light out of our fixtures. You can purchase adjustable light hangers designed for this purpose. The plants under the ballast may require water much more frequently or may even burn from the higher temperatures.
How can a grower know how much light is being provided to his or her seedlings, and whether that is enough? With a horticultural light meter one that measures PAR , we can measure the intensity of the lights at the crop height and calculate run time based on ideal DLI for the plants being grown.
Without a PAR meter, we need to let the plants tell us if they are receiving enough light. Things got worse for me once I started to experiment with different types of seeds. In those early years, my homegrown starts were always weak and spindly. Many of them would just get really tall and skinny, and then eventually flop over.
I realized I was wasting a lot of time and money and heartache just to save a few bucks on artificial lights. Seedlings flopping over without proper lighting. It never hurts to experiment to see what works best for you, and in your home. There are tons of benefits to using the proper lighting for seedlings. Strong healthy seedlings grown under lights.
I mean… lights are lights, right? But it is important to understand that some bulbs like regular incandescents are way too hot, and will only end up frying your seedlings. So what kind should you buy then? Your first option is to buy ones that are specifically made for this purpose — and those are called plant grow bulbs. You can find them for sale just about anywhere these days, and simply put them into a lamp of your choice. They come in standard sizes that are made to fit into any light fixture.
Another great option is to use standard cool-white fluorescent bulbs. I made my own seedling grow lights using a standard shop fixture and fluorescent light bulbs.
Get the step by step instructions here. Understanding how much light seedlings need is just as important as choosing the right bulbs. Seedlings need hours of light every single day, without fail. Like us, they need to rest at night. So plan to keep your artificial lights on for hours during the daytime, and turn them off overnight. Use an outlet timer to make sticking to this schedule a snap, and ensure your seedlings get the perfect amount of light.
If you give them less than 14 hours of light per day, then make sure to monitor them closely. If they start getting tall or growing sideways, then give them another hour or two of light. That means the lights stay on for 12 hours a day, and they are off for 12 hours at night.
But in my experience, 12 hours is not long enough to keep all types from getting leggy. So I recommend leaving them on longer than that. For example, I set my timer to turn the lights on at am every morning, and turn them off at pm each night. Keeping a consistent schedule like this is important for uniform growth. And be sure to mimic the normal sun pattern by having them on during the day, and off at night. Learning exactly how to use grow lights for seedlings takes a little bit of practice.
So below I will give you tips for when to start and stop using them, and how far away from the seedlings to hang them. The answer to this one is simple. Not only are supplemental nutrients not necessary during germination, they can make plants more vulnerable to disease.
Roots require oxygen at every phase of their life cycle. If your planting medium is heavy or remains too wet, it creates hypoxia and suffocates — kills — the roots. So, your seed starting mix should be light and fluffy to ensure new roots will have access to the oxygen they need. Soilless mixes are ideal for this. In the world of soilless sterile mixes — such as peat-based, vermiculite, and perlite — coir-based mix has become increasingly popular. However, there are also drawbacks to coir:.
While coconut hull is sustainable, that benefit is lessened when you consider the distance it must be shipped for processing. John recommends blending soilless mix types like peat-based and coir-based to take advantage of their strengths. In spite of all the arguments for using a sterile mix when starting seeds, you may be experiencing good results using potting soil, compost or soil blocks. Just remember those mediums do carry more risk to your seedling crop.
If you experience problems down the road, a switch to a sterile mix may solve your issues. These young tomato seedlings are showing early signs of damping off disease. Even when you use a sterile mix to avoid soil-borne disease, there are still seed-borne diseases to contend with. Fungi thrive in those warm, moist spots too. Despite our best efforts, disease can still hit your seedling crop.
Think gentle breeze — not gale force. If there is any disease in the air, the air movement will reduce the likelihood of that disease landing or staying on your plants long enough to establish. Commercial garden soil and potting soil are very different — so watch those bag labels.
Never use garden soil for plants in containers at any stage. There are many options for potting soil, also labeled as container mix. The benefit of using this option when seedlings are first transplanted is the supplemental nutrients found in most potting mixes. Consider, too, your container size. Using small containers may require more frequent feeding. Since they hold less soil, small containers hold fewer nutrients.
Each time you fertilize, you introduce that disease risk again. Using a commercial soil product with a slow-release fertilizer is always a low-risk option. Adding vermiculite to your compost or potting soil can also reduce risk.
Vermiculite is sterile and plays a role in releasing nutrients to the seedling more efficiently. When transplanting, never pull a seedling up by the stem — be sure to hold and pull only from the true leaves.
A plant can grow new leaves, but it only has one stem. Pulling by the stem can break or crush that stem and kill the plant. Would it be simpler to germinate the seed in a larger pot to hold growth all the way through planting in the garden? That approach has some drawbacks to consider:.
How many seeds are you starting? Consider your available space and quantity of materials used. Not every seed you plant will germinate. Not germinating in sterile mix puts your crop at risk of disease and suffocation. Whether you use potting soil or more sterile mix or a blend of both , you can add compost to your transplanting medium, but John recommends against planting directly into compost only.
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