Who Is Using Grow Lights to Start Seeds Inside?

[Gregg]

I just bought a pair of 48" fluorescent shop lights to help get some things going. Other than one ill-advised college experiment this will be my first time using lights to help start my seeds. The lights will be on a timer set at 18 hours a day to boost the plants beyond just sunlight. I did a fair amount of research on what bulbs to use and ended up not using all grow lights because they are expensive and don't last as long as the others. Most of what I read came down to intensity of light being more important than wavelengths and spectrums, but I still wanted to have as wide a spectrum as possible within my budget. I ended up with 1 grow light, 1 cool white, 1 daylight and 1 soft white bulb. Indecision or genius? Time will tell. Anyone else use lights to give your garden a head start?

Also... I use an electric blanket, folded up flat, inside a trash bag under the plants for warmth. One observation I've made in my limited experience starting seeds indoors is that warm roots seem to matter even more than bright lights, at least in the beginning. I think my dog is jealous that the seeds are getting pampered more than she does.

[catherine]

Gregg, I'm interested to hear the results of your experiment! I am going to start seeds shortly, but I'm definitely not experienced--this will be the first time in decades that I've tried anything indoors. I started marigolds indoor once, and they were the best plants--based on half my garden being bordered with indoor-started and half being bought at a store. There was a huge difference, but I have no idea what contributed to that--health of the seeds, or pure dumb luck in picking the right location to grow them.

[CathyA]

Just be sure to always keep your lights right above the growth, or they will be leggy.
I did it a couple times, but it was too much work for me. And the bunnies seemed to prefer the home-grown ones!
Good luck with your experiment.
I always used florescent lights.

[razz]

Last year I started some seeds like alyssum early in a mini plastic greenhouse but the cold spring slowed them down after they sprouted on a heated pad. Beautiful plants once it warmed up though.
I don't start tomatoes until the first of April and usually do the rest of my startups like leeks at the same time using mostly sunlight.
Would you please keep us posted on your progress and experience?

[catherine]

Here's an article about starting seeds with just fluorescents, nothing fancy-schmantzy.

http://learningandyearning.com/can-f...to-start-seeds

[Gregg]

We've had similar results with seed starts outperforming nursery plants. Last year the experiment was with tomatoes and the difference was pretty dramatic. (The seed starts won.) Honestly its the only reason I'm doing this because it is kind of a pain and DW is less than thrilled with a large corner of the room being taken up with cheap shop lights and 2 x 4 racks. The lights are on chains so I can keep them right above the plants. I'm considering rigging up a sheet of plexiglass in between the lights and plants so nothing will grow into the lights if I skip a day of maintenance. Need to figure out how much light would be refracted/reflected in the wrong directions as it passed through the plastic. It might not be worth it. I'm also looking at rigging up a lamp with an LED bulb on each end of the rack to make up for the reduced light at the ends of the fluorescent bulbs. It will still be necessary to rotate the trays every other day or so to keep growth even, but that should help the plants on the ends of the trays keep pace with the middles.

[MaryHu]

I have a south facing window in my laundry room. We put a shelf right underneath it so I could start seeds there. Last year I started lots of peppers, tomatoes and basil there. Since the heat in that room is minimal I kept them warm at night. I had them in yogurt cups inside of covered containers I got from the trash. These are the containers that local grocery store bakeries sell their cookies and muffins in. They have a clear, tight fitting lid, a generous bottom half that will hold plenty of moisture, so no worries about spills and they are just the right size to hold 9 yogurt cups. Since moisture escape was not going to be an issue I put my old heating pad (the kind used on people for aches and pains, not the specialized expensive kind for plants) under some of them.

For light I used a bendable neck floor lamp with a compact fluorescent bulb over the ones on the heating pad. Had I needed more heat I could have replaced the compact fluorescent bulb with an incandescent. The heating pad wasn't big enough to go under all the plants so for the others I used a desk lamp with a halogen bulb a few inches above the dome of the cookie container to provide both heat and light. Those babies put out a lot of heat. Once the plants were too tall for the cookie container lids I removed the lids and moved the plants to another south facing window in the living room where it's warmer. By that time the living room window was available after being the winter home of my fig in a pot, the fig having moved outside.

As a side note: I live in Northern Idaho where we need all the solar gain we can get in the winter time. It never ceases to amaze me as I walk around town how many houses here have no south facing windows or just 1 or 2 small ones. Some even have the garage on the south side! Poor design.

[cx3]

Gregg I'm also experimenting with grow lights. I purchased 2 12"x12" LED grow lights for about $20 a piece. I went with LED because of the price and the low electricy use(14w each).
Not having much luck. It's only about 60F in my basement. I agree with you that temp. is atleast as important as light. Thinking of moving the whole operation upstairs if I can obtain the required proper permits from my DW.

[ToomuchStuff]

No lights will work with seeds, to the best of my knowledge. Temperature and moisture is the key and one of the reasons some of the starter stuff comes with the clear plastic cover (keeps humidity up and retains heat). Only once they have sprouted will light play a factor. I think your going to have a very hard time determining results with two fixtures that contain two different bulbs each.

[Birdie]

i use heat mats under my seed trays to get my seeds to germinate, then move them under the lights after they sprout. As other have said, keep the lights low above the plants. I transplant into 4 inch pots when they have 2 full sets of leaves. I leave them under the lights until I can move them into my greenhouse or outside in a sheltered spot with lots of light.

I only start peppers, eggplant and tomatoes inside. The rest are direct seeded into my raised beds when the soil temperature is warm enough.

I bought one cool and one warm bulb to put in my fluorescent lights and since I have 4 light fixtures, I was able to buy packages of both types of light bulbs. Other gardeners that I know just use the regular fluorescent bulbs so I have no idea if it makes a difference to do it the way I am. I enjoy starting my own seeds and watch them grow.

It will be warm enough to plant outside in a couple of weeks; can't wait for that. My tomatoes are big enough to transplant into gallons already.