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Moved my eucalyptus under grow light...still leaing

perennialfan273

14 years ago

Earlier I posted a message about my eucalyptus seedlings leaning over and not growing straight. Well, I took your advice and I moved them under my grow light. Well, they're still leaning crooked. What do I have to do to promote sturdier stems that won't lean over (severely)?!?!

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Comments (6)

jean001
14 years ago
As was said previously, brighter light (full sun is best for eucs) and rotate the pot.
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years ago
Put them closer to the grow light and stake if you absolutely have to have an indoor eucalypt. If they still lean, the light is inadequate. You may want to reflect on this issue for the future, wrt siting one in the house.

Dan
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I understand that concern (transplant shock), but I've moved lots of seedlings of many types of plants just after their first true leaves developed without a problem. My experience has been that, as long as you are very careful to disturb the root system as little as possible, early transplant isn't often a huge problem. I've even had transplants surpass the control group (non-transplanted seedlings) in the same medium (not really sure why). Since the plants have already been transplanted once, I wouldn't be very concerned about having to do it again to get them into a better medium. I think the real issue in this case is going to boil down to why the plants have started dieing back. If drainage is a problem, then transplanting the seedlings may be the best solution and lead to a resolution. If the tops of the plants were damaged by low temperatures when the plants were moved (as Ken suggested), the seedlings might be better off left in place for a while. If there are multiple plants, it might not be a bad idea to try different things and see what works.
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I don't have that same view as Dave. My GH tomatoes have been getting plenty of natural light; after all we just had the vernal equinox. The main problem you will have by moving plants now is that daytime sun is hard on the house grown plants and they will need hardening-off at this point and not so much when they move to the garden. Mine are loving the GH environment, but I wanted to give you a few ideas as to the whens and whys in my situation: First, you need to figure what heat costs are going to be to keep plants warm in a GH. I guess I got less money to burn than most because I keep plants in my house until I run out of space- I still have over a thousand tomato plants waiting for a few overcast days to make their move. Plant size doesn't become as much of a factor as the weather moderates for me. Also what is your in-house setup like? Are the plants an inconvenience? Many people wouldn't want 12 shoplights in their living room as I have now. There also comes a time when there just isn't enough room. The 300+/- tomato plants in my GH are all in qt. pots and tomorrow they will go in the ground of another greenhouse because I'm running out of room even in my benchtop GH. I've been waiting too long for this cold spell to end. Those tomatoes are setting fruit. One big factor to consider is the time you have to provide the extra immediate care after moving plants to a potentially stressing environment. You'll need to monitor the temperatures more closely than in your house and probably water more often as the plants dry and wilt more quickly in full sun. For me the care extends into the night to tend for a woodburner. Often I could get by with one loading in the middle of the night but with temps in the teens lately I need to fire hotter and set my alarm for more trips. I wasn't making those trips three weeks ago when all plants were in my house. So my reasons for moving when are not as well defined as others but if you keep everything in balance you can usually end up with nice plants regardless of when you move them.
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jean001
14 years ago
If you stake a euc, it will dogleg just above the top tie, thus developing a permanent crick in the trunk.

Best is to get your tree into outdoor conditions whenever it's warm enough, and allow the stem to sway in the wind, thereby strengthening it.

My opinion: you're fighting a losing battle indoors unless you can increase the light exposure far more than now.
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years ago
A eucalypt in z5 ?! Nonetheless, if you can't get the grow light just higher than the plant and it doesn't straighten of its own accord, you are going to have a funky plant. Which you will anyway keeping it indoors, unless you have a south-facing heated sunroom.

Dan
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
how far from the lights ...???

how many lights... ????

and how much time have you given it... days??... weeks.. months????

has there been any new growth since ... is that growth tending toward the light??? if not.. its not close enough to the light ...

i grown hosta indoors .... the lights are 2 inches from the leaf .. and must be checked every few days .... i would lower the lights incrementally to avoid burning the leafs ....

i also use 4 standard 4 foot lights in two fixtures ... suspended with hardware chain to make them fully adjustable .... on hosta.. no effect with foo foo expensive bulbs ....

its all about intensity .... think about it this way... you cant look a the sun ... but you can look at one bulb.. even 2 bulbs.. put 4 bulbs together... with reflector plates... and at least you are going to have to squint .... and if you move your eye.. AND PLEASE DONT... to 2 inches.. there will be intensity .... get what i mean .. and there should not be any diffuser between the plants and the light ...

good luck

ken
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
14 years ago
Two inches? That's a long way away. It probably works for shade plants, but sun plants should be absolutely as close as you can get them. Except for the ballasts, fluorescents are not hot, and there isn't any reason plants can't touch the lights.

Now the eucalyptus I tried growing once was a ground cover.

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