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Question for Canadian Indoor Artificial Light Seed Starters

15 years ago

I would very much like to know what kinds of flourescent lights, both bulbs and fixtures, you use to start your seeds. Also would like to know what your sources were for these items. Do you use some kind of heat source to maintain warmth or do the lights provide enough? Many thanks.

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Comments (9)

sue_in_nova_scotia
15 years ago
A neighbor gave me a 'real' grow light with grow light bulbs. it died and I went out and bought a regular shop light and put in regular bulbs, wired it for a plug and plugged it into a light timer. Personally I don't see any difference between one and the other.
swontgirl_z5a
15 years ago
Hi,
I use shop lights in my basement. I put in one regular 4' flour. light bulb and one 4' grow bulb that I buy at Canadian tire. Some of mine might be full spectrum bulbs. I don't really know if they are the same or not but I put them in with a reg one as well. My basement is at about 60 deg F. and daylily seedlings do fine. I start them in water and peroxide in my kitchen though on a heat mat so that is warmer. It all depends on what temp your seeds need for germination. I wait until the root pops out, then plant it and put it in the basement. The lights do provide some heat but I saw there are new flour. ones out that are more efficient. They won't provide as much heat. I bought the old kind so they would.
Debbie
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We gave no secrets up. Really it's kind of like anything that is growing..even pets and children. Just as every growing thing needs food and water to grow on. For plants it's N, P, K, light, ph, water and proper temperature range. Not enough of one of these and your plant/animal won't grow properly. They may survive, but not thrive. Learned this through the years by College, raising Show Dogs (beagles), Salt water aquarium hobbist and having grown up on a farm. Remember soiless mixes contain no nutrients, so get somekind of water soluble fertilizer with micro nutrients and water every 2 weeks with it. Better yet use a 6-9 month time release fertilizer combined with a drink of water soluble fertilizer with some "Super Thrive" added every month. As for the set-up we made...I learned things from others. Education is a marvelous thing. *-) Over on Tinkers Forum is where the basics came from. Using the 6500K bulbs and Space/Emergency blanket came from there. The thought of making water pans from sheet aluminum stock (came from a friend from Tinker's that visited us) to bottom water. Going to try that on 1/2 our seedlings this year. The idea of using pulleys and poly-rope to adjust the lights was ours. We knew to cram as many lights in as we could from having Corals in the saltwater tank. Even if you greenhouse them in zone 7 and less; Winter Sun won't give the plants enough light to grow properly. By this I mean there will be a chance for flower in the same year. We start germination of seeds the 3rd week of Nov., so plants are starting to grow the first of Dec. In our experience it takes most plants 9-10 months for first blooms. Very few earlier and from last years experience approx. 75% before the frost got them. You can glean from the net the temps for optimal growth and germination. Seems we get the best germination at a soil temp 60-65 F. Growth seems best at 75-85 F. We started using the cup method after experiencing about 0% first year bloom from the plastic storage bin way to grow plants. Seems all the removing and untangling roots; set back the plants for weeks and/or combined with much less artificial light helping. All we know is we've had good success last year which was the 4th year of growing indoors over the winter. Every year the result was improved. We aren't long term Daylily Hybridizers, so as such don't take our word to be gospel! 4 years is nothing. 10 years you are finally getting the hang of it. *-) 20 years you are becoming a Master. 30 years you are the Master. 8-) Merry Christmas all. Best, Bruce and Tanya The link is a good read. Here is a link that might be useful: propogation of plants
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1: not sure what you mean by self watering but if that entails a larger tray with water below the smaller compartments holding the soil then that is not a good idea. The soil should be moist but not sopping wet for germination. If the soil is peat, that might be part of the problem. Soils consisting of predominately peat are not real good for peppers. It is too hard to control the moisture. The seeds may mold if they are kept too wet. 2: 70 degrees is ok but 80-85 is better for germination. They will be fine at 70 but probably a little slower. I wouldn't get too much cooler though. A heat mat is the best solution but somewhat expensive. You can find other ways to provide some heat to the seedlings such as putting them in an enclosed or semi enclosed area with a regular light bulb or even heat light. Putting them on top of a frig or on top of a dvr is also a common solution. But you need to monitor the temps so they don't get too high. 3. Seeds don't need light to germinate but shortly after they break the surface, you should start giving them ample light. The long 48" flourescent bulbs dont give off much heat so they won't help a lot in germination. You would need incandescent bulbs for heat. 4: There are a lot of varying opinions on light cycles for seedlings. Some go 24/7 but it seems most run them anywhere from 12 to 18 hours per day. Just buy an inexpensive timer and set it for however long you desire. I run mine 16 hours per day. I hope this helps and others will likely weigh in with their thoughts. Many on this list are a lot more knowledgeable than I. Bruce
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My own small, informal trials are enough to convince me of the value of using the "paramagnetic" volcanic powder. Back in the spring, I was starting several kinds of plants using a bagged potting soil my wife and I bought. I used that "growing medium" unamended, in sets of matched starter trays, except for those trays in which I'd added about 15% volcanic rock powder to the mixture. All those seedlings were started under grow lights. (I didn't take pictures of the results.) Somewhat over a week ago, I again used starting trays ("six packs") and matched the basic growing medium, the watering regime, and the lighting on the experimental and control trays. However, I made up my own starter medium as follows: 50% sphagnum peat moss; 30% worm castings; 20% perlite - well stirred. This, in itself, is a pretty rich mix because of the worm castings. One of the trays contains this mixture as such. The other has this mixture with about 12% volcanic rock powder stirred into it. I made up only two trays, and identified each one to be able to interpret my results. With each of the six packs, I filled each of the cells as close to the same level as I could. I planted each cell with two radish seeds from the same packet. I kept the trays on a bench in our greenhouse. Then I was careful to keep the watering and the light exposure the same. Seed germination took about 48 hours, on average - and the germination rate was pretty much the same, comparing the two six packs. The picture, taken eight days after planting the seeds, pretty much tells the story. The seedlings (on the left) with the volcanic powder in their growing medium are clearly doing better. I'd estimate the difference in vitality and growth to be maybe 20%, at this early stage. With my spring-time experiment, the difference seemed more marked - probably because the commercial growing medium was very basic and not high in nutrients (such as those the worm castings provide to the new mixture). With the spring experiments, the seedlings growing in the medium that included the volcanic rock powder did twice as well, in my assessment, in terms of vitality and size. However, I judged this difference not after eight days, but after a month or so. I was thinking some people who look at this thread might like to see a picture that conveys the benefit. While Paramount Growth Holdings is not yet retailing their product, other sources for this sort of volcanic rock powder in the U.S. and Canada might be available.
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Edward_Kimball
15 years ago
I use a four foot fluorescent with one cold light bulb and one warm light bulb. I saw that combo recommended one time but I don't remember where I heard it. It works fine for me. The light and bulbs were from Home Depot.
waytogrow
15 years ago
Three shop lights. Two have grow bulbs, one has regular bulbs. Started these 'ON THE ROCKS' in late September. I let them grow 'ON THE ROCKS' for about two weeks, some were three inches tall by the time I planted. The lights are actually very cool--- Mine seemed to start off great with room temp days 70 to 60 at night.
{{gwi:667755}}
del_s
Original Author
15 years ago
Many thanks to those who responded to my question. You have been very helpful. This will be a new enterprise for us and we are looking forward to the adventure. I had checked online for growlight flourescents and these were hugely expensive, so it's nice to know that more ordinary fixtures, with appropriate bulbs will work just fine.

If I may, I would be interested in your tips on how you grow your seedlings: I note that some of you start quite early in the fall and some start their seeds in February. Advantages either way? Also, your regimens for watering, fertilizing. Need to use fans for air circulation? Disease problems?

Again thanks.
lilynut
15 years ago
We're not from up ynder, but we use 4" shoplights with bulbs that have a color temperature of 6,500k. That is very close to sunlight and works well for us. Give them all the light that you can. Pack those bulbs over the seedlings.

Go to the link below....it will show our growroom.

Bruce and Tanya

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Grow Room
del_s
Original Author
15 years ago
lilynut - I actually saw your grow room pic on another thread and put it on my favourites on the web. Need all the references I can get. Thanks for the input.
sue_in_nova_scotia
15 years ago
Im in Nova Scotia and I start mine in late Jan/Feb, They will generally bloom the following summer. I am not sure if they would bloom earlier if I started them in the fall or not. I always water from the bottom and they are in a cool room. I have heard that circulating air with a fan will reduce chances of damp but I do not bother and have very little problem. I just gave mine a 'haircut' to 4" b/c I read somewhere that it helps root development, not sure if its true or not though.
can_mj
15 years ago
Hi Sue,

No, the haircut thing does not help with root development. They need as much green as possible to get the benefit of the light down into the roots. The only time you would reduce the foliage would be if you reduced the roots equally. That is why they are typically cut back at shipping times.

There is one hybridizer that did give his plants 'haircuts' and his justification for doing it was due to overhead watering. Don't forget, he's working on a HUGE scale in a greenhouse and he said that the foliage was preventing the water/fertilizer from getting into the containers by diverting it. However, he has also changed his mind on this and I don't think he's doing the haircuts anymore.

I gave my first seedlings haircuts too based on what I had read on the internet and because a lot of people were doing it. I don't do it anymore.

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