Need Quick Answers - Lights & Weed Mat

15 years ago

I have 3 quick questions (going to the hardware store after work today).

1) I have a 4' light fixture, the lights are old and don't look too good. It takes two T12 40W bulbs. What spectrum is best? Every time I search I get setups that are way more complicated than I'm looking for. My cherry tomatoes, chives, and marigolds have come up and I need something quickly. The cherry tomatoes look like they are going to grow fast.

2) Is a weed mat necessary? I have a new house, I put grass seed down last fall but there are no weeds in that area and so far little grass. We will be digging out some dirt to level the area for the raised bed. Is a weed mat really worth purchasing? Below the bed will be solid clay. I keep reading that some veggies have roots that will go down 10ft and wouldn't a weed mat prevent that?

3) I'm using peat pots. Whats the best way to underwater? Just put a little water in the tray frequently? Should I put a towel in the bottom to keep it damp? Should I have a separate tray full of water, where the pots get dunked to half-way up for like 10 minutes when needed?

Thank you.

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Comments (6)

jleiwig
15 years ago
Any light will work. Some swear by a combination of a full spectrum and a cool light. I have two daylight bulbs in one fixture and regular cool bulbs in another. Of course once the plants are up, they love the sunlight bulbs. Don't buy the expensive plant bulbs though. They are not worth the cost. Just get the daylight bulbs.

I would put a weed mat down. For the 10 bucks or so it costs, it's cheap insurance in my mind.

Peat pots....until you have roots towards the bottom of the pot, I'd top water with a sprayer or something similar.

I'm growing in plug trays, but I leave about a 1/4" of a weak nutrient solution in the bottom. When I notice the tops get dried out, I spray with a cheap spray bottle.
greenbean08_gw
15 years ago
I've read it's best to get one warm and one cool bulb. I haven't used mine yet, so I can't say from experience.

I didn't have much growing where I put my beds last year and I didn't use anything under them. I didn't have a weed problem. I'm putting a layer of newspaper under the beds I'm adding this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener
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I don't grow fruit trees specifically, but I do have a few trees in containers, but they are treated the same. I personally do my root pruning a bit more methodically than just cutting the bottom inch off. Mind you, I use a gritty mix variant, so removal from the pot exposes the roots more readily. I like to bareroot the whole thing, and remove about 1/3 of the roots, focusing on the larger ones, as they don't provide much to the plant outside of anchoring, which isn't necessary in a pot. If kept up on, they aren't doing much in the way of transporting water and nutrients either. With the larger roots gone, the space can be filled with feeder roots. This work should be done in late spring or early summer, when energy production is at its highest, to allow faster recovery. Right now is far from ideal, as the plants are using stored energy to get going, and aren't yet producing any energy to heal roots. With that said, after such work, keep them out of direct sun for a couple of weeks, but don't stash them in a garage. They need to produce energy, which requires light, but not direct sun which increases heat, leading to increased transpiration, which can overwhelm the root system. If you did this work last season, you may not need to do so this year. However, if you're using a peat moss based soil, you will need to do it ever year, which still isn't enough, to combat the effects of decomposition, which decreases soil drainage, leading to root rot problems. Joe
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Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
15 years ago
Don't buy the expensive plant bulbs though. They are not worth the cost. Just get the daylight bulbs.

Yes - and I got my plant bulbs as gifts, so they cost nothing. ;o)

I always put down weed fabric for my clients, with the caveat that in several years its effectiveness will be lessened due to the mulch breaking down into soil, but the weeds will be easier to pull when young. We have some at this house, and it is so windy that it does a good job of aiding the wood chips' flight around the yard and into unwanted places.

Dan
sinfonian
15 years ago
1) I am using one cool "kitchen/bath" bulb and one "daylight" bulb to hit both ends of the light spectrum. Both were cheap and seem to work fine.

2) I am for weed barriers, even if they're temporary like cardboard or layers of newspaper (I used landscape fabric for a bad weed problem). And I've never heard of any veggie with 10 foot root systems, maybe 10 inches. Roots will eventually grow through paper or cardboard.

3) Bottom watering is fine. They will wick up what they need without towels. I am doing that with my soil blocks which are similar to peat pucks.

Good luck and definitely ger those seedlings under lights 12-14 hours a day (2 inches from the tops of the plants) ASAP.

Enjoy the process!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure
solarity
Original Author
15 years ago
Ok my husband went to the store for me. They didn't have a cool bulb in the right size so we went with 2 daylight bulbs. Hopefully he'll be able to get the seedlings under the light and off the window sill sooner than I will get off of work.

Its only 12-14 hours a day? I thought it was more like 16 hours.. Well that will save me some money I guess :P .

I'm so excited to finally have seedlings! Now I'm still waiting on the peppers and eggplants to germinate... I feel like I've started so late in comparison to everyone else on here but I'm starting when the package says, only based the date on 2 weeks after last frost. I'm shooting for a May 1st planting, and planted the seeds March 1st.
sinfonian
15 years ago
12-16 is just fine. They just need their downtime. And don't worry about starting later than us here. We are all in different areas of the country, and each area has there own last frost date. May 1st is safe for me, but is the heat of the summer for Southern California. Plant when it's appropriate for your climate. Good luck!

Need Quick Answers - Lights & Weed Mat

Comments (6)

jleiwig

greenbean08_gw

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Need Quick Answers - Lights & Weed Mat

Comments (6)

jleiwig

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Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)

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