So exciting watching your seedlings grow. Please keep updating.

Stuart, I think it was Steffen who was trying to fuse two small seedlings together but I've not seen him post for some time now.

Gill

Lucky 4 leaf adenium!

I've got used to seeing 3 leaf seedlings appear, but this is a first for me!

So exciting watching your babies grow. :-)

You get to see such growth. I am jealous. My seedlings are so slow.

That four leafer sure is a cutie! I do have several 3's but I don't think I'd seen a four before. Maybe it will turn out to be lucky. ;)

I will treat it as a special one Hyn!

I have an /almost/ four leafer. It has three but one leaf is big and dimpled like it tried to be two. I'll wait and see what it does. ;)

The variegated seedling's next set of leaves seems to continue the same pattern, fingers crossed

The two seedlings I glued together (see my post above dtd 30th July) came apart, but I keep them together with a piece of tape. They still seem to enjoy each other's company

And just to show the current daytime set-up:

Wow moving twice a day

Lol, yes, that's what it is now. Before the big gh it was more often.

Awesome about the variegated seedling! Great photos and post.

Conny, nice setup! You have many seedlings. ;-) What is your plan for the coming autumn and winter? Keep them under T5s?

Thanks Martin!

I'm actually working on the autumn/winter set-up at the moment.

The most practical and cost-effective idea I've worked out so far is getting a Mammoth Pro (or similar) tent. I plan to use the frames of the smaller green houses (like the one in the middle of the picture above), so without the plastic covers, inside the tent. Then on the frames above each shelf I want to hang T5's (the shelves are 65cm wide). Do you think this will be ok?

As for temperatures: the tent will be inside a reasonably-insulated building next to the house. I think I'll use a temperature-controlled electrical radiator or blow-heater to keep the temperature up to about 22 degrees.

Any better ideas or advice from the experts here is more than welcome!!!

Conny, sound like a splendid idea! But to make full use of the light, you will need click-on reflectors and/or reflective materials close to the shelves and seedlings. Last year I used a "light box" with 2xHOT5s but even with additional reflective material in the box (not there on the following photo), I had to keep the seedlings quite close to the tubes, around 1 inch below them. And the light levels were considerably lower at the perimeter of the box. I had to turn the seedlings at the perimeter on a daily basis.

I know that Rick uses T5s in his big winter light setup. He is the man to ask if you go for the T5 solution. :-)

EDIT: 22C should be enough to keep them happy and semi-active/out of dormancy. To get them growing, you will need at least 25C.

Nice posts! How many tubes of T5's are you using per shelf at that close, Martin? I am expecting to have sunlight to augment mine but I know I can't count on that especially should it turn out to be a rainy winter.

When I use my T5 HO Florescent tubes ( 6 tubes X 4') covering a dimension of 2'x4'. All my plants are directly under this fixture. None are outside of the area and directly under a light (tube). The lights are one from 9-10 Hrs. and then they receive sunlight from a South facing exposure (window) for the duration of the day 8a.m. - 5p.m.. The back (side facing inside of house) has a solid white panel and the sides the same. The sides are removed for the daytime and replaced for the time in which the lights are on.

All plants are approximately 3" below the lights. I use lifts under trays, pots so as to have all the canopies of plants at the same level.

I am intrigued w the LED lights and what I see Martin and Tracy getting for results (I know that there are a few others, but it escapes me right now).

My light set-up has worked so well for me, that until it gives up. I will continue with it. Then might consider the LED's, w quidance from here.

Rick

Martin and Rick: thank you both so much for your input!

As for temperatures: the seedlings aren't always at 25C or above now in summer either. Is it to prevent them from dormancy to keep the average temperature higher in winter?

Unfortunately I can't give them any natural sunlight in winter, our buildings and their windows are just positioned wrong for that. So I have to rely on a fully enclosed tent for the purpose with reflective material on the inside. I would love to go for LED, but it seems so expensive. As mentioned I plan to keep the seedlings on the trays they are now, on the shelves of the gh frames. In total there will be 13 shelves, so I would have to get 13 T5 tubes. I intend to get reflective holders for the T5's, which will be about the same size as the shelves I guess. I haven't been able to source them yet.

I don't see how I could use LED's in this set-up without breaking the bank.

If you have better ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Reflective surface reflect visible light. White surface is better at reflecting the full spectrum.

Mylar, specifically, is good for insulation, but not for maximizing PAR output.

My winter plant shelves are in the basement and I just bought a roll of thick cardboard for about 30 US dollars and used leftover white ceiling paint. Then I used zip ties to attach them to the metal shelves. This is also why ceilings are usually painted white since it distributes light better to the room below.

I don't think it will be a problem if you do not heat the tent. The T5 bulbs will discharge enough heat to keep them warm enough if they are indoors. You'll need ventilation fans to move the air inside the tent though.

I'm personally not a fan of tents, unless I'm setting this up in an unheated garage or shed.

Pagan

Conny,

if you could line the inside of the tent w a white material ( painted or white chloroplast ) and have the HO T5 florescent tubes like I used to have hanging above each shelf.

These are the same, but you can add as many as you want and use in a straight line.

Just to give an idea of what I am speaking of.

They have a small "pig tail" type cord which allows you to join them together.

Rick

Pagan, thanks for the link, interesting and now I've found similar opinions of Dutch growers online too.

I've found growing tents with white (instead of silver) mylar inner lining, so that should be ok, right?

The building which will house the tent was built with aerated concrete blocks and has no insulation, so temperatures could go down to as much as 5C in winter. A tent is a must for me, I have no room in the house itself.

Rick, thank you for sharing those pictures, very useful information. I thought I'd have to use reflectors with the same measurements as the shelves, but clearly they don't have to cover the entire shelf depth? I can't get Nanotech T5 reflectors here in the Netherlands, but I have found a similar product.

Hm, must admit I'm a bit dazzled by it all. Sometimes I think I should just let them go dormant.... I only have about one month left to set it all up though.

I've got 550 adenium seedlings < 3 months old now that I would very much like to see growing during the winter months....

Ah, another one preparing for the zombie apocalypse lol

You probably should set up your tent very very early, Conny. I strongly suggest getting that ventilation fan---pick one with big blades that can move a lot of air, if you're putting that many seedlings in a tent. Then put a thermometer in there so you can measure how hot it gets with all the lights and the fan installed, just to get a rough idea of what kind of heating you will need or whether it will be necessary at all. Whatever temp reading you get, it will be hotter still once the plants are in it. Factor in the fact that you will want to exchange air in and out of the tent to avoid stale air which is very pest-friendly.

In my experience, an enclosed plant box with high temperature in winter is a very high maintenance situation (for me, anyway). But preparing ahead of time can head off most of the problems from ever developing (pests and infections, mostly).

Or, there is an even simpler solution. Get a tent big enough for your bed. Your plants will be very happy in your house.

Pagan

Thanks Pagan, well taken note of the air circulation!

Gosh, I wish I could hire someone who could set it all up for me.... The thing I hate about it is that every piece I need is sold here by grow shops mainly... (yes, the Netherlands, we are legally allowed to grow marihuana here as long as it's for personal use...) and I'm a little hesitant dealing with those guys.

Hi Rick, a few more questions if you don't mind:

Are your T5's 14W or 28W (they both are 54.9mm)? And what colour do you use: 840 or 865?

Thanks a bunch!!!!

Conny, They are listed as High Output T5 fluorescent "Full Spectrum" lights.

24 Watts. 6400 K 2232 Lumens*.

Rick

Thanks Rick, I know that 6400 is colour 865. I'll go with that!

Mine are almost the same. I'm using Sun Blaze T5's 6500 k's. I bloom a lot of plants under those lights but I'll need more of them for adeniums to over winter.

Rick, sorry, another question: are your T5's on a timer or do you switch on and off manually?

I do have a timer Conny, but I just turn the lights on manually unless I am going out. I prefer to have them on at night while I am home. Prefer to not have on during day and they also get natural sunlight during a good part of the day.

Rick

Thanks Rick! The reason I asked is that the only person I know who has knowledge about electrics and lights said that a timer can't be used on T5's, which sounds rather odd to me.

Excellent idea to have the lights on at night (for a different reason), I hadn't thought about that yet, but our night rate is much lower than our day rate, so that could save me a few pennies.

Conny my T5 two bulb on my fish tank. Has a surge protector on it. I found that the starting of the unit takes a lot of power and sometimes would blow the bulbs.

Hi Conny. Maybe he has some other kind of timer in mind, although for the life of me I can not imagine what that might be. You can get simple mechanical plug-in timers with several outlets (I use four-outlet ones) or get a single-outlet timer and then plug in a power strip to that ( I have this set-up as well).

Pagan

Thanks Marica and Pagan. I've put my questions to a few colleagues as well, hoping to get everything sorted by the end of next week. I'll be travelling next week, but when I get back it's time for the big move (hopefully the other half will have the building cleared and ready by then).

Variegated seedlings.

This one is the same as posted above. It seems a bit slow at the moment in growing its next leaf:

These are fantastic, Conny! Congratulations! I'm supposed to have variegated arabicums as well as obesums so I am following your seedlings closely. Mine aren't really showing variegation yet. Was it a little slow to become obvious?

Were these from KO seeds? Such as Super Yellow Leaf for the arabicum?

Thank you very much Hyn!

The smaller variegated seedlings are Mr Ko's Flame of Love and Ko_ebay65. The seedlings from seed I bought as being variegated (including the Super Yellow Leaf) show no sign of it yet...

The arabicum with the yellow-edged leaves showed it from the cotyledons, so from the word go.

Fascinating, thank you! I thought two of mine were showing variegation but then the paler leaf edges darkened so ... not sure if I have any yet. But I am hopeful it'll show up later as they grow. If not I'll keep trying. ;)

Conny,

That is marvelous to get that many variegated seedlings at one time such as you have. Nice mix. I hope they continue to hold it for you. So great.

Rick

Look at this: one of my 4 month old seedlings is developing side branches on the side branches.... #happy

Conny, you have an amazing collection there, I didn't realise you had so many seedlings to care for. Let's hope the weather is kind to all of us whose plants have to get through our winters, and everyone else's plants of course! How I envy those who reside in the more tropical climates. I would be growing so much more than I do now!

The variegated Arabicum is stunning, let's hope it continues to show that yelllow edging. It should make a fabulous adult plant.

Notice from the latest two pics that you too suffer from 'brown perlite syndrome', love it or hate it, I still find myself using the perishing stuff. My last bag was over 50% dust that fell through the mesh of my very best kitchen sieve. Which reminds me, is still in the greenhouse :-/ Can't find any that's bigger, it's all so small and dusty....and floaty.

Gill

Thanks Gill. Yes, no less than 700 adenium seedlings at the moment... and all that in just 4,5 months... :-)

I have started to really hate the perlite too. I got a 100L bag months ago, and the dust is not too bad luckily. And the perlite does what it's supposed to do. I hate it though that the stuff goes everywhere when I water the seedlings. I think I'll get growstones (found a source in the Netherlands) for the adult plants when I repot them next spring.

Seedlings still happily growing in the winter tents. I had a lucky escape last weekend when quite a number of seedlings started to look and feel very soft and wrinkley. Turned out I hadn't watered them enough in the week before (too busy at work). A thorough watering two days in a row did the trick, and they're all nice and firm again now. Good confirmation that you really can't allow seedlings to dry out!

The variegated seedlings are still doing well, albeit not growing fast

The original keiki monster seems to have turned variegated as well:

The top leaves of one of the mini DH seem to start looking a bit curly:

The leaves on this seedling are very strange:

And I love the leaves on this one, as if it's trying to look like an adult plant:

Nice seedlings, Conny. Love the variegation on the first two seedlings.

The one with wavy leaves looks to be a Mini Size type.

What a group of seedlings you have there.

Rick

They look all very good. Well done Conny! ^^

mighty happy little plants under your culture … they look great

Conny, regarding the one above with the strange leaves....I had one exactly the same in an earlier seed growing stage, it was an Obesum seedling that would only grow these odd contorted leaves. They were nothing like the curly ones of the DH, which by the way I'm admiring more and more! They were long and puckered as if struck by a virus or insect damaged. The mid veins were kinked and distorted. Each leaf was the same, not just an odd one and didn't even last long on the plant as they yellowed and dropped at an alarming rate when siblings fared much better. Note the word 'had' used above! I gave up on it as it was smaller then the others and I honestly didn't like it's looks at all and it got culled.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for your fellah, so I wish him more luck than mine!

Gill

Thanks Gill. Will see. It's growth rate is very very low, but it's not losing any leaves, so no culling yet :-)