seeds Growing Seedlings Under Lights

[Ezzer]

Hello,

I would really appreciate a bit of advice/ reassurance. Do the cotyledon leaves usually reach up like this?

I'm only running a small CFL, 24 watts, 6500 K producing 1520 lumens. It was 3 inches above the seedlings but I've just moved the light up to 6 inches. The seedlings on the left germinated yesterday, and the middle and right rows germinated today. The left row is Curry chillies, in the middle Red Habs and on the right are Ring of Fire. Was my light too close, or am I worrying needlessly?

I should add, I live in Thailand and it's hot at the moment, 36 degrees in the day, the light doesn't raise the temperature more than 0.5 of a degree.

Any input will be great, cheers Ezzer

 

[clones2]

Absolutely nothing to worry about. 3-4" above those seedlings with that bulb is perfect. And those seedlings will open up more over the next day or two.

However, you are definitely going to need more than that one bulb to grow more than say 6 peppers up to 4-5" tall... And that is probably if you rotate them to the center under the bright part of the light.

Good luck though - I always try to push the limit as much as I can under lights, but I really think you're going to need more lights...

 

[Ezzer]

Absolutely nothing to worry about. 3-4" above those seedlings with that bulb is perfect. And those seedlings will open up more over the next day or two.

However, you are definitely going to need more than that one bulb to grow more than say 6 peppers up to 4-5" tall... And that is probably if you rotate them to the center under the bright part of the light.

Good luck though - I always try to push the limit as much as I can under lights, but I really think you're going to need more lights...

Phew, thanks for the reassurance, Clones. I've got more CFLs to add, I read somewhere that 2500 lumens a square foot would do the job. Is that about right?

Ezzer

 

[clones2]

I can say that I am running 1250 lumens per sq/ft and it is working great. I'm sure others run more and it works great as well. This is my first year with lights and I am running 4 foot T8 lights, 6500K bulbs. I am growing really nice, stocky, thick stemmed plants.

 

[patrick]

Keep your lights within a couple of inches. If you don't the plants will get leggy, ie., long and lean and very few leaves. You'll need to use more than one bulb too. Best of luck to you.

 

[Ezzer]

Keep your lights within a couple of inches. If you don't the plants will get leggy, ie., long and lean and very few leaves. You'll need to use more than one bulb too. Best of luck to you.

Thanks Patrick I've moved the light back down. I'll be adding a couple more bulbs tomorrow. I have about 20 more seedlings that germinated a few days ago, they have been outside under this.

There are 3 layers of netting, each one is supposed to reduce the Sun by 50%. but even with only 12.5% of the Thai Sun i think they were suffering. Newbie mistake! Did have a cracking germination rate though! Lessons learnt.

Ezzer

 

[Burning Colon]

hey eric, what is a curry chili? never heard of it, i didn't a quick search and didn't find anything.

 

[nitwit]

ezzer dude,
you can grow chilis with out the artificial lights
just put them in some dirt or big pots and let them do their thing
be careful to "harden off" any you have been growing inside under lights

the shade thingie you got there probably will work out good even with only one layer
if you need to harden more make another frame and let them bad girls loose

good growing

what is your low temperature overnight these days?

 

[LGHT]

I tried something different with my seedlings this year and i'm very happy with the results. Instead of using an overhead light fixture I decided to play all my seeds in a single pot spaced and put the whole setup in a phototron.

The key with the phototron is it has 3 U shapped light tubes and one overhead light so the plants grow out and not up. The result is a short thick lush plant that starts growing updward once put outside. Since i'm only growing about 20 plants this year it's works great.

 

[Siliman]

I'm with NitWit... Seems like that outdoor set-up could be made to work. I'd keep working with that as well as the indoor and see who wins... Now I'm kind of curious if any or all of the tropical growers bother to start peppers indoors?

 

[LGHT]

I think it will work either way, but it's just a matter of success rate. I typically get 95% of all my seeds to sprout without any problems inside. If you put them outside and the temps are too hot or cold they may not make it decreasing that rate of success.

 

[JktaWhite]

Hi Ezzer, I live in Jakarta & the climate is similar to yours. I grow mine outside where they catch either morning or afternoon sun. The have shelter from rain until they are strong enough to cope with a tropical downpour.

Save power man & let the big light in the sky do her stuff

 

[Ezzer]

hey eric, what is a curry chili? never heard of it, i didn't a quick search and didn't find anything.

The Curry chilli is my reason for starting to grow chillies. I love Indian food, the Thai Chilli doesn't really work with Indian food.

Cut and pasted from here http://www.chileseeds.co.uk/hot_chili_pepper_seed.htm
Curry Chilli

Heat Level 6

Developed as the ultimate `Curry Chilli'; A Cayenne type' Fruits are long, thin and puckered in appearance and can be harvested green, red or dried for chilli flakes. This variety was specifically bred for the Indian market. This has a great flavour green or red and a good all round heat.

 

[Ezzer]

Thanks for all the replies.

Temperatures are sky high at the moment, Over 40 degrees in the afternoon yesterday !! All of my seedlings were outside. The red Habs that are a week old had closed there leaves completely. Being a first timer I started to worry. I had/have a few light fittings in the cupboard so I bought in some seedlings. The red Habs inside did the same, closed their leaves.

Here's a pic of the outdoor boys.

Don't look to bad this morning, guess I'm an over protective parent.

 

[Ezzer]

I'm with NitWit... Seems like that outdoor set-up could be made to work. I'd keep working with that as well as the indoor and see who wins... Now I'm kind of curious if any or all of the tropical growers bother to start peppers indoors?

That's my thinking, see which way works best. The seedlings outside are a week ahead of the indoor ones. Being a first timer I tried just a few seeds to see if they would germinate, as they did I planted some more which have now become the indoor boys. The race is on!

 

[Ezzer]

Hi Ezzer, I live in Jakarta & the climate is similar to yours. I grow mine outside where they catch either morning or afternoon sun. The have shelter from rain until they are strong enough to cope with a tropical downpour.

Save power man & let the big light in the sky do her stuff

Do you put them out as soon as they've germinated? What are your afternoon temps? I would much prefer to use the big grow light in the sky.

 

[wordwiz]

I sit my transplants or even newly germinated seedlings in my GH, which has a "shading factor of less than 10 percent and do not have any problems with them. OK, I may lose one out of 30 plants, but that's no worse than I experience under artificial lighting.

Mike

 

[Ezzer]

ezzer dude,
you can grow chilis with out the artificial lights
just put them in some dirt or big pots and let them do their thing
be careful to "harden off" any you have been growing inside under lights

the shade thingie you got there probably will work out good even with only one layer
if you need to harden more make another frame and let them bad girls loose

good growing

what is your low temperature overnight these days?

Night temps are around 27 degrees at the mo. I've taken one layer off the shade tent, soil temperature is 41 degrees . Under the lights it's 36. Only the red Habs seem to be struggling outside. When I say struggling I mean they were among the first to germinate, but they are the smallest now. Are Red Habs generally slow starters?

Thanks for all the input guys, Ezzer.

 

[JktaWhite]

Do you put them out as soon as they've germinated? What are your afternoon temps? I would much prefer to use the big grow light in the sky.

I actually germinate them outside. The afternoon temps at the side of the house is ~ 40c max. On overcast / smog days 32/34. I would not sit them in the full sun all day, If you have a wall that has a breeze runnig along it - when we are lucky enough to get a breeze in the tropics - and it gets morning or afternoon sun, that would be a nice spot for some of your pots.

 

[Ezzer]

I actually germinate them outside. The afternoon temps at the side of the house is ~ 40c max. On overcast / smog days 32/34. I would not sit them in the full sun all day, If you have a wall that has a breeze runnig along it - when we are lucky enough to get a breeze in the tropics - and it gets morning or afternoon sun, that would be a nice spot for some of your pots.

Cheeers for the info.

I germinated mine outdoors too. I only brought that tray inside because the Red Habs in the first batch were curling their leaves up and over themselves, almost like they were trying to shield themselves. Well the red Habs are doing the same thing under the lights. So I've moved them back to the great outdoors. They were only in the house for a few hours yesterday afternoon. I think I'll leave them under the shade tent until they get a little bigger, maybe cut back to one layer.