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seeds lighting for germination?

M

marlin304

I am new to growing peppers. I started a variety of peppers today including jalapeño, habanero, reaper as well as some tomatoes,okra, and shallots. I am using a 72 plug hot house on a heating mat with thermostat set at 85. I am using rapid rooter peat cubes. My question is how much lighting should I be using from now until the seeds germinate?  Right now I have the hot house sitting in front of a southwest window which is fairly bright in the afternoon. Is this too much light?  There is no direct light hitting the seeds since they sit down in the rapid rooter hole. I soaked the seeds for 2 hours before putting in hot house. 
 
Once they germinate I will put them under a 250 MH 65k light until all the snow melts here in Illinois.
 
 
 
Ok sounds like I can move away from the window until they sprout.  Thanks for the advice. Good point on the metal halide burning them. I guess I'll start out with the light pretty far away at first and see how they react.  This forum has been a great resource since I've never done this before. 
 
I germinate in incubators made for eggs.  Near zero light in there.  Works fine.  Once they show themselves, I move to under standard shop lights with cool white fluorescent bulbs in them.  6" away from the seedlings, 160 watts (4 bulbs) per 2 foot by 4 foot of grow area at 12 hours a day.  I wait at least two weeks before I put them under any serious lighting for fear of burning the little things.  When I do, I go to 16 hours a day.

Same for clones, but they get 24 hours of darkness before anything else.  Not sure why, but seems to help.
 
^^^ Take this one seriously^^^
Don't over water! That's the biggest mistake everyone makes starting out!
oh and Welcome !!
 
marlin304 said:
I am new to growing peppers. I started a variety of peppers today including jalapeño, habanero, reaper as well as some tomatoes,okra, and shallots. I am using a 72 plug hot house on a heating mat with thermostat set at 85. I am using rapid rooter peat cubes. My question is how much lighting should I be using from now until the seeds germinate?  Right now I have the hot house sitting in front of a southwest window which is fairly bright in the afternoon. Is this too much light?  There is no direct light hitting the seeds since they sit down in the rapid rooter hole. I soaked the seeds for 2 hours before putting in hot house. 
 
Once they germinate I will put them under a 250 MH 65k light until all the snow melts here in Illinois.
 
 
Click to expand...
don't think the snow is gonna melt till july !  way below normal .    :onfire:
 
Scrufy, we've been very dry for a couple years where I grow.  Peppers kept doing better, other things no so much.  Reading you say that makes me wonder about climate change and how food production will move from one place to the another.
 
ajdrew said:
I germinate in incubators made for eggs.  Near zero light in there.  Works fine.  Once they show themselves, I move to under standard shop lights with cool white fluorescent bulbs in them.  6" away from the seedlings, 160 watts (4 bulbs) per 2 foot by 4 foot of grow area at 12 hours a day.  I wait at least two weeks before I put them under any serious lighting for fear of burning the little things.  When I do, I go to 16 hours a day.

Same for clones, but they get 24 hours of darkness before anything else.  Not sure why, but seems to help.
Click to expand...
I do the same (minus egg incubators, I have dark shelves up high no lights and lower shelves with heated propergaters and lights so the heat rises up to the dark shelves , they sit at about 30 degrees Celsius when running smooth) but I go straight to 16 hours with the fluros .. I've yet to have any issues, that being said on our hot days here I need to open up my lighting shelf to release some heat , shed heats up a lot and the added heating pads and lights go a little high heat wise.

In winter it perfect in summer it's a balancing act
 
Another 4 inches of snow today but I see a 50 degree day in the forecast! Well my okra exploded. All of them sprouted in 24 hours and are now 1-2 inches tall! all shallots and tomatoes have root poking out of seed.  So far the only pepper seed I see starting to poke out a root is a golden habanero I got for free when I ordered my seeds. 
 
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