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lighting When should I introduce lights to my plants in my humidity dome?

When do you introduce light to your seedlings when germinating in a humidity dome?  I know some growers put their dome under lights as soon as they plant their seeds.  I have also noticed that some growers keep their humidity dome covered in total darkness and don’t introduce lights until their seedlings have sprouted and have formed their first set of leaves.
 
I’m not sure if I’m doing this right but I have my  72 cell tray/dome on a heat mat set at 85 degrees in complete darkness and once or twice a day I remove the dome for 20 minutes to circulate some fresh air around my plants.
 
I am just curious what’s the best way to do this.  Should I have my dome under lights right now or should I wait until the majority of my plants have sprouted?
 
jswieton said:
Should I have my dome under lights right now or should I wait until the majority of my plants have sprouted?
 
My vote is light 18 on 6 off from the start, or as soon as you see one seed germinate.  
 
Masher said:
Power is cheap here and they are already on preset timers...I'm lazy  ;)
 
Understood - but to the OP, not knowing anything about his setup, it could be an injustice to suggest lengthy lighting durations. I was just trying to suggest that such lengths of time aren't necessary.
 
Peppers aren't picky on lighting.  You can get away with as little as 6 hours of full intensity artificial lighting, and as much as 24 hours/7 days a week.  Personally, I have always opted to keep lights on during the hours when I'm not in the house, and no longer.  If you have a basement, that might not be an issue.
 
My method is as follows.....Humidity dome on....no lights..............once I get a sprout the dome comes off......I turn the lights on when I leave for work and turn them off when I go to bed.
 
I just set the 18-6 timer as soon as they were in the soil.. It keeps them warm too if you don't have a heat pad
 
I'm running CFL lights so the extra 6 hours of light isnt going to break the bank with power use either
 
It has only been 3 days and my first seed to germinate is a Chocolate Bhutlah seed.  I also have Jamaican hot chocolate and a 7 pot Primo that is starting to break the surface.  I did have one question, and it might be a silly one.  Is this abnormally leggy for being a seedling that was nonexistent 24 hours ago? As I mentioned earlier this is the first time I have grown from seed and it  looks a little different than many of the other photos I have viewed on the web, maybe I’m just being a bit paranoid.
 
IMG_1424_zpsccwe1kak.jpg
 
Is that the pepper seed , or just a contamination seed ?
3 days on the bhutlah does not sound right.
 
Best of luck on your grow.
 
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