Starting seedlings inside under grow lamps

Hi all !!

OK, this is my first time trying this.
I'm starting some vegetables from seed. This year I thought I start early as in previous years regretted not doing it. We have an empty room in the basement which is used for storage and I think it will work great for this. The room is heated and it has a ceiling fan to create air circulation.
I set a table using some old door as a base and hanged a shop light over the seedlings. The lights of choice here are some 48 " fluorescent tubes, the daylight kind, or 6500 Kelvin. The lights are on a timer which is set at 12hs on and 12hs off (Also read people having the lights on for 16 Hr a day).
Doing some reading learned that I might have to add another fixture next to the only one I have now, and also that I have to bring the light closer to the plants, but I don't know how close to the plants, can anyone tell me??

Please, I appreciate every and all comments as I do not have any experience on this. I'm attaching a picture so you can see what I have so far.

Thank you !!!
Willy.

I have not done this myself, but have read a lot about it. I think the lights need to be as close to the plants as possible, maybe even touching or almost. The farther away the light is, the leggier (spindlier) the plants will get. I'm sure an expert will be by soon to let you know for sure. Happy Growing!

Yes, the light needs to be within an inch or two, not touching them. Also, do those cups have drain holes in the bottom? Too much water will kill the seedlings.

The lights can even touch the plants - fluorescent lights are not hot enough to burn them. You don't need the lights on at all until the seeds sprout though (can't tell if they have or not from the photos). It is usually a good idea to cover your pots/trays/etc. with clear plastic so as to keep the soil constantly moist until germination. With vegetable seeds, as opposed to perennials, this won't take near so long in general, so you may get away without it if you are attentive to watering.

Your indoor season is much shorter than ours, needless to say, so you might be able to get away with that amount of light, but I suspect you'll need to double up the fluorescent output (i.e. another of the same lights, alongside the first). I use 2 double-light fixtures over each plant shelf, and it is adequate... some legginess in some seedling perennials after our long season indoors, but not excessive.

This message was edited Jan 3, 2011 3:00 PM

Thank you for your responses !!

Ok, so the light needs to be a lot closer, no problem, I can adjust the length of chain...

Yes, the cups have draining holes on the bottom. I decided to go with 16oz cups (I initially wanted to use paper cups as I hate anything plastic, but thought that paper cups might not last that long for this application) so I would not have to transplant too quickly, I'm hoping I'll be OK for at least three weeks after germination, do you think is possible??

Also, I started several kinds of vegetables and I know they will be growing at different rates, what I mean is, some will get much taller than others in the course of say, 2 weeks. How do I keep the lights close to all of them, will I have to re-group them and use different lights for the different heights ??

Edited to add:
I just sawed the seeds today. I read somewhere that the light does not to be on yet but this is the only source of lighting in the room; the ceiling fan has no light bulbs left on it.

As far as keeping the soil moist, I will be watering twice a day or as needed to keep the soil moist for germination.

Thank you !!
Willy.

This message was edited Jan 3, 2011 5:03 PM

Hopefully those cups will be good till the last frost (which here is somewhere in the beginning of March), that way I can transplant directly to the ground, or the raised beds that I plan on building.

Ok, here's the new set up.
I received a Pm from a member (Thank you very much for the valuable info!!) that did not post in the thread and she offered some interesting article on how to grow plants under grow lights, based on that article I updated my set up, so now it has 4 40watt fluorescent bulbs and 3 25watt incandescent bulbs (the article called for 15watt on the incandescent due to some balance as far as light composition and distribution, also for the heat output, but 25watt is all I had and they do not put out much heat at all)
I'm also proud to announce that some of the radishes and lettuce already broke the surface.... woohoo!!

Here's the picture, the light is tilted for the picture...

Willy

Thanks Willy, you give me hope.I hung a 48" 8 T5HO mixed tube fixture today. I dont plan on starting me seeds till next week end. I'll put up two single 48" T5HO near the big one and two T12 shop lights with grow tubes tonight. For X'mass my partner said shut up just get what you want . That will be the last time I bet. Let me know how you do.JIMT.

I realize you are just starting out with seed-growing and possibly with vegetable gardening, but for next time, it might be useful to note that radishes and lettuce grow so quickly that they can just be sown directly into the garden even in the shortest-season areas. Starting seeds indoors is really most "profitably" reserved for vegetables that require some extra growing time in one's zone. I do know it's exciting to see sprouts nonetheless!

I'm not sure what info was given in your PM, but you mentioned you would be watering twice a day or as needed to keep soil moist for germination. You have to be careful to not overwater; keeping the soil constantly moist will create conditions for dampening off, fungus growth and fungus gnats. Using large plastic cups will allow a lot of soil to remain damp while at the beginning stages the seedling is only using a small fraction of the moisture that's in the soil of those cups. Starting seeds in a smaller container, like the seed starting trays or any other smaller container, then potting up usually is more successful (from my experiences). Depending on what you are growing, only few types of common veg and flower seeds will need potted up to something that size before it makes it to the garden.

Thank you everyone !!!

Everything still doing fine, I guess that even when you read about all this things it seems pretty easy, but, in reality, untill you try for yourself you won't lean a thing. I know I'll be making many mistakes in the process, like planting lettuce and radishes too early, but now I know, and that's priceless.
Also experimenting with the watering, many people suggest covering the cups with plastic or those films used in the kitchen, but, have I mention that I HATE PLASTIC ? the only reason I used those plastic cups is because I already had them and I did not have the money to buy 100 terracotta pots and I did not think that paper cups will last the length of time I need them to last.
I know we are surrounded by it but, I do my part in cutting down use of plastic as much as I can even if sometimes is inconvenient or not economical, and believe me, most times it is.... Do not want to get into this right here, I'm sure there's a proper forum for that. My apologies.

I will keep you all posted as far as the progress.
Willy.

There are some seedling-starter cups and soil 'pouches' on the market that are not only environmentally friendly but extremely cheap. Look into pressed pulp seedling cups or pressed coir (coconut husk) pots that you can throw right into the ground when ready - this way, you're not damaging the fragile roots by removing them from a plastic cup or pot.

You didn't mention whether or not you started tomato plants, but these do well under lights. Start tomato seeds about 6 weeks before you want to set them out in the garden. (In zone 7b, that means you still have plenty of time -- at least 4-6 weeks before you truly need to start them.) With tomatoes, you want to make sure you re-pot them after they have at least 2 sets of true leaves. By moving them to larger containers (say cell trays to 16 ounce cups) at least once when they're seedlings, you help them develop strong root systems -- very important for tomatoes. This page may help more: http://www.tomatodirt.com/re-potting.html
Good luck!

Thank you both for the interesting information!!!

Those coconut husk pots are very cool; maybe next year I order some of those...

Yes I'm growing some tomatoes, thank you for the link, I see how important is to transplant tomato plants....
Here's a list of what I have going: Hot Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Two Kinds of Tomatoes,Two kinds of Lettuce, Spanish Onions, Green Onions, Radishes, Sweet Basil, Thyme, Peas, Broccoli, Cilantro and Rosemary.
Everything except the Rosemary has germinated (the seed package says it could take up to 30 days to germinate) and out of 60 seeds (not counting the Rosemary) only 4 have failed. So far so good......

Thank you all for your input !!!
Willy

I've never heard of starting radishes indoors! I've always direct seeded. I would think, based on the surface your cups are on, that it might be advantageous to put holes on the sides near the bottom since you might end up with poor drainage due to the cups being directly on the table.

Last year, I built an indoor PVC greenhouse and used shop lights to grow tomato plants. They did wonderfully. We just bought a few lengths of chain with S hooks so we could adjust the height as needed. The enclosed greenhouse made keeping humidity up easy, and I watered only when the plants just started to get dry (they stayed wetter prior to germination).

Good luck!

Hey sevseasail, once you catch the seed bug you will only get worse- no cure that I know of. I started with just a few cups in a windowsill... this is what my bassement looks like so far :-)
(each shelf, 8 ft long by 2 ft wide, holds 8 flats)
BTW, I use a potmaker and newspapers to make all my pots, and they last 2-3 months before they start to break down

This message was edited Jan 31, 2011 10:56 AM

Avianut..... Wow, that's impressive !!!
And, thank you for the tip on the newspaper pots, next time that's what I'll do.

Willy.

Sevseasail . . . .You can lower your lights right down to the surface of the growing medium for starters and when the seeds germinate keep raising them bit by bit but still keep them very, very close to the plants to prevent them from getting leggy. I always have my light just about about half inch from the tops of the plants and have never had any of them burn.