A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Yay for Me!

I finaly got some supplies for starting my indoor garden! I got four flood lights for now that are going across one wall over a shelf. They're a little hot but aparently they're suposed to go about four feet above the plants and all together cover about 7 feet. I also got two mini greenhouses for like 4 bucks each to start seeds and am going to plant some lettuce tonight!
For now the seeds I got are okra, romain lettuce, and thai bazil. So with that said any last minute tips on seed starting would be helpful. and some time soon I'm going to need container tips and such. I can't wait to eat that first leaf!!!
Bye from Josh.

Apples,those flood lights got me a little worried. All my seed starting lights are cool burning and they need to be almost right on the plant.The heat might wilt and dry out your seedlings as soon as you turn around.Is this your first time starting from seed?

Has Me a little worried too Neighbor Of course, maybe we are just ol' busy body Minnesotians!! Tell us more about those floodlights Apples!!!

Maybe you should have them higher than 4'...then they would just warm the plants a little without drying them out. Also, I found that mine grow better if they have plastic wrap covering them...it makes more of a green house effect....of course, if you HAVE a green house that the seeds are in, then you probably don't have to do that. So anyways, maybe just having the lights higher will be ok?

The info I was given was that the spot grow lights needed to be close but they seemed like they would burn just as hot but the flood lights I got were stated to cover 2-3 feet wide area if they were placed about 4 feet above the plants. They're full spectrum 124w that with their shape and reflector factor they put out I think 150w. I was kind of upset when I first pluged them in figuring that they would be cool burning sice they were for plants. I just finished setting one up. What I did to make shure I got the most light possible was kept my hand where the green house thing is and moved it up till my hand didn't feel like it was burning . They are similar to the floodlights that are labled grow lights in hard ware stores. My guess is they just have to be hot in order to put they light out that far and wide. I am going to get florecent 48inch fixtures in a month or two to inlarge my facility but for now these will have to do so wish me luck!

Anyways, thanks for worrying for me and my plants! I'll keep you all updated on how it turns out.

Opps... I forgot to say shamarian, this is my first time growing any vegetables with the ecception of these sweet pepper seeds I got out of a store bought pepper that I planted just for fun! They seem to be doing pretty good but I just grew them in a bright window a few months back. There now putting out their seccond true leaves.

Well Apples it appears that you have done your homework I guess.Us Minnasotans just do it the ole hillbilly way of just usin an old shop light and such and never started with such fine equipment.Good luck to ya, you are going to be hooked on this once you start because the choices are endless and very fun,just watch them close. Mine dry out sometimes in just half a day and once their dead, their dead and it breaks your heart to have to start over.Its kinda like having a newborn,you never get too far away and you check them often. Happy growing!!!

With the humidity in the little green houses I'm hoping they won't dry out but I'm also scared that if theirs to much condensation on the roof it will magnify the light and burn them that way.
I'll still be beside them every step of the way!
It's not that fine equipment though. The cheapest I could get same will go for the floresents. Again those green houses are only 3/4 dollars, Seems like a good investment to me! Also I need some what of quality because I be growing most things indoors al year round.
Once again thanks and a happy growing to us all hopefully!

I'm interested in your little green houses. Where did you get them? Are you eventually moving these plants outside? I an curious after your post about growing peppers in a window. I was just thinking, okra gets tall.

Richie's Feed and seed.
I have to grow them in container's and plan on rotating them to an outdoor location, as many as possible at a time, once it getts warm enough. The peppers grow towards the window for two days and then I turn them to the opposite side. They seem to be doing good, I'm suprized they even grew as it was just for fun. As for the okra I know!!! I don't know, I'm going to have to give them away or something. I was just going to plant about four and two or three incase they didn't germinate but...
Hey Bestofour four want some okra!

Funny thing about starting from seed, its hard to plant just some.I always drop in a few extra seeds just in case some don't germinate. And then they all do and if their healthy its just so hard to kill those cute little things and then I end up with lots.Total dicipline required. :rolleyes:

Allright I have an update!
Good news/Bad news Only time will tell.
Allmost all of the lettuce seeds have sprouted this morning, so did a few of the okra a few hours ago! The thing is I've never seen lettuce seedlings befor and I'm scared that they're not getting the light they need because they have gotten up to over an inch stock now with seemingly two little leaves on the top of that. Is this normal? I littleraly can't even imagin what they're supposed to look like when I look at full grown lettuce . No one seems to think either that their is a point to showing a pic of them so I have litteraly no refference.
P.S. Shamarian I think the trick is to eat them like sprouts that way your dirty works cleaned up on the spot <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" /> .

Lol Apples, its a good plan but might be tricky getting all that potting soil out from between your teeth. Hang in there, somethings might start out looking funny, but its pretty hard to do any thing wrong with lettuce, is it leaf lettuce or head lettuce?

Romaine!

Apples,

Romaine is the top one for dietary bulk and nutrition!

Weezie

And it's yummy!!!
New news is their up another half a cm. I think because I don't get up early enough they start trying to grow towards the sun light untill I turn on the lamps. :p They're in my closet so I think I'll shut the doors from now on until I come turn an the lights. Also two little basil seedlings just popped up! This is so exciting for me, a first timer!

It's great for your enthusiasms for growing things!!
We do have a few "younger" gardeners here,
and it is such a joy to see excitement for growing things, and eating good things
and just the experimenting of it all!!!

And keep up that spirit and keep reading all
your gardening information and never stop learning!!!!

Weezie

Thanks weezie, I'm glad to help spread the joy! I've got two new good books to keep me busy for now. I wish I could find one more indoor specific or at least on container gardening but books around here are usually very general or on the basics.
Things are progressing faster then I would have figured and it's inspired more questions. I'm still kind of worried that the green houses arn't getting enough light. How tall does lettuce get befor it starts growing into a head? Some of them going on 2 inchesand still have the little leaves at the top of thin stalks. The okra has already reached the top of the greenhouse, don't know what to do about that. The okra is in one and a half by two inch wide by two and a half inch deep containers. Unfortunatly the greenhouse roof is only 2 and a half inches. Anyways that's it(for now ).

Apples, its all a little trial and error.I'm curiou about your greenhouses too. Are they blackflats with a clear dome on top that is removable,like a cover?When things arent getting enough light they do kinda desperately stretch to the light and then eventually just get too strung out and fall over and slowly wither. But a lot of new seedlings look that way at first till they get their first true leaves and then they kinda bulk up. Just a matter of wait and see.

apples,
Under ideal conditions, the first leaves would be barely above the soil line. In addition to low light, overcrowding can cause the seedlings to get tall. It's actually something of a balancing of light and temperature. Lower temps can compensate for low light to a degree. If you can't realistically raise the light level, put them in a cooler area. Lettuce seed doesn't mind low temps. It can actually germinate in barely thawed soil, albeit very slowly. If you can, you might consider getting a couple of flourescent lites. Standard bulbs are fine. Getting the mini-greenhouses into natural light will help too. Direct sun, with the lids on can be way too hot. How big are these greenhouses? How much soil is contained in them?
As far as how lettuces grow, it's basically a stem plant with very short distances between the leaf nodes. If light levels are low or they are competing with each other, the distances get longer. 2" before the first leaves does sound like low light. When you transplant, you can always bury them a little deeper to make up the difference.
Rick

Apples if you have the classic dome seed starter
tray like I use,as soon as the seedlings breakthru the soil I get the lid off and get the cool burning flor.lights right on top of them.If your okra are touching the top,it needs to come off.But like I said I'm still not certain as to what kind of greenhouse you have.

Alright I just returned those evil flood lights and went to Rona and bought two shop light fixtures for 18 bucks each and hold two 48" bulbs each, plus I got 4 growlux bulbs for 8 bucks each. Total cost was less then three of those flood lights! So now I'm happy and so are my plants. They haven't streched any taller and have opened their leaves so I think they're doing ok.
Sorry I haven't been around the last little while to respond. I think the greenhouse things are probably the same thing as your talking about shamarian. They are about 2&1/2" to 3" deep. The lettuce are in 2" by 2" wide flats, the okra is in 1&1/2" by 2" flats and the basil is in 2" by 2". I only put one seed in each container so it definitly wasn't overcrowding that caused their lengthlieness. Anyways thanks Rick and Shamarian and everyone else that is helping me! It's much apriciated.
P.S. Shamarian I never read your signiture quote befor