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24hr a day light on seedlings. Now what???
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Posted by johnnyapollo Ohio 6a (My Page) on Thu, Mar 27, 08 at 14:14
I read somewhere on here that 24hr/day light was a good thing on seedlings so...thats what I did - (thought it might be easier to not deal with a timer). About a month and a half ago I started my seedlings - tomatoes, peppers, herbs, artichokes and some hummingbird type flowers. All are under a double 4' t8 flourescent light fixture 24hr/day with a fan on slow speed 12hr./day. (Choose t8's cause they are so effiecient/cheap.) Everything is growing great! Nice thick stems. Unlike last year, no leggy plants this time. I have the plants arranged according to heighth so the light fixture is actually angled as to maintain an approximate 3-4" heighth above the tops of the plants. (So...basically the tall plants are on one end and the shorter plants are on the other end and the light is hanging crookedly over them...)
I'm about one month+ before I can consider planting. I read that one way to harden them off is to put the plants outside under a "laundry basket" for a week before planting them. Right now I have the wind part covered with the fan on them. Its the sun that is my question. I'm going from 24hr/day artificial light to 14+(?) hrs/day sunlight.
My question is this: How do the plants react to this change??? In years past I always bought starter veggie plants. Last year I did some indoors - 16 hr/day timer w/ no fan. Should I slowly reduce the light hours? |
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RE: 24hr a day light on seedlings. Now what???
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Hmm I never heard of the laundry basket thing, however, it could work if the plants could get some limited filtered sunlight. You can take what you want from this. First, healthy plants grow because of successful photosynthesis. Photosynthesis actually requires a dark period for the reactions to take place for normal growth (Calvin cycle). As you are finding out, plants can grow with lights on 24/7 but you are doing them a dis-service. My suggestions would be to start cutting the lights out at night, then make a hardening off plan for your zone.
I harden off my seedlings over a 2 week period. I first start with an hour of morning sun, bring them back in under lights, turn lights off at night, then gradually increase the morning light to afternoon light, leaving the seedlings out in a protected area overnight. I would not leave your hardening seedlings out in a wind exposed area, either, even though you're priming them with a fan. This is when you can stash them under the laundry basket as long as you are getting them used to the sun. If you are not home during the day, find your sun pattern and position your seed trays accordingly for measured sun time. Personally, I find that hardening off is more work than maintaining seedlings indoors. |
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