grow rack question

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Worth, what is the wattage of those CFL and their Kelvin rating ?

Gardeneer

Gardener they put out the equivalent of a 100 watt incandescent bulb but draw 23 watts each.
The lumens are 1600 each.
The K rating is 6500.

Watts and lumens can be added up.
So what I have in a 24 X 40 inch area is 1200 watts and 19,200 lumens spread out.
I could double this with Y connectors in each socket and run 24 100 watt bulbs.
Or put a 150 or 200 in each socket.
Worth

[Gardeneer]

That sounds pretty good. It can put a lot of lumens, with all the bulbs on.
My CFL tubes have 6500k rating, Daylight Deluxe, 32W per tube, 64w per unit.
I paid under $20 for each T8 set (including the bulbs). They came already wired, ready to plug in.
So all I have to do is to hang them from 3/4" PVC support/structure that I have made and adjust the height (chain). I can adjust each unit independently, depending on the size of the seedling. For example, chili peppers don't grow as tall as tomatoes...
The floor is where the tray are stationery.

Gardeneer

[Fusion_power]

Could you please explain the soil fungi connection to light.

Soil fungi thrive in high moisture low light conditions. Increase light exposure and you will have fewer problems with fungi. This is in part because light suppresses many fungi and in part because the plants grow faster which makes them less susceptible to fungals like Phytothora and Rhizoctonia.

Reduce the water and you will gain even more benefit. Of all the problems tomato growers cause for themselves, over-watering tomato seedlings is the most egregious and easiest to avoid. Tomatoes are equatorial plants, they are NOT swamp dwellers though they will happily grow in a swamp if their roots are not flooded.

Here is a link to my seedling page with a lot more info on growing healthy plants. http://www.selectedplants.com/seedlings.htm

[Ricky Shaw]

Thank you for that explanation and page link, always especially good stuff Fusion.

On lights, I've been leaving them on 24hrs until the plants are 4"-6". Then 18 on and 6 off, till hardening. That sound about right?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Thank you for that explanation and page link, always especially good stuff Fusion.

On lights, I've been leaving them on 24hrs until the plants are 4"-6". Then 18 on and 6 off, till hardening. That sound about right?

Your not gaining anything by leaving them on 24/7 12 to 16 hours of light a day is fine.

You ever notice how plants grow over night, well they really do.

[Ricky Shaw]

For me the 24hrs in the early stages is as much about warmth as light, that area of the basement is high 50's Winter/Spring. I've been taking away the warming mat as soon as they sprout and keeping them snug to the lights at a steady 70-75 degrees. I've not been exposing them to the cooler 50's temps till about the 3rd week. Maybe the extra early warmth isn't needed.

[Worth1]

What ever is working for you is the best thing to do.
Could the heat mats be left on and the lights off.
Worth
What I did in the past when I was growing in the garage was use a heat lamp at night

Worth

[Ricky Shaw]

Raises the unanswered question in my mind, does the 24hrs light stress the younger plants, and, or at what point does it become a detriment.

Added: To be clear, I'm thinking it wouldn't be a good idea to do 24hrs right up to transplanting, right?

[Fusion_power]

Could the heat mats be left on and the lights off.

The combination of bottom heat and no light encourages tall leggy growth. It is better to maintain air temperatures in the 65 to 72 range and keep the lights on at least 18 hours per day until the seedlings are about 4 inches tall. This combination of temps and light is ideal for plant growth and suppresses fungi that would otherwise attack roots. Adding a fan to blow across the seedlings will encourage stocky growth as will brushing a broomstick across them a couple of times a day.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Raises the unanswered question in my mind, does the 24hrs light stress the younger plants, and, or at what point does it become a detriment.

Added: To be clear, I'm thinking it wouldn't be a good idea to do 24hrs right up to transplanting, right?

I think a plant needs to be put in an environment it is adapted to.

I have read over and over again where a plant stores energy from the sun and grows at night.
One common mistake I see is where people are having to look on weed growing sites to find out about lighting.'
Much of this information is not only wrong for them but doubly wrong for us.
Lets talk about lights and plants for a minute.
I guess I am going to incriminate myself but it was 30 years ago.

They keep talking on line about plants need 2700 K or so to flower.
Well I call this sell another light bulb.
A 6500 K light puts out a full spectrum from red to blue.
What those plants not tomatoes need to flower is a certain amount of darkness plane and simple.
Tomato plants dont have a length of darkness trigger to make them flower that is why you see them flower all summer long from almost sprout to full grown.

This is something that can be done just to prove a point.
You can take a darkness triggered plant give it that amount of darkness to get it to flower.
Once this is done you can hit it with 24 hours of light for several days and this will force it back into vegetative growth.
If at any time your are trying to force a plant to bloom and you let it get hit with light during the darkness stage it will reset the clock and it will not bloom.
It doesn't take a lot of light or a lot of time doing this.
This is why most people cant get a jade plant or poinsettia to bloom at home.
You would have to put it in a closet in darkness for a certain amount of hours and dont open the door with the light on.
If you do want to see the plant during this time period it will have to be under green light waves the plant cant see.

With a tomato plant I have done this and have read it many times.
The average amount of light one needs before you get to diminishing results is 16 hours of light.


Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

The combination of bottom heat and no light encourages tall leggy growth. It is better to maintain air temperatures in the 65 to 72 range and keep the lights on at least 18 hours per day until the seedlings are about 4 inches tall. This combination of temps and light is ideal for plant growth and suppresses fungi that would otherwise attack roots. Adding a fan to blow across the seedlings will encourage stocky growth as will brushing a broomstick across them a couple of times a day.

That is the reason I asked.
I dont, the plants chill at night.
I also let the containers get dry before I water them again, maybe almost to the point of drooping.
Right now they are outside in a light breeze at 53 degrees with the sun out.

Worth

[kath]

Originally Posted by ChiliPeppa

I have two racks just like that. when i first started i used two lamps but also worried about the gap so bought a third on for each level. seedlings grew better with less leggy-ness in my observation.

Same here- I have the same racks and use 3 lights/shelf. It's hard to have too much light. I grow them in a cooler location to compensate for the heat given off by the bulbs during the day. They go on when I get up and get turned off just before bed.

[Gardeneer]

Like Worth said : Whatever is working for that is the best thing to do.

I think that the best we can do is to mimic the nature. Sure we can beat the nature sometimes and push . That is what commercial growers do. They even push the hens to lay more eggs.
I am not a plant biologist but I have feeling that most plants need some darkness to recuperate, similar to us humans to have sleep. Having said that in my limited experience 12/24 to 16/24 lighting works pretty good.

Gardeneer

[Worth1]

I hate it when someone is doing something successfully only to have some jerk come along and say they are doing it all wrong.

A case in point was I was told to go run a bunch rigid conduit in a chemical plant.
I told the guy I needed help I have never done it before.
He said your are a smart guy you will figure it out.
I had a helper that knew less than me.
A month went by and I saw the guy evey day and I said, Dude you really need to come and look at what I am doing I am scared to death I am doing this all wrong.
It was a huge project.
So one day while I was coming back from lunch I saw him there where I had my bender set up.
He was smiling and shaking his head.
I thought crap I am in for it now.
What the guy said was why did you lie to me that is some of the best looking work I have ever seen.
Where is your scrap pile?
You are standing next to it.
What he said that one piece of 3 foot conduit?
Yep that is it.

The point of the story is I never asked for help but he would have gave it to me.
I asked if what I was doing right and he said yes it was great.
He and I worked together we had different ways of doing things but they both came out the same.
Even though I did it differently he never said it was the wrong way.
The company I worked for at the time and for many years said I was one of the best trainers they had because I let people do things their way not mine and was always around to help.
I would watch someone mess up until they would look at me and say alright what am I doing wrong.
How did I learn to be this way, because that was the way I was trained not being yelled at.
Worth

[Gardeneer]

On the Heat Mat :
Does anybody use it after the seeds have germinated ??

Gardeneer