Re: Any experienced Metal Halide Users

We use the Metal Halide light in our basement.
We found that the some hostas tips scorched even at a distance of 4' to 6'.
We did have our plants very tightly packed so that the scorch was only the
tips.
We moved the hosta to a lower shelf were the light was reflected by mirror
and plastic mirror film.
The leaves on the outer edges of the plant stand still scorched.

The hosta did grow like mad.  We were amazed that we had blooms on seedlings
in 3 months.
The seedlings leaves stayed small and were very densely grown.
Reminded mo of when I had mowed down a hosta and the second flush came up
with much smaller leaves because the lateral buds have been forced to grow.
We were intrigued by the full size blooms on almost full size bloom stalks
coming from this lawn of small hosta leaves.

The fixture we had for our Halide light was recalled and we used only
florescent lights this past winter.
We had 22 4' fixtures with 2 bulbs each.
That cost more to run than one Halide lamp and did not give as much light.
Very disappointing.  We are spoiled.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Lietzow" <alietzow@myfamily.com>
To: <hosta-open@hort.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 8:22 AM
Subject: Any experienced Metal Halide Users


> Dear Open'ers,
> Anyone have any experience with Metal Halide lights for growing seedlings?
I have already discovered that they are hotter (no duh) by scorching some
leaves, so I have raised them away another foot or so.   I know I can
measure the temp at the tops of the leaves, and should adjust them
accordingly, but does anyone have any recommendations for the on/off cycles?
>
> I'm thinking 16/8 but would 20/4 be better?   Any resources out there for
commercial or hobbyist Hosta growers using HID lights?  Should the plants be
both watered and misted?  I'm thinking that starting seedlings under
flourescents, until they reach the 4-leaf stage should be good, but then to
move them under MH lights from that point on.
>
> Also, can they go up to 22 months before requiring a dormancy period?
I've heard that this was true, but would appreciate any info or research on
the subject.   I'm not trying to make this overly complicated but simply
looking for links or research articles.
>
> TIA,
> Andrew in Des Moines
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CCREDUX@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 9:17 PM
> To: hosta-open@hort.net
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: Growing seeds in ground
>
> In a message dated 8/9/2004 1:52:37 PM Central Daylight Time,
> charlie@charliecheese.demon.co.uk writes:
>
> > You should put the question to Glen of the Pether
>
> You mean  Count Glen de Pether-Plant-aginet?
>
> cc
>
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> _____________________________________________________________________
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>
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