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Re: Seedling Update

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

At 11:53 PM 2/29/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>From: Patricia Santhuff <psanthuff@mindspring.com>
>> Today, as an experiment and in preparation for the tomato and pepper
>> seedlings I hope to have soon, I changed the lightbulbs in the fluorescent
>> fixtures. What I had were bulbs sold for plants and aquariums. I couldn't
>> find *warm* bulbs which is what I've repeatedly seen recommended to go
>> along with the cool bulb so what I put in were one "regular" fluorescent
>> and one "cool" fluorescent in each of the two fixtures.
>>
>> WOW. I can't believe the difference in the AMOUNT of light compared with
>> the other bulbs. With those reflective surfaces in there, it's like a
>> tanning booth or something! I'll bet I'm not going to have leggy tomato
>> seedlings.
>>
>> Patricia
>
>I have only ever used the "Regular" bulbs.  I found that covering all
>nearby surfaces (the walls around the seed starting area) in
>aluminum foil helped with the usable amount of light quite a bit.
>(actually got that idea from watching some TV show about
>illicit growing of stuff.  While I am unlikely to go for a CO2
>injection system, or expensive lights, the aluminum foil
>was a cheap idea that seems to work for veggies)
>I also found that using an oscillating fan helped keep the plants
>stockier.  Some plants that I forgot to rotate to be near the fan
>received as much light as the rest of the starts, but were
>leggier then the ones exposed to the fan.
>Two issues with fluorescents.  Wattage, or how much light
>they can deliver.  (actually how much energy they use but
>there is nearly 1-1 relationship to delivarable light).
>And wavelengths they give off.  fluorescents actually give
>off a lot of light in the UV spectrum and the white coating on
>the inside, blocks the UV and fluoreces (spelling...) producing
>the visible light.  Some aquarium bulbs are uncoated or
>only lightly coated.  Giving off very little visible light but
>quite a bit of UV, this is needed (so I have read) by
>plants that while underwater are used to getting UV from
>the sun.
>Some have suggested in the past that Aquarium or
>"Gro" lights are necessary for good starts, others indicate
>that perhaps they are helpful for growing full size plants,
>but are of minimal use for starting plants.  I don't know
>where the truth of the matter actually lies, just that
>so called regular bulbs seem to work fine for starts
>for many of us.  Floros can age and older bulbs
>while apearing quite bright can actually be very much
>dimmer then new bulbs.  I solve this problem by using
>new bulbs in the seed starting area and whenever a
>bulb dies someplace else in the basement, I steal
>a bulb from the seed starting area and give the
>starting area a new bulb.
>Ron Souliere
>Ron, I had problems with leggy plants last year when I started from seed.
I had a good seed starting set up with correct bulbs, etc. but  one problem
I had was the heat build up in the room when the lights were all on. I did
use the fan. I would like to hand some mylar around the racks to reflect
light but know that would trap in even more heat. My temps get up around 72
as is. What do you advise?
>
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