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Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
We have been starting our seeds indoors
for over 30 years. Have lived in the Midwest, Southeast and West coast. Started
them in basements, spare rooms and currently in our living room. The temps have
varied all over, from the 50's to 70's.
Can't say we had problems related to
temps. Have had damping off - solved by vermiculite on top of the planting mix
and always water from the bottom. We have always tried to keep the fluorescent
bulbs as close to the plants as practical. Put books or something under some of
the containers if necessary.
The other thing is we put them outside for
short periods of time as soon as practical after they have been transplanted to
the reused 6 pack from the starting flat. My wife will say it is the daily
gentle hand brushing she gives them that keeps them from getting leggy! Don't
think there is any absolute way to do it, but this has worked for us. Don't be
afraid to experiment, SqFt'ing is a continuous journey.
Bob in Sacramento
-----Original Message-----
From:
Souliere <s*@iname.com>
To:
SQFT List <s*@listbot.com>
Date:
Saturday, March 04, 2000 01:42 PM
Subject: Too hot for
seedlings? Leggyness from heat.
Square Foot Gardening
List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
From:
Don & Cheryl Sommardahl
> >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?
I am sorry, I
don't have any direct experience with too much heat,
my basement is cool
year round. If anything, I find any increased
heat seems to
help. I have used heating wire (buryable cable
for heating the
soil) in a tray of sand under my starts an it seems
to help. I
don't seem to have the original pamplet for the wire
but I seem to recall
it heated to 72-75 degrees. However my
basement ambiant air
temperatures are probably around 60-65F.
This is something though I
will need to come up to speed on
this year. It is currently 70
degrees here and I was starting
to put in some hoops in to convert my
raised beds to a mini
greenhouse. My last frost date is still 2
months away and I was
hoping to start seeds inside then move the
transplants (still
in trays) to the mini greenhouse. I am also
concerned about
too much heat during the day under the plastic.
Lows at night
are still in the mid 20's but with this much sunlight it
could
get very warm under the plastic.
Anybody else have any
direct experience here?
How hot do green houses get?
What I would
really like is one magic number.
Don't let it get hotter than X. I
doubt there is a
single good number X for everthing, but I
would
appreciate any feedback.
Ron
Souliere
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