Re: Heating Pads

Brad,
   Photobiologists have discovered over the years that plant growth seems to 
respond most to the red and blue spectrums of light. A cool white or blue 
bulb is low on the red wavelength. A grow light has both red and blue, giving 
it the purple look. You can use standard tubes to get a similar effect. A 
warm white or wide spectrum bulb has more red and the cool white has the 
blue....use one of each. The most common mistake growers make is to  keep the 
lights too far away from the plants. Light intensity drops drastically when 
you move the fixture 6" or a foot from the plant. Put them within a couple 
inches of the plants...they are cool and won't burn the plant. You can also 
make up for the poor intensity of a grow light(and all of them are poor 
compared to the sun) with increasing the number of hours it is on...go for 18 
hours with a 6 hour dark period. Incandescent bulbs are also high in red and 
can be used with a cool white. The incandescent does give off heat though so 
it can't be put as close to the plant. This all boils down to my previous 
statements...don't start your plant until you are almost ready to put them 
out. You will be subjecting your plant to less than optimum conditions, at 
the critical beginning of its life. There is nothing worse than a leggy, weak 
and gigantic seedling that doesn't transplant well and needs to be hardened 
off before planting.A plant can get spindley in just a couple days of poor 
light. When mother nature warms the soil, a seed sprouts from the ground at a 
time when the weather is warm enough to support photosynthesis during the day 
(photosynthesis does not take place well at the 50 and 60 degree days we have 
been having lately). Here is a stategy that I have found much better than 
starting seeds too early and leaving them inside....( I am talking about 
southern to central New England or a similar climate). Lets say that a 
planned planting date of May 1st allows enough growing time in your area. 
Back up another week and plant your seeds...also keep an eye on a long range 
weather forecast if you can find one. The seedling will break ground in the 
pot in 3 or 4 days if your temps are warm and put it right out if the outside 
weather permits. Use grow lights only for a few days to keep it from getting 
leggy until planting time. Once the seedling has germinated , it can be 
transplanted any time weather permitting. No hardening off required if you 
get them out quickly. The best day to transplant is on a cloudy or partly 
cloudy day that is not blistering hot. A rainy day is fine, if it is not 38 
degrees out. This will give the seedling some moderate conditions until it 
gets established. Howard Dill waits until the time is right, plants a few 
seeds, waits a few days, plants a few more, waits a few days , plants a few 
more. When the time comes to set the plants out, if the weather is brutal he 
discards the seedlings that are getting big and goes with the smaller, sturdy 
newcomers. Big old seedlings are no good. The only problem with doing 
multiple starts is that you must have a large supply of seeds. I wouldn't do 
multiple starts on coveted and rare proven seeds. You don't want to discard 
them. It is a good strategy if you are planting seeds from your own pumpkin 
that you have hundreds of seeds to use. I cringe when I hear people say, "I 
have 3 starting spots and I am planting 8 good proven seeds and will take the 
best 3 seedlings....WHAT A WASTE OF GOOD SEED! If you have 3 spots , plant 3 
or 4 good seeds. If one doesn't come up properly, plant another next 
week....there is still a window of opportunity to plant seeds for 3 0r 4 
weeks for most people. I haven't planted any yet. Next week I will plant an 
early seed for an early, local fair. The rest will go in the end of April. 
Don Fleming, a buddy of mine and  record holder in 1987 from 
Vermont.....plants his seeds the beginning of May. Some novices think that if 
some early birds have planted their seeds already, that somehow they are 
getting ahead. Unless you want to build a greenhose to get air temperatures 
up, planting time has not come yet for me. We had frost a few days ago and 
wet snow last week. A few areas of the country have a cool slow growing 
summer and must start plants early with greenhouses ( the number of degree 
days determine the speed and length of the growing period)....for the rest of 
us there is time.....let it warm up a little. Boy, did I get off the lighting 
track.....well, hope it was of some help.
                                       pumkinguy  

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