This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Long, leggy seedlings

Naomi-
  Your lights need to be about 2" above the top of the plants.  There is
no need to use any kind of special lights.  Regular flourscent cool white
or warm white bulbs will work just fine.  I do not use any plant food for my
seedlings until they are hardened off and in the ground for a couple of
weeks.  The last thing i want to do is to encourage new growth at a time when the
energy of the plant should be going into producing a strong root system in their
new environment.  I really don't know what you can do about the legginess now
except to move the lights, and wait for a few more sets of leaves and then pinch
them back.  This will encourage them to ba a bit bushire than they arre now.
Caron

nhamby wrote:

> Hi folks-
> I have been gardening for a few years now ever since I found a NYC
> apartment with a terrace(!) So far, surviving the past winters, I have
> clematis, honeysuckle, a climbing rose bush, a bunch of herbs, perrenials,
> a small japanese maple, Boston Ivy, Virginia Creeper (I'm into making the
> most out of my vertical space! I also have flowering plants like morning
> glorys (whose seeds I collect in the winter) and cosmos that keep coming
> back! I have become quite obsessed with this wonderfully theraputic hobby,
> but I still have LOTS to learn.
>
> This year I have begun trying to propagate flower seeds indoors.
> I am using those plastic seed trays with plastic covers and a seed starting
> growing mixture (I guess basically peat moss.) I transplanted the seedlings
> into smaller soil filled pots, once they got to be large enough and now it
> seems that they all still have only their first set of leaves at the end of
> a very long, leggy stem. Another batch that I set outside to see whether
> more natural light would improve growth has simply gotten drowned in the
> rain! My seedlings right on a north facing window (all I've got) and I have
> 2 of those plant light bulbs about 1 1/2  feet above for around 12 hours a
> day.
> Any ideas why my seedings are having such awkward growth spurt?
> Are they not getting enough real light once they germinate?
>
> Is it a question of using a specific plant food to encourage new leaf growth?
> Thanks for your help in advance, and I look foward to sharing info with
> everyone!
>
> -Naomi
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
>                                N a o m i  H a m b y
>
>                        Director of Exteremely Important Stuff
>
>                          H A P P Y  M A Z Z A   M E D I A
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index