Halogen lights?
- To: propagation@lorien.mallorn.com
- Subject: Halogen lights?
- From: "* P* L* <lindsey@mallorn.com>
- Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 12:39:31 -0600 (CST)
Has anyone here had any experiences growing under halogen lights? Or
more to the point, germinating?
I've been having phenomenal success with my tomatoes, Agastache, and
Pelargoniums so far this year. I start them off on a folding table
with an architect-style 150W halogen light clamped to the side -- that way
I can move the light closer or further as I see fit.
The flats are kept slightly moist and covered in clear plastic, and
the light is kept on 24 hours a day until germination occurs (about
5 days later for all three species). The halogen bulb warms the soil
I think... Once enough have germinated, I leave the light on for
12 hours and uncover the flats at night. The halogen light seems to
give my plants really nice deep green foliage; the ones started under
flourescents are much more pale. However, the plants started under
halogen lights do tend to be more gangly (they are stouter, but
Once the first true set of leaves has emerged, I move the plants under
flourescent lights for 12 hours a day and begin fertilizing. A fan
cycles on and off three times a day for a 2-hour stretch.
(side note -- for those of you who are doing this on a larger scale,
you might want to think about x-10 interfaces instead of buying
timers. The x-10 stuff allows electrical outlets to be controlled
from a computer, so you can alternate fans being on, etc. as often
as you like. The more obvious advantage is that your computer
controls things, so you can use external environmental factors
to trigger actions (what if you had a soil probe hooked into the
serial port of your computer? It could turn the fan on if things
were too moist, turn on the misters if they were too dry, etc. It's
just a lot cheaper than a commercial system (I've spent about $150
on it so far). Take a look at http://www.x10.com/ to see what's
offered.)
I'm amazed at the success that I've had. Tomatoes that I planted 4 weeks
ago are about 12" tall now, and the geraniums (planted at the same time)
have several silver-dollar size leaves. Of course, I've never grown
anything indoors before, so maybe this is the norm... I'm just happy
and excited. :)
Comments about the lights?
Chris
P.S. Where can I find kelp to add to my water for the plants?
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