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Re: Starting seeds indooors.

Hi Denny--
Grew seed starts for many years under standard fluorescent shop lights up
in Alaska.  We had a setup with four rows of 48" fluorescent tubes
suspended on chains (to easily raise and lower the lights as the plants
grew) over a double-shelf setup that accomodated 4 standard flats. I think
they're 17X13 or thereabouts.  The seedlings required 16 hours of light
daily, or a little more doesn't hurt.  Keep the light source as close as
possible to the growing seedlings without actually touching them.  This
won't burn them and will prevent them from getting leggy.  This seemed to
be the most important factor in growing stout, healthy starts.
I generally grew in 6 packs--4 to a tray, but eventually for tomatoes and
some of the cole crops I grew in 3 or 4" pots to reduce the number of
transplantings I did.  Obviously it depends how big your garden, how much
you want to grow.  The more crowded you start the more times you need to
transplant etc. I was careful not to let things get root-bound or
overwatered. I'd sow 3-6 seeds per container, select the most vigorous one
when they got crowded or began their true leaves.  Rather than pulling the
others, I'd snip them to avoid pulling roots.

Room temperature was around 72, and that worked fine for germinating and
growing most things.  Keep them out of drafts or temp. changes. Cole crops
like to germinate around 75-80 and then cool down--so they did better on
the lower shelf, closer to the cool floor.  Tomatoes and peppers germinate
best with a little more heat.

I used sterile planting mix and didn't feed the plants, watering when they
ceased being moist, before they got real dry.  On onion and onion family
starts I'd trim the seedling at about 4-6" until hardening off time.

Timing seems to be a key with so much in the garden--I've had plants
languish from being started to early to get out and grow.  There's always 4
and 6" pots, but still... Hope something in my experiences is useful to you --
Cheers,
Havi

At 11:19 PM 9/30/97 PDT, you wrote:
>	Hello all Veggie growers.
>
>	As I am new to your list and do not know what may have gone before,
please forgive me if my question is rhetoric for you :-(
>
>	For the past 2 years i have tried starting several flats of both flower
and veggie seeds indoors under florescent lights.  
>
>	The seeds usually have germinated well, but then become very stagnant in
their growth, some only growing as much as 2-3 inches in 2 months.  
>
>	Does anyone else have much experience starting their plants under
>light? 
>
>	Any help would be much appreciated, lest I should give up on the 
>pre-season plant starting, leaving that up to others with nice green
houses.  
>
>TYIA,   Denny
>
>
>
Havi Hoffman
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