Posted on 08/09/2013 3:12:55 PM PDT by greeneyes
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/08/06/NYC-heThe Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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With a little thyme and lovage on this board, and you've gone from needing advice to giving it! Congratulations, Gardener Second Class Marcella!! At this rate, you'll rocket to Master.
Up this Am, and it is nippy. A cool 50 degrees. This is August. Usually really hot and dry weather. I sure could use some global warming right about now. I never will get a tomato off my vines in the raised beds at this point.
I suppose I need a grow light for inside house. I had never heard of grow lights until I got on this forum months ago. Do either of you have any suggestions as to the kind of grow light is best? I have no idea. Do you just put the grow light anywhere in the house and put the cups with seeds under it? I think the squash seeds would have sprouted with a grow light.
I got a plastic spoon and dug into the paper cups and only one had a seed in it that looked as if it’s sprouting and the other three seeds had not done anything. I stuck that one sprouting back in the soil but I probably ruined it by digging it up.
I found this grow light thingy that is compact for I need compact in my small downstairs area. Please read this and see if you approve this unit would grow seeds inside. One of the comments about this unit is from a woman from Houston and it was hot summer when she tried to grow seeds and finally went to this unit to get seeds to grow inside until they could withstand getting put in the hot sun here.
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-JSV2-2-Foot-Start-System/dp/B0006856EQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
You’re going to tell me to put the paper cups in a sunny window. I don’t have one downstairs and it isn’t feasible upstairs. This is a townhouse. There is one window on the front in the kitchen and it has a tower in front of it with hanging pots, pans, etc. There are no windows on the sides. The back sliding glass doors go onto a roofed deck, no sun there plus one is now in over 100 degree heat.
The downstairs of this townhouse is dark unless a light is on which it is over my chair. The grow light, then, could make these seeds sprout inside.
Actually, this part of Texas is the pits FOR ME for sprouting seed. If had sunny window could do it, but I don’t have that. Then, can’t sprout seed before winter is over, either. OK, I fixed the winter one - got that very small greenhouse so could sprout seed before spring actually gets here - fixed that. Now, have to fix the summer sprout seed problem with some type of grow lamp.
Then, there’s Johnny who snaps his finger and has a whole garden growing around Fort Worth.
Why not put them outside in a small tray with water in the bottom? Make sure the cups have small holes in the bottom of them and then put them in a small tray or dish with 1/2”-3/4” water in the bottom and put them in the sun. The problem might not be so much sunlight but soil temp. Squash like it warm.
A) Seeds, with very few exceptions, do NOT need light to sprout; just the opposite, really.
Way back in the 1950s, 1st or 2nd grade, we did a classroom science experiment: planted seeds in paper cups, then put some on the west facing window sill; some in a box with a light constantly lit, and some in a dark cupboard. Cupboard sprouted 1st; light box sprouted poorly or not at all.
B) A “plant light” can most often be totally wrong for growing plants. Most so called ‘plant bulbs’ found in stores or online are designed to make indoor plants ‘look greener and healthier’, rather than help them grow! They don’t put out the the wavelengths the plants need for photosynthesis, but just enhance esthetics.
C) A true plant growing light puts out a steady, set amount of useful energy; and each plant needs a certain, and ever increasing amount of energy as it grows. That means any particular growing light can only service a more less set number of plants of any particular size/age; and fewer of them as they grow. It must be close enough to the plants to provide the energy they need. Getting the right, and right sized, light takes a lot of careful consideration; and it can be tricky to keep the seedlings growing optimally.
D) The lights also (unless really expensive LEDs or ‘heat dissipating’ setups) also produce heat, so can not be too close to the plants, or it will cook them to death. Therefore, it must be set up so it can be raised as the seedlings grow.
E) Even if they don’t get too hot, but get enough light to grow, if the bulb is too far away for optimum growth, you’ll get long, ‘leggy’, week seedlings.
Oh, and unless you broke off the root, you probably did no damage to the seed. Some varieties take longer than others to sprout, even though they are all squash, etc. Even the same variety, out of the same packet, will take longer or shorter times to sprout depending on the exact conditions.
Sprouting times, like ‘days to maturity’ are averages, not absolutes, and even partially depends the health of the parent plants; and on how/when the seeds were harvested, handled, and stored before you ever got your hands on a packet.
“Why not put them outside in a small tray with water in the bottom? The problem might not be so much sunlight but soil temp. Squash like it warm.”
I had them in a tray in paper cups with holes in the bottom and around the lower part of the cup, with water in the tray. The soil got wet so poured the water out of tray but made sure the soil did not dry out. Putting them outside in 102-105 temp. I figured would cook them, plus have to keep double netting over them due to squirrels/birds eating the seeds.
Today, I put the one with the seed that seems to be germinating in the small greenhouse outside without zipping up the greenhouse. Still think it will get too hot in there for the seed. Today it is cloudy so seed won’t get too hot.
The house is cool so maybe put the seeds outside under the roofed deck and cover them with net. That will keep them warm but not in the blistering sun. Once they are up, could put them for a brief period in the sun, then put them back under the roof.
That’s why I’m thinking the grow light assembly would work inside without all the watching and moving and watching. This unit, actually the four foot long one instead of the two foot I posted, has a fluorescent grow light that one puts close to the seeds to warm them before they come up. When they sprout, the light is moved up (it’s on a pulley set up), as the plant grows.
It appears plants like lettuce can stay there and grow during winter for food.
It's ok, amazon is selling them - but then I see that they will normally ship in 2-4 months. I'm growing plant starts now - not in 2-4 months. A handful of sellers have them available for extravagant prices. Eventually, with no other options, I bought from one. If I'm lucky, I might actually get to use this light this season.
For the future, if I can source cheap bulbs, I might keep using this grow light. But so far it seems like their proprietary bulbs are short lived, expensive and difficult to find.
I would suggest to anyone who is planning on purchasing this fixture to keep looking: for one that uses a standard bulb length.
Outfits like this are in the business of selling their proprietary bulbs to a captive audience. And, when they fold, you'll never be able to get another expensive, short-lived replacement bulb. Keep looking!
There are over 400 customer comments on this particular grow light unit and I’m on page 3 of 41 pages of comments. Seeds are sprouting and growing. It appears the best quality of this unit is the ability to move the light down and up according to the growth stage of the seeds/plants.
That is the two foot long one I posted and I read that problem. I went from that one to the four foot long one and that bulb is a standard size. The four foot is about $10 more than the two foot one but worth it to get the longer one and a standard size bulb. I'll keep reading comments on the four foot until I read them all. Anyway, the four foot doesn't have the bulb problem.
I'm going to look on line at Lowes as it is close to me and see if they have this unit. I'll check on Walmart website, too. This is my standard operating procedure. Look at all available on Amazon, then check to see if it or similar is available locally, which it usually isn't.
I'll keep reading comments about this four foot one and it would be a bonus if lettuce could be grown in winter. The squirrels and/or birds ate all the lettuce seed in the garden planters when I tried that, but that was before I knew what I was doing and had no netting or row covers.
It’s raining in the TX Hill Country. Hope you’re getting some. Got a little hail, but not enough to hurt anything...
Wish it would rain like this for three days.
I hope you mean Bandera area. My friends who live there are always suffering for more rain.
Northeast of there about twenty five miles..What we were hoping for yesterday, made a turn towards Houston, so this shower today was most welcome.
Since it's not so hot, I stayed out there and transplanted 5 Mortgage Lifter tomato plants from the big tomato planter to 5 gal. containers. I still have four in the big tomato planter. I'll take out two more when I get potting soil in two more 5 gal. bag containers so there will be only two in that big planter. I wonder if I left three in there if that would be too many in that container? I think I will leave three and see what happens.
I have screwed up over and over many times, but I want to make all my mistakes now, so come before next spring, I know how to do this.
I actually grew these tomato plants from seed - imagine that, my first time for tomatoes and all seeds germinated. I did that by putting them under the roof and moving them every day into sun and back again and covering all the time to keep the varmints out. It would be much easier if this 4 ft. grow light set-up would warm the seeds and they germinate inside and grow to transplant stage inside.
I did read from one fellow so far who put this unit in his basement and grew lettuce to eat in winter. I have several types of lettuce seed so I could try that.
Our heat is so bad in this part of Texas, it just stops me from being outside. Another thing I did in the cloudy period today was get bags of potting soil mix out of the trunk of my car. They have been in there a month and I couldn't stand the heat in the time it would take to get them out. Now, they are out.
I left them in the house to fill the tomato barrel I'm putting the squash in.
Rightly dividing has made me a dolly for the tomato barrel for the squash and I’m going Saturday to his and wife’s farm to see their place and get the dolly. According to my GPS, they are only 9 miles from me.
As soon as the squash seed comes up, I fill the tomato barrel with potting soil in the house cause I can’t stand the outside heat, then I’ll roll it outside using the new dolly. This barrel has a circular tall stand in it for a trellis so that will hold up this large squash plant. Now, if the squash seed would just germinate....
Rain, you say?
I'v been washing the cars, doing rain dances, cleaning windows, planning picnics,..............we ain't got nuttin' in my area.........
Medina Lake is, for all practical purposes, dry. It's at ~5% capacity.
My peach and plums are really being stressed, and I think my new avocado is soup sandwich. Even the grapes and vitex bushes are looking bad. The only things (outside of cactus, cedars, and oaks) that seem to be tolerating this weather are the Japanese Loquat, figs, and olive trees.
bump!
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