Starting plants under lights

[macmex]

This is the time of year that many gardeners start seeds and grow their small plants indoors, before transplanting outdoors when the temperatures are warm enough. Right now is time to start tomatoes (in my part of Oklahoma). There is still time to start eggplant and peppers.  Let's have a conversation about this. Growing "your own" from seed is an important skill for several reasons:

1) There are WAY MORE varieties available to the gardener who starts things from seed for themselves.
2) Costs are generally much lower, if one knows how to start their own. Now, beware, there are gimmicks being sold (like mini green houses, etc.) which will drive costs up. Before purchasing 
   "stuff" it's better to learn enough so as to know just exactly what is necessary.
3) For the seed saver: it is extremely important to be able to start plants from seed, as many hard-to-get strains are not available more than once. If you get them, you may be "it" as far as
    being the supplier of this seed. I've had tomato varieties which no one else seemed to offer, some for many years, others ever. So, in order to keep them going, I have to complete the
    cycle... repeatedly: grow, produce seed, store seed... and back to grow it again.

[macmex]

One important part of starting seeds indoors is lighting. If one uses sunlight, as in a window, the best exposure is a southern one, as it will generally receive more light per day. Eastern and western exposures may well work. The plants need about 6 hours of full light per day.

Another option is to use artificial lights. Lights can be a little tricky. The most common mistake people make is to place them too far above the seedlings, causing them not to get enough light and to grow very spindly.

I, on the other hand, purchased the brightest fluorescent bulbs I could find and hung them right over my little plants (both in 2013 and this year as well). My seedlings would come up and “hang their heads,” refusing to reach for the light. If left there very long, they simply died. So, about a week ago, we tried actual full spectrum grow lights. They have made all the difference.

I was corresponding with Ron (fourteenmilecreek) about this, and he shared some great information with me. I'm going to paste it below.
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A thing that might help take some confusion out of buying lights, is to know that all the lights in the USA are assigned a number according to their diameters, and are measured in 1/8" inch increments.  

For instance: a PAR 38 patio light means that it is 38/8" inches in diameter (or 4-3/4" inches in diameter.) PAR just stands for the parabolic aluminized reflector that is inside the glass.

A fluorescent fixture with a T-12 lamp is 12/8" inches diameter or 1-1/2" inches in diameter.  
A T-8 lamp is 8/8" or 1" inch in diameter.  
A T-5 is 5/8" in diameter.

Fluorescent lamps also have color temperature numbers assigned, according to how the light produced compares to a titanium rod heated to a certain degree Kelvin, for example: a titanium rod heated to 3,100 K would be a reddish color light, and a rod heated to 6,500 K would be a bright blue light.

The brightness output of a light is measured in lumens.

CRI, stands for Color Rendering Index.
   
I looked up the kelvin rating for the T-12 plant and aquarium lamps in your attachment, they are 3,100 K.  The light output was 1,900 Lumens.  The Color Rendering Index was 90.

[mike]

Thanks,.... the technical information is very helpful. I didn't know those designations, etc. However I have had spectacular success at seed-starting by using a combination of a good, unobstructed south-facing window... along with a grouping of 1 cool fluorescent tube, 1 grow-lite tube and one 60W incandescent bulb backing up the seedlings from the "north" side. Results equal to a commercial greenhouse. I'm currently trying out the use of mylar reflectors to disperse all light evenly, and that seems to be working, as well.

[fourteenmilecreek]

Macmex,

Do you have any advise about how to start pepper plants from seed?

Heating pad requirements..

Days required to germinate seeds,

Date to plant seeds indoors, weeks needed to grow inside, before transplanting outdoors, etc.,

Thanks,

Ron

[fourteenmilecreek]

macmex, or anyone else...

Do you have any advise for starting grape vines from cuttings?

A friend of mine in his late 60s wants to start a cutting from his Dad's old grape vine back home.

[macmex]

Ron, peppers need more heat to germinate than do tomatoes. I don't know the exact temperature. But warm is good. I want to say 80 F. would probably be optimal. I often start my pepper seeds, just like I do tomatoes, in a damp paper towel, inside a plastic, unsealed bag. I put this in a nice warm place, like on the shelf behind my wood stove, or on top of a hot water heater, and start checking it after two days have passed. When the seeds start to open and send out roots, then, I plant them in a pot of flat and, again, I keep them warm. They really don't like cool or cold. I start my pepper plants about the same time I start tomatoes, though, I know people who start the peppers earlier, as they grow more slowly. But I don't plant my peppers outdoors until the nights are positively warm, not just kind of warm. I want the coolest night temps to be above 55 F.

I'll answer the grape cutting question on the new fruits and berries forum.

[duckcreekfarms]

I started some peppers seeds this week. I have a heat mat and crank it up to about 80 degrees...hopefully they will be up in a couple of weeks. the only pepper I grow for myself is Jimmy Nardello's Sweet frying pepper. I love it and freeze plenty to use in fajitas all winter.

[amyinowasso]

I tried to grow Jimmy Nardello last year. They didn't germinate well, and the one I got was so spindly I gave up on it. A week or so later, after being ignored and unwatered, it was still alive, so I put it in one of my beds. It kept trying, then an army(?) Worm defoliated it. I never got peppers. I have had one in the window all winter, it just bloomed. Maybe I will get to try one yet.

[bngbld]

i have a full grown pumpkin plant i was wondering if i can put it in a giant pot put a grow light on it an make it till after winter is it possible

[macmex]

Not likely. Most squash have tap roots which would not transplant well. Also, the lighting necessary to sustain a full sized pumpkin plant would be more than most people could provide. How long is your winter? I've heard of some people who manage to protect a pumpkin plant, enough for it to start up again in the spring. But that would be somewhere in Florida. And as a rule, I would not prefer such a situation, as pests would also overwinter.

George

[bngbld]

winter its the same one you'll have a live green country