Giving Seedlings Light

Can't find the answer to your question? Check out my NEW Tomato Gardening Pearls Ebook!

50 Pages of easy to follow tips and techniques that will be sure to answer your question!

Giving Seedlings Light

by Lilly

Question:

Hey Brad,

I have another issue. In the past couple days there hasn't been any sun around our house, so I brought my seedlings inside. The seedlings that have sprouted so far are 4 beets and 1 lettuce. They both needed full sun, so I put them under a lamp. The seedlings started to lean backwards, as if they didn't like the lamp. I turned them the other way, and sure enough they began leaning away from the lamp.

What's wrong?

Answer:

Hi Lilly,

First, make sure you're using the right type of lamp. By all means though, you don't need to spend much money. A lot of lighting systems for plants can be expensive.

But you do need to use something like a cool/florescent kind of bulb. For instance, I bought some 4 foot long "shop lights" from the local hardware store. These fluorescent fixtures are the type you would see in a garage or work shop. They are inexpensive and I've been using them for years with GREAT results.

It's troubling that the seedlings would actually grow away from the lamp. In all my circumstances, the seedling grow toward the bulbs. (You want to try to center them so they'll grow upwards...if possible).

If you're using a "regular" bulb, than maybe it's producing too much heat, and the seedlings are moving away from that heat.

I hope this helps!

Brad

Ask Your Own Question Here!!

Grow Lights

Click here to post comments.