Incandescent bulbs are not helpful to plants. They produce too much heat and do not provide the needed light spectrum for photosynthesis. There is no need for expensive grow lights unless you want them. Regular florescent light fixtures can provide the correct spectrum and intensity. The general rule is plants that require full sun should be no more than 4" from the tubes and because the intensity of light is stronger at the center of the tubes, they should be in the center. I have my lights on adjustable chains so I can raise and lower them according to the need and growth of the plants. The lights should be left on 16 hours a day. A timer can be bought so you do not have to be around to turn them on and off. Banks of lights work the best. I have mine in groups with the reflectors touching each other. This increases the amount of light below the lamps. Double tube fixtures that are 48" long are the best and are usually sold as shop lights.
The lights can be higher for plants that don't need full sun to grow. A little bit of experimenting needs to be done to find the right height. Do they look bleached out and not putting out new growth? Probably they are too close to the lights. Are the stems getting unnaturally long, the leaves look somewhat yellow and the plant seems to be stretching towards the light? The lights need to be closer.
OK, so now where do you put the light set up? I have a specific stand which was built for this purpose. It is made from 3 tiers of full sheets of ply wood and I have growing space on two of them. The lights are screwed into the tier above and on adjustable chains. I live in an apartment and rearranged the entire apartment to accommodate this. Don't have that kind of room? I didn't at first either and this is what I did. Every space where lights can be possibly hung needs to be explored. Underneath cabinets, book shelves, tables, small stands built to accommodate lights and growing areas, or commercial set ups if you can afford them. I have a wooden, dining room size table that worked as my first light set up. I simply screwed the lights into the underside of the table. I was able to get 6 sets of lights under it. It could provide light for 6 trays of seedlings. I had much more than that, so I would rotate them under the lights. Take one or two out, put the others in that haven't had light for a day or two. I would choose which end was the last plant tray to be under the lights. During watering, I would remove that last tray and while watering, move the others up to that spot which made an opening on the other end for a tray that didn't have enough light. This made it so plants had about 5 days of light and one "cloudy day" with little or no light. Don't let them go more than a couple of days without light or it will set them back too much. You can also give one set of trays light for 12 hours and swap them out with an equivalent number of trays so they can experience 12 hours of light. Occasionally, work it so that each group gets 16 hours of light. Problems with under a table consist mainly of eating at the table is out of the question. Also, this was an old table and no one cared if there were holes drilled in it. If you can't do this because of objections from the spouse or roommates about not being able to eat at the table, or damaging the table, explore other ways of doing this. As I said previously, light fixtures can be put under cupboards, shelves, or the shelves of book cases.
A way to conserve space under the lights, especially during propagation, is to start the seeds or cuttings in community pots. I like to use 3 oz plastic solo cups and drill drainage holes in the bottom. I will use tomatoes as the example, but this can be done with any plant. I generally sow 10-12 seeds per pot. When they grow to the point where they are competing for light and space, I transplant them in groups of no more than 4 to new community pots, usually the 3 oz solo cups. Only do the following with tomatoes, you can plant tomatoes deeper than they were previously growing. They will grow roots along the buried stem. Not all plants will do this so only do it with tomatoes. This keeps them short so it is easier to keep them under the lights. Again, when they out grow this arrangement, they go into separate pots or new solo cups. In this way, you conserve space for longer. If you start out with too many seeds in the cup, they compete at an earlier age and are poor growers. It is very important to make sure they are watered and fed regularly. I check each pot individually twice a day and water only if it is dry. If it's moist, I wait until the next check and if it is dry, then the plant is watered. Watering them individually, though more work, means that none are over watered . . . often times responsible for more failures than under watering.
I hope this article gave you ideas how to bring more plants into your home. Plants add ambiance as well as help to recycle the air in a home and being surrounded by green in the winter really helps the soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment