SAD light for seedlings

kerri_dfw

Hi all, I did a quick search but couldn't find anything and the interwebs keeps telling me about growing the wrong type of herbs if you get my drift...I'm trying to grow some kitchen herbs, chillis and peppers as gifts for Christmas presents. The rocket shot up really quickly and started to become leggy whilst growing on the windowsill in the non-heated propagator. So I've taken it into another room with the smaller germinated seedlings and put them under my SAD light (lum1e arbica 10,000 lux). They've been under this since Saturday and now although they turn towards the light they don't appear to be growing any taller.


Does anyone know if this light is giving off the wrong spectrum for the little guys? Or could it be that they're not getting enough heat? I need to go and pick up an electric propagator from the delivery office in a minute so that will solve the heat problem.

TonyMMM

Leggy seedlings is not a problem with heat - it is because there just isn't enough light and/or the light is too directional (often the case on a windowsill.

A heated propagator may help with seed germination, but won't do much to help the plants grow strongly (too much heat could kill the seedlings).

The short day lengths and poor light levels is going to make it very difficult to grow these type of plants for Christmas - it's just the wrong time of year.

kerri_dfw

Thanks Tony, my question was more whether the SAD light I have would be giving off the right spectrum of light for them to grow. That being said, I've had them under 12-18hrs of light since Tuesday using the SAD light and the heated propagator and all but a few have now germinated and most have got more than their starting leaves. So I think I might have answered my own question, yes an SAD light can be used for seedlings

alanobrien

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Thanks Tony, my question was more whether the SAD light I have would be giving off the right spectrum of light for them to grow. That being said, I've had them under 12-18hrs of light since Tuesday using the SAD light and the heated propagator and all but a few have now germinated and most have got more than their starting leaves. So I think I might have answered my own question, yes an SAD light can be used for seedlings

As you have found out yes it can. Pretty much any daylight bulb can be used. I grow seedlings over winter to get a good start in the spring. In the past i used 6400k flourescent (daylight) bulbs but these days i use LED