Pepper seedlings - do they need heat ?

[Smokin Okie]

@pit 4 brains ... . A fan blowing on them helps leggy plants but its more a symptom of not getting enough light. I'm an old farm boy but in no way an expert at growing peppers...just doing what worked before.

I've got a fan on my tomato plants now. I've heard of that before, but never tried it. I'll see how that goes this year.

I also think its mostly a light issue. I'm in the process now of rigging another fluorescent light. The plants get a good amount of daylight, but its not like being outside. If it would get closer to normal temps here, I'd move them outside in the daytime.

 

[Smokin Okie]

How bout grow lights .... LED vrs flourescent ?

I was in the process of rehabbing an old flourescent fixture and looked on Amazon, and was impressed with the LED lights available. From just googling, it appears that maybe the LED is better ?

I think it may be time to scrap my old lights.

 

[LhornR]

Smokin Okie ... Yeah LED's are the way to go. Regular florescent lights have too much white light thats good for flowering but not for vegetation. We want lots of blue, red and UV for seedling and definitely dont want them to flower at this stage. Unfortunately good LED's aint cheap. I just ordered a middle of the road setup and that is even $120. Last year you can see I used 3 grow bulbs and reflectors. They did ok but were still a little more leggy than I like to see. But if on a budget...which I SHOULD be...they will work better than straight florescent.

This is what I'm talking about with keeping the seeds facing down to prevent attachment to the towel. The bottom seed you can see it growing towards the baggie. The very top right seed is perfect size to move...just a tiny white nub sticking out. Very easy to move with tweezers and this is when I move them to soil. I check them about every 12 hours so theres no more sticking out than this. If they start getting a half inch long or so the root starts getting "hairy" and they will surely embed in the towel. In fact I wont even plant any that have gone over a half inch as seeds only have so much stored energy for the germination process. Will they grow at an inch long or so...sure...but will it grow to it's best potential.

Also..when dealing with peppers be sure to keep any instruments used on them sterilized especially from anything tobacco related.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Well, I just went with this LED .............

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V9XMQJW/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[clifish]

I need to restart my Aerogarden and start my poblano, peach ghost seeds and what ever else I can think of. I bought a couple of rolling planters from Costco that hold 6 gallons of water on the bottom for hydration. This way I can keep the garden inside the fenced pool area and away from the friggin deer. The old garden on lawn will be grassed over this year.

 

[LhornR]

Well, I just went with this LED .............

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V9XMQJW/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Should be ok...but with a full spectrum light just watch they dont wanna start flowering too soon. Growth and vegetation at first then when its time for flowering pull back on the amount of nitrogen fertilizer to force them to focus on fruiting.

clifish ...good idea. I'm in town now but when I lived in MD the deer and groundhogs were a major PITA in my garden too. Like farmers you have to plant an extra 10% for the wildlife.

 

[clifish]

Should be ok...but with a full spectrum light just watch they dont wanna start flowering too soon. Growth and vegetation at first then when its time for flowering pull back on the amount of nitrogen fertilizer to force them to focus on fruiting.

clifish ...good idea. I'm in town now but when I lived in MD the deer and groundhogs were a major PITA in my garden too. Like farmers you have to plant an extra 10% for the wildlife.

Yeah the ground hogs last year tunneled my entire yard...I would need 70% extra for the deer. I would love to see a ground hog try and get through my property in Pike county PA, those rocks would stop them in 6 inches.

 

[dr k]

I got this LED 45 watt panel from Aerogarden a couple years ago for $100 on adjustable legs and comes with hanging chains its $50 today.

45 Watt LED Grow Light Panel | AeroGarden

aerogarden.com

 

[Smokin Okie]

How far above the plants do you hang LED lights ? Is it the same as flourescent ?

 

[LhornR]

How far above the plants do you hang LED lights ? Is it the same as flourescent ?

You want the lights as reasonably close as possible without burning them. All lights are different so you'll need to check and keep an eye out on the temps.

I have this light coming Monday...hope it works out.

 

[LhornR]

This is the little 18" x 32" starter house I made last year. The front has magnets on it so I can lift up the whole front panel.

I've extended it to 18" x 52" this year and I will add some more fans to it. I'll probably need to reinforce the top also because the new light is like 10 pounds since the LED's are mounted on a sheet of aluminum for cooling them.

 

[Smokin Okie]

This is the little 18" x 32" starter house I made last year. The front has magnets on it so I can lift up the whole front panel.

View attachment 660384
View attachment 660385


I've extended it to 18" x 52" this year and I will add some more fans to it. I'll probably need to reinforce the top also because the new light is like 10 pounds since the LED's are mounted on a sheet of aluminum for cooling them.

View attachment 660387

That's an interesting idea. I just used a clear plastic dome on a starter cell tray ( which I bought in 1985, btw ) and I got peppers to germinate within 7 days.

I've got two of those fans coming tomorrow. Hard to find a small 6" fan that has a low enough speed to not blow the plants around too much.

 

[Smokin Okie]

You want the lights as reasonably close as possible without burning them. All lights are different so you'll need to check and keep an eye out on the temps.

I have this light coming Monday...hope it works out.

View attachment 660383

That's interesting also, the 2 X 4 foot, is that the size of the light or the size of the area it will light up ?

 

[LhornR]

Yeah computer fans are usually 12VDC...so you can find an old power brick or wall wart from something to power them. Want it to run slower use one that puts out 8 or 9V. I usually wire in a potentiometer circuit so I can vary the speed. Then you have the ones like I have in my old setup which is a 120V...just wire it to an old extension cord and its good to go. You dont want the plants blowing at 90° sideways but you do want them moving good.

My light will cover 2 x 4 foot...its actual dims are like 11" x 26". Like everything else though they always fudge the advertised numbers so I figure it should be ok for a 18" x 52" area. If not I still have the three other lights that I can add.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Yeah computer fans are usually 12VDC...so you can find an old power brick or wall wart from something to power them. Want it to run slower use one that puts out 8 or 9V. I usually wire in a potentiometer circuit so I can vary the speed. Then you have the ones like I have in my old setup which is a 120V...just wire it to an old extension cord and its good to go. You dont want the plants blowing at 90° sideways but you do want them moving good.

My light will cover 2 x 4 foot...its actual dims are like 11" x 26". Like everything else though they always fudge the advertised numbers so I figure it should be ok for a 18" x 52" area. If not I still have the three other lights that I can add.

The fans I bought are powered with a USB cable. I have a PC in my growing area that I can plug into.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08XBBBRYL/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Smokin Okie]

The more I shopped Amazon for the right fan, I kept getting drawn back to this one, a top seller with 10 speeds. But the $50 price tag for an auto oscillating version kept me from buying.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QP1X9B...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[LhornR]

Either should be good. It just depends on your setup and convenience. You could have a big box fan blowing from across the room if it works.

Also...make sure your lights stay fairly cool too. LED's enemy is heat...so even a fan running on them would help if they get too hot.


EDIT...OK I'm new at growing with LED's and they can be very intense...so maybe real close isnt so good. I found this at Peppergeeks website....

How High Above the Plants Should My Light Be?​

If you choose a powerful LED light like the one we recommended above, you should hang the light around 18″ above the plants at full-strength. However, you can also use the dimmer knob to reduce the light’s intensity and keep them closer to the plants.

Fluorescent bulbs are much less intense and scatter more light in all directions. This means they must be placed much closer to plants, around 3-4″ (~10cm) on average.

If you see any signs of light burn, you know your lights are too close. If the light is too strong, the plants may begin to curl their leaves inwards, forming a ‘taco shell.’ If you see this, back the light away or reduce the intensity.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Its getting a bit too complicated for me when I have to find the right light level with a dimmer switch. These tomato plants will only be inside another 3 weeks, at the most.

I'm more concerned with complete coverage of my plant stand , which is 24 X 42. I put four planting trays that are 10 X 20's on the stand and my current flourescent light does not cover the entire area. And its recommended to keep the light within inches of the top of the plants.

Which is how I started this improvement of my lighting. I was gonna hang another old flourescent light and then discovered LED would be much better. And I'm really intrigued by the Mixjoy light posted above.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Well, a couple hundred bucks later, and after adding the Mixjoy light posted above, I've made an upgrade to my seedling starting. I've not spent any money on this in a lot of years. Will find out if there's an improvement in my plants. But I strongly suspect there will be, they will be getting a lot more light.

I've got the Mixjoy light 18" above the top of the plants at 100%. I hung the first two LED's I bought under the top shelf, and for the first time the bottom shelf of my table is usable. I've got my pepper seedlings down there.

And I've got two computer fans jiggling the plants, with two more fans due here tomorrow.

This might even open the door to me growing a tomato plant indoors next winter.

 

[LhornR]

Good idea doing a double decker...looks good. Yeah I get it with the advertised coverage area...no regulations so they can claim whatever they want. I just remember the light is most intense directly in the center of the light so I'll either rotate the plants around or with this light probably slide it to one side or the other every day or so. Shouldnt be a problem as this thing puts out some serious light. I had it all the way dimmed in the pic below.

How do you like the Mixjoy light so far? They really need to start deburring the aluminum plates razor sharp edges. Fortunately I still have my deburring tools from my machining days. Depending on how hot it gets I may put the longest spacers I can get between the electronics, cords and board to extend the life of it. But yeah you should have no problem growing year round indoors with this light if you want. The main buyers of these are weed growers and they do it indoors non-stop...so maters shouldnt be a problem.

I finally got all the components I need to start growing...which is good as I need to get them started like NOW. I've been busy working on my smoker and refurbishing a wobbly workbench in the basement that was built in the 60's. I had to do that as I finally broke down and bought a WEN 12" drill press to sit on it along with my grinder and other tools that need to be mounted.

According to the moon phase and Farmers Almanac the prime days for me to plant is April 4th and 5th. From my seed tests I have seeds that germinated in 3 days and some that are just now poking out at 22 days. I guess I'll start working backwards from that and see if I can get them all to sprout about the same time until then....yeah right.

I just mocked up the lights..they will need to be raised some. Finished the watering tray this morning. The fun begins.