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Bright Lights for Better Seedlings
It's worth the effort to start seedling indoors under lights, says Jim Wilson, a cohost of public television's "The Victory Garden." Wilson says he's surprised to find that only 5-10 percent of the gardeners he's polled start seedlings under flourescent lights. "It's the best way to get stocky plants, especially in a cool garage or basement," Wilson says.
Wilson was one of the pioneers in experimenting with flourescent lights for seedlings in cooperations with Sylvania back in the fifties. He found that the distance of the lights from the plants makes a big difference.
1. Start out with the lights no more than 2 inches from the seed flat. Light efficiency falls off exponentially as you increase distance.
2. As the plants grow, raise the lights gradually to no more than 6 inches from the top of the plants. A garage or basement is an ideal place to start your seedlings.
3. In a garage, shroud the setup with a large sheet of plastic during the early part of the season to help capture the small amount of heat given off by the lights tand to shield plants from cold drafts. Wilson hangs his lights on dog chains from a ceiling beam.
