Growing plants under fluorescent lights

 

I am growing my own lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes etc. plants in my
basement for planting into my garden.
There is a conflict in growing instructions for lettuce and cabbage. I
have read that they grow best if the lights are several inches above
the plants. I have also read that lettuce and cabbage like the growing
temperature to be around 60 degrees. The problem is that when the
lights are several inches above the plants the soil temperature is
around 75 degrees. BTW they are grown in an unheated (around 55
degrees) basement. Is there any best solution or only some compromise?
Thanks, Richard

 

On Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:32:26 -0800 (PST), richardg


If you are using regular flouresents. like a combo of hot and cools or
gro lights the lights must be as close as possible to the plants. Once
they are a couple of inches away there's not enough light and the
plants get leggy. For this reason these lights only work to grow for a
short time. Once the plants have grown a couple of inches not enough
light reaches the bottom leaves. If you've got some sort of new high
intensity lights they can be much farther away depending on their
type. To straight ahead raise vegetables under lights you would need
pot farmer lights like metal halides. For the temperature problem get
a heat mat.

 


richardg;877949 Wrote:

plants in my

The kind of lights you use will make a huge difference to the growth of
your
plants. Seedlings are typically started off with 125watt CFL lights
placed just
a couple of inches above the plants. These give off a low
level of heat so
shouldn't scorch the foliage unless you leave the
foliage wet. Once the
seedlings have got going it is best to move on to
a higher wattage such as 250
watt or more up to a max of 600watt. For
indoor growing you might do well to
visit your local hydro shop.




--
VictoriaJS

 

 



According to the
"Vegetable Gardener' Bible" by Edward C. Smith.
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
580172121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid06815454&sr=1-1

ideal soil temperature for germinating cabbage is 75 - 85°F (24 - 29°C).
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.


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