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Question about what to do with seedlings

  • #21
"Minimum" 2- 18/ 24 inch tubes (try to keep each pot under a tube) 4 would be better, but 2 would do the job.

Steve
 
  • #22
Oops.. I stand corrected... 4 UV bulbs would be 80 bucks. Still, that's alot; too much for me. Anyways, YAY I only need two bulbs... weehoo... I THINK that the friend may have a fairly fresh UV bulb... I might use that one, and just buy another... Well, I should stop fretting. It's gonna be a couple months before I have to worry about it too much...

Thanx a bunch!
FTG
 
  • #23
Wait... can't I just do this?: Don't spend any money on lights or anything, but just put the greenhouse in the sun shining in the screen from the glass doors during dormancy season? Why won't that work? I'll have the glass doors open every day, and the sun should shine in through the screen for a while, and they won't be as cold. Will that work just as well?
 
  • #24
I've never grown seedlings before, but I think that sounds fine.  A green house should keep them warm enough, and seedlings in nature don't get the benefit of being indoors in a green house.  The hardest thing I think seedlings would have to worry about is them freezing.  But I doubt that will happen in a green house with you looking over them.
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Personally I can't justify spending $80 on a light setup for only a couple dollars worth of plants.  You could just buy $80 worth of grown ups VFTs for that much!  Or a cheap digital camera.
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  • #25
Well, the petshop that they sell the lights at is really small, so naturally everything is pretty expensive.
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Also, yes, I'm pretty sure they'll be warm enough in the greenhouse with the clear vinyl covering on it. When it's in the sun, I'll unzip it a little. I don't think they'll feeze... the lowest temeperature record here in Florida is 23°F. Usually during late-fall/mid-winter, it's 40° during the day and 30° at night.
 
  • #26
FTG...Simplest solution...leave them outside and cover the "rolling" green house with a plastic sheet...place a plain 100 watt light bulb (a mechanics wire shielded shop light would be perfect. Cost, about four bucks)  near the bottom, cover it with luminium foil...so you don't keep them awake all night and you have a very nice little heater for chilly nights.  A light bulb generates a lot of heat so you may have to experiment with the wattage since you don't want to cook the little devils.
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  • #27
Well, like I said, I can't plug anything in on the patio of the backyard. Thanks for the suggection, and I would use it, but I don't have any outlets in the backyard.
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I'll just keep it inside and let it get some sun every day through the screen f the glass doors... that should work..

Thankies!
FTG
 
  • #28
Why are you considering UV bulbs? They are not required and probably are not optimal. I use the cheapest coolwhites I can find with an added full specturum tube. Total cost at Walmart about 9.00: plant/aquarium bulbs go for 6 bucks here, and residential coolwhites are like 2 bulbs for 3 bucks. I use 3 foot shoplight fixtures, with 2 bulbs each, they are around 8.00, so you can have a light set up for around 20.00. Keep the photo period at 11 hrs. daylight and keep the plants as cool as possible and there should be no problems with dormancy. They should do just fine on a shelf or table. I use whatever is handy and tall enough to balance the fixture on (paint cans work ok) with a water tray beneath it which the pots sit in. Keep them about 5 inches from the tubes. If forced air heat really compromises the plants, a plastic garbage bag can be draped over the fixture, in essence creating a mini greenhouse. If you have room left over you can start some other seedlings over the winter. using the space. The lights cost pennies a day to run.
 
  • #29
Well, like I said, the UV bulbs have the right status. The lumens are 620, the watts are 15, the color temperature is 5,000K, and the CRI is 90. It's all good according to Swords's lighting article in the Greenhouse forum. Am I wrong? And I wouldn't worry about them getting too hot with it being 30° F. outside... it'll be 65° to 75° F. in the house... but, like I said, I'm not even going to use the UV bulbs. I figured on taking the current plants out of the greenhouse and putting them on the back porch, then rolling the greenhouse inside and putting the seedlings in it. Every day I'll put it in the sun that will be coming in through the screen (six foot tall, three foot wide slab of screen) while the glass French doors of the dining room are open. They'll get ample sunlight, and the vinyl covering of the greenhouse (which will be unzipped in the front when sun is shining on it, of course) will protect them from the 30° cold. I don't see why it wouldn't work... I don't understand what the problem is...
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  • #30
The problem is UV (Ultraviolet light) doesn't supply the part of the light spectrum needed by plants.  There are two essential types of chlorophyl found in almost all photosynthetic plants.  They are chlorophyl a and chlorophyl b.  Chlorophyll a absorbs its energy from the Violet-Blue end of the spectrum with the maximum efficiency at 430nm and Reddish orange-Red part of the spectrum with the maximum efficieny at 662 nm, and some from the intermediate part of the spectrum (Green-Yellow-Orange).  Chlorophyll b also absorbs its energy from the Violet-Blue part of the spectrum with the maximum efficiency at 453nm and Reddish orange-Red part of the spectrum with maximum efficieny at 642nm.  These are well within the visible light range we see.  That means that a UV light is useless for growing plants, but great for making your teeth and blacklight posters glow
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Info sources:
1)  Photosynthesis
2)  Botany online:  Photosynthesis
3)  How does a black light work?
 
  • #31
They're not blacklights. They give plenty of light, as you'll find out when you read that they're made for light-loving reptiles. Thanks for the useful info, which I barely understand (LOL), but I'm not even going to use the UV lights. I came up with a better, final plan. It's in the last post. Any problemos with the plan?
 
  • #32
Sorry FlytrapGurl,

But the way you started the post off: "Well, like I said, the UV bulbs have the right status. The lumens are 620, the watts are 15, the color temperature is 5,000K, and the CRI is 90. It's all good according to Swords's lighting article in the Greenhouse forum. Am I wrong?", led me to believe you were going to use UV lights for your plants and I just scanned the rest of of your post.  
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.  I'll blame misreading it on being up way past my bedtime
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!

As for wheather or not using the green house for a seedling nursery will work, it sounds like it will work fine. The only thing I'd suggest, and you probably plan on doing anyway, is to keep a real close eye on it at first until any unforseen problems can be figured out and taken care of.

Good luck!
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  • #33
Oh, it's okay. ***pats BCK on the back*** We all get careless sometimes.
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Thanks!
FTG
 
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