If you are thinking about growing your plants (or flowers) from seed, then the knowledge about seed starting indoors under grow lights is crucial. Gardening may turn into a costly hobby if you need to buy all the plants or seeds from the nursery. But again, most plants start from seeds, and you can have a more inexpensive way to enjoy your gardening process. Not only do you need to understand the seed starting process (and its requirements), but you should also understand the basic concept of the practice.
Understand about Seed Starting
Do you know what a seed starting is? It refers to the entire process of growing plants from small seeds. When they have grown and developed to seedlings, you can then transplant them to the garden. With this technique, gardeners are able to grow crops early, so that the plants (especially the heat loving types) can mature and produce fruits for an extended period. This process is also ideal for growers dealing with short growing time. With this process, crops are able to mature before weather change happens.
Careful Considerations
Before you start planning seed starting indoors under grow lights, you should know that not all crops can have this seed starting process. Some crops like it better when they are directly planted to the soil simply because they won’t survive as the transplants.Let’s not forget that different seeds come with different (growing) habits, so there is no such a thing as uniformed treatment. You may want to have a more thorough and detailed research concerning the seed type, how to properly care for it, and what methods would be suitable for it.
You should also keep in mind that every plant comes with its own needs for the starting seed process. Different species will determine different growing medium, seed depth, the requirements of water, and the needed light exposure.
Seed Starting and Light Requirements
The deal with seed starting indoors under grow lights is because light plays a crucial role in the seed growth. Without sufficient light exposure, the seedlings may be leggy and long because they try so hard to reach the heat (and also light) source. As a result, the stems would be weak and skinny.When plants are treated and cared for under a grow light (as seedling) have bigger chances to grow more vigorous and stronger when compared to those without the light. The right placement of the grow light should be on top of the plants. This arrangement will encourage the seedlings to grow straight up and tall – and not bending over.
When it comes to the scientific explanation, plants need certain light wavelengths so they can photosynthesize. Grow lights must be able to provide full spectrum light, which means that they have the same light wavelengths as the one provided by the sun. It also means that the lights should be able to provide red and blue wavelengths. When you are able to choose grow lights with full spectrum features, they have the same colors imitating daylight, and it’s the perfect light type to start the plants.
Position your grow lights about 2 to 3 inches right above the seedlings. When the plants grow, you need to move up the lights too. They should be close to the seedlings, but not to the point of touching the seedlings.
Provide the lights from 14 hours to 16 hours a day. Don’t forget that the plants also need to have ‘dark’ moments up to 8 hours a day, so you need to figure out how you are going to set it. You can go with manual lights, but there is also an outlet timer that can operate automatically. Feel free to choose which one you like the most.
Conclusion
If you know how to start the seed correctly, you have found an inexpensive way to grow your favorite plants. However, you should never underestimate the correct seed starting indoors under the grow lights process as it will determine the outcome of your plants.Photo by Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash