Lighting seedlings?

I have been researching abit but cant get a straight answer. and was hoping someone on here can help me. With the **** weather we been having my seeds are not getting much light even though they are on a sunny windowsill they just getting leggy they are in a heated probagator. i was wondering if i brought a couple of cfl light bulbs about 20watts in a lamp and left it near my seedlings would this be enough for them i have been looking a fluorescent bulbs but u got to get fixings etc and i havent got much room. and money is short could anyone tell me what i could use for abit more light for seedlings thankyou

 

Hello Natty. Sorry I can't help you with information about lighting systems. The real problem is it is January and there just isn't enough light in a day for some seedlings. February gets much better. But if those seedlngs are your babies and you want to save them then you could try the following.

If they are still in a heated propagator then they are probably getting too much heat. This will make them grow leggy. Switch the heat off.
Make a little stand of tinfoil to go round the side of the container away from the window to reflect light back onto the seedlings.
When you tranplant the seedlings (after the first true leaves have appeared) plant them right up to the seed leaves, this will get rid of some of the legginess.
Don't despair. If you loose any of your plants there is plenty of time to plant more. The only thing I plant in January is chillies.
What are you growing ?

 

I think I can help. Use compacet flurescents (enrgy saving bulbs) in your average shop thery will have up to 18 maybe 20 ( 20w compact fluro = 100watt normal bulb in term of light output) if you shop around 23 watt bulbs exist. A couple of these in some clip holders (a couple of quid from B an Q) works a treat. Get one warm and one cool light this covers more of the spectrum and gives better growth. Plants will grow quick and can be too tender, a desk fan lightly blowing on them helps this. Beware that they give out lots of light but at a short distance once plabnts get to 20cm at most they need to go out or go under stronger lamps. Inside its very dry so spider moites can be a problem.
It is a very unatural may to grow I dont bother these days but iI can tell you its effective, I grew the most perfect looking young tomatoe plants one year woith this method.

 

oh natty forgot to add the lights need to be really close to the plant just keep cnecking so they dont touch and burn. My option is the really budget one if you can spend a bit as marley says there are some great lights and lighting systems available.

 

Natty - for flower seeds (I know nothing about veg), I tend to follow Christopher Lloyd's advice, which is not to sow until 1st March. The reason is because of your problem. Its easy to get seeds to germinate with a heated propagator in Jan or Feb, but you then have the problem of what to do with them afterwards. He also stated that as the light levels are so low in Jan and Feb, early sown seeds won't grow much, until light levels are highter in say April and May.

He also suggests not sowing tender annuals such as Cosmos, Cleome and Tithona etc until 1st May. Again he says that because of the higher light levels in these months they catch up quite quickly. He comments, and I have had experience of it, that if you put tender annuals out too early, you could be lucky or they could be caught by a cold snap. Very often, when they are caught by a cold snap, they sulk and don't do well for the rest of the season.

Unless you have good reason for wanting plants so early, one alternative is to put them somewhere very cool, but with maximum light. That way their growth will slow down, as they will realise it is very early in the season, and they won't try to grow so hard and get leggy.

But if you really do want early plants, then growing under lights can be a lot of fun. As Theplantsman says fluorescent bulbs will work well with small plants. Ideally, they want to be inside a white box to reflect the light back, rather than for it to be lost. And the lights must be very close to the plants. Also, only use the lights for about 14 hours a day - I use a time switch, as the plants need to rest at night.

You can get some great results, under lights. A couple of years ago I sowed some seeds of Salvia coccinea in November in my light box. After the seeds had germinated I went away for Christmas, leaving the box on. When I returned on 2nd January, the Salvias had started to flower, and continued to flower, first in the box and then later outside, for the next 12 months continuously!

 

hi thanks for evryones help. ive got a spiral bulb are they compact flurescents im not sure anyway its a 11 watt one but seems to be ok as the seedlings are bending a little towards it? its about 2-3 inches from the seedlings