Thursday, April 14, 2011

Seedling Update: Grow Light Makes a Huge Difference

I'm really happy I bought the grow light. It's made an incredible difference in seedling quality. Last year's seedlings were thin and leggy, this year's seedlings are much stouter and bushier. The difference is very clear in the pictures below.

Bucolic Bushwick 2010 Seedlings

Bucolic Bushwick 2011 Seedlings

Nice, thick stems and full, green leaves. You can see the roots starting to spread throughout the cups.

Bucolic Bushwick 2011 Seedlings

They're growing quickly, I might be forced to pot up again before they go on the roof, something I had hoped to avoid. I've stopped feeding them fertilizer, maybe that will slow their growth. My timing is off, I clearly underestimated the effect the grow light would have on the seedlings. Next year I'll start seeds at least a week later.


On a side note, 2 Atris pepper seedlings I thought had died of damping off actually survived and sprouted new leaves! This means I'll have 4 seedlings to plant on the roof. Yay!

Bucolic Bushwick 2011 Pepper Seedlings
Bucolic Bushwick 2011 Pepper Seedlings

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4 comments:

  1. i have a birthday coming up. I'm asking for a grow light system. Hope the hubs gets me one.

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  2. Excellent! I hope you get one too, they're worth it.

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  3. Ah, the grow light. How I would love to grow some seedlings with one indoors. I'm afraid my three cats would also really like that. If I can ever arrange a cat-proof corner of a room, maybe I could give it a whirl! Glad to hear that light made such a difference - sounds like it was totally worth it.

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  4. Yeah, I'm glad I bought it. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference since I have southern window, but wow! I'm definitely impressed with its effectiveness.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!