Not every lamp is suitable for supplementary lighting of seedlings, but not all gardeners, including experienced ones, know this.
We will tell you which lamps are not suitable for illuminating seedlings and how to choose the ideal one.
These definitely don't fit.
Regular incandescent bulbs produce more heat than light, burning the leaves.
Fluorescent "cold spectrum" lights cause stems to stretch.
Best choice
The secret is in phytolamps with red-blue radiation. They imitate sunlight, but are expensive.
Is there an alternative? Summer residents say that instead of them you can buy LED strips: red (660 nm) and blue (450 nm) diodes.
However, in total, this approach is unlikely to be cheaper, and the effect will be the same at best.
A couple of tips
Hang the lamps at a height of 15-20 cm from the plants and keep them on for 12-14 hours a day.
To save money, set a timer - it will automatically turn on the light in the morning and turn it off at night.
And if you don't have money for equipment, use foil. Cover the cardboard with it and place it around the seedlings - the light will be reflected, doubling the brightness.
But even ideal lighting won't help if you don't take the spectrum into account. Blue light is needed for greenery to grow, red light is needed for flowering.
And never leave the light on 24 hours a day! Plants need darkness to "breathe" and absorb nutrients.
What to do if the seedlings still stretch out?
Increase the distance between the lamps and the plants to 30 cm and reduce the daylight hours to 10 hours.
Add yeast fertilizer to the soil (10 g per 5 l of water) - it will strengthen the stems.
And don't forget to turn the cups once a day so that the sprouts don't lean to one side.
Author: Igor Zur