Hi, me again with my supid questions
These are the first four seedlings, they are outside in a cold frame.

The temps are around -1°C at night and 2 by day.
They were planted in pots in october.
I still have 4 seeds of one of the cross that didn't germinate yet, but if everything will be fine by the end of january they will be planted as well.
The growth is poor and slow, the sun doesn't hit the garden until spring.
So I thought of bring them inside again, placing them in the garage under the house (about 15°C there) and use grow lights like these

They aren't expensive and they use very few W/h so having them on for some hours per day should not cost much.
I wanted to speed up growth.
It's something you would do? Is it a stupid and useless idea?
Many thanks!

Hi Sabrina,

From your description of your sunlight and weather, I don't see how you can go wrong.

What is the wattage rating of these lamps? How many were you going to use? Do you know the light wavelength or "color temperature"? Is there a brand name and model number on the light or the packaging?

Ken

I use 4 foot, t-8 fluorescent shop lights for seedlings. Another helpful hint is keep a light breeze from a fan running on them. The fan helps the fans and stems from other seedlings to be stronger.

@cybersix
If you can find the same light on Amazon check the reviews. I have been looking at grow lights for my indoor tests and I think many of the products are not high quality and may not provide strong enough light to make a real noticeable difference.
Right now I am using a normal white household led light and a normal white compact fluorescent light to give my test plants a bit more light but in my opinion the white led has decreased in intensity noticeably the more it has been on (16 hours per day).

@bramedog
Do you provide an extended day length for your seedlings with the fluorescents? If you do, how far above the seedlings are the lights and how long a day do you provide them?

I keep light on for 18 hours with timer. I keep the lights as close as possible to the plants.The tubes only get slightly warm. I noticed I now have 6 seedlings starting to emerge with the ones that I have started.

@bramedog
I do the exact same thing - works fine. Sometimes when the leaves get taller and actually touch the bulbs, they can get a little burnt, but I have a rope system where it is easy to raise the shoplights by whatever small amount necessary. My shoplights are spaced a ways apart, so the sdlgs directly under them get more intense light, but I just rotate the trays and they do fine that way. The fan helps make them stronger, and is also good to keep the potting mix surface dry and prevent mould/damping off.

Your plan will work just fine.
I use 4 foot shop lights which were inexpensive. There are choices of bulbs and I just use the daylight regular bulbs. I grew 1500 seedlings indoors all winter and they did fine. I leave the lights on at least 12 hours daily.

@bramedog @roblaffin
Since you are both giving your seedlings long days you should have the lowest proportion of seedlings that take rests from producing new leaves (not actively growing). When a seedling's rest is complete it will start producing new leaves again. It may or may not completely lose all its leaves from its first round of growth. The photo below shows a seedling that has restarted growth but kept two of its leaves from the first round of growth.

This next photo shows another seedling that kept some of its leaves from the first round of growth. Unless one looks very closely at the seedlings repeatedly over time one might not notice that some of them have stopped growing (producing new leaves). The presence of the short leaves (bud scales) with longer leaves both 'below' and 'above' them indicates that the fan had stopped growth and then resprouted.

Have you noticed any of your seedlings taking growth rests and then restarting to grow?

@kidfishing
I don't know whether a12 hour day is long enough to reduce the proportion of seedlings that take rests to the minimum. Have you noticed some of your seedlings taking rests from growth (producing new leaves)?

For anyone growing seedlings indoors under lights during the winter who would like to give their seedlings long days but not keep the lights on for 16 hours a day then one can give the seedlings a day extension or a night break and produce the same effect. To do that one would usually use 60 watt incandescent light bulbs and either turn them on for a few hours beginning just before the other lights switch off (day extension) or that turn on in the middle of the night for four hours (night interruption). Incandescent bulbs are used because they produce more light with the correct characteristics to trick the plants into experiencing long day lengths. Long day lengths reduce or prevent at least some growth rests. They probably will not prevent all growth rests as it appears that some seedlings take rests no matter what the growing conditions.

@roblaffin

You have a really nice set up there! How old are your daylilies seedlings? Do you use regular potting soil in your cups? Are those amaryllis in the background?

Another example of growth rest in a seedling. In this photo the seedling already has sprouted after its rest.

Now that you mention it...yes I have noticed the resting period in some of the seedlings... more in the diploid seedlings.

@califlowers
the lamps are two per box, they have 80 leds each, 60 are red and 20 are blue.
The wave lenght are red: 660nm, blue: 445nm.

The wattage used is 4.5 W/h so is very low.
They are intended for giving plants only the portion of light needed to grow and bloom.

@admmad
Yes I found them on Amazon, and I read the reviews. It looks like it's a medium product, two lamps cost 20$. Everyone seems satisfied about these lights, since I don't have many pots and seedlings I guess they could work: the lights fit in a common table lamp holder.

The only "problem" if I can call it a problem is when it will be time to put them again outside and make them get used to natural light. Any experience on this? Also, I don't know how many hours should I let the lights on, I just want them to have light since it's almost impossible here (damned surrounding mountains and low winter sun)
Thanks everyone!

@cybersex
I seldom grow seedlings inside and then its only a handful and usually for a test so they are not treated specially when/if placed outside.

I just read some people comment on Amazon, hence the doubt, but I don't have enough experience to know what could really happen. I guess if indoor light is almost equal to sun light nothing would happen.

cybersix said:The only "problem" if I can call it a problem is when it will be time to put them again outside and make them get used to natural light. Any experience on this? Also, I don't know how many hours should I let the lights on

I don't grow too many seedlings inside, but I will try a flat or two occasionally. I like to give them 12-14 hours, in order to simulate a spring/summer photoperiod. I grow them close to the fluorescents, with the leaves growing up in between the tubes. They go outside in the spring, when the weather's still mild, and I've never seen any sun damage to speak of. Even if there was, they would quickly outgrow it. If you were putting them outside in the middle of summer it could be different, but they'd still recover.

Ken

the plan is to put them again outside in early spring, or just as the sun will start to shine on the garden for a good amount of hours.

I used a light for my seedlings during the winter of 2014-15 and it worked great. I couldn't tell you any specifics, but I just made sure the light was high enough so it did not burn the new leaves. Gotta get a jump start on those daylilies when they take so doggone long to bloom

So, should I buy this red/blue light or another common light? I have two neons (shoplights) too, but they are in use in my husband's garage, so I have to buy something anyway.