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Bristol R.I. USA

For the past few year i've been keeping the young seedlings under soft white lights for 24 hours till planting in the garden. When the sun is out I give them a little natural sun only when the weather will alow and the plants wont burn up. My question to all growers is...do these young seedlings benafit from the constand lighting of the light or do they need a period of darkness to rest up and establish a pattern of sun in the day and dark at night kind of scheduel? Ive seen in HOllands Dvds the 24 hour method of keeping seedlings constantly lit. Any thoughts? Also ~ slowly harden the plants off.....

4/25/2012 11:55:32 AM

Central Minnesota

I leave the lights on 24 hours a day for the first 3 to 5 days then start running the light only during the day and eventually leave them outside in the garage over night and to get some sun during the day. But, this all happens in about 10 days.

4/25/2012 1:09:47 PM

Ashland, KY

Hi- I read a few papers that suggested that pumpkins are not that sensitive to light/dark cycles. So I leave my grow light on 24/7 (and since my lights are so much weaker than sunlight, the longer the better!). I will get my plants into the sun asap, but for now, until it gets warm, it's 24/7 grow lights. I'll try to post the references that I found on this tonight after work.
EP

4/25/2012 1:38:57 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

Update......after letting the plants stay out in the sun I noticed actual improvment in the development of the 1st true leaf. Tommorow if I can and if the suns out they'll stay out another few hour slowly allowing them to stay for longer periods of tome. EP, I'LL AGREE the sun most certainly is what they need. The grow lights and or soft white lights can only do so much. The only thing with that is after the sun gets to them it seems to dry out the soil so moiture must be added from time to time.

4/25/2012 1:45:43 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Emalio, again I say, be Nice...try to stay on topic, and be NICE!!! We ain't growin chickens!!! Peace, Wayne
PS....no matter how sad any sprout I have looks, a day in the sun does them well!!! & a lil water helps too!!!

4/25/2012 9:58:12 PM

Hinckley MN

sun is always better than lights. UV does a number on damping off and lots of other diseases. but you can't let them freeze or be torn apart by wind, so you have to compromise.

4/25/2012 10:07:58 PM