I put my seedlings out in the sun for a couple hours for the first time today. Right at mid day. Its just under 50*F today and bright full sun. SO nice! It seems the little plants grew a whole inch while they were out. I'll continue gradually increasing their time outside.
My husband has purchased materials to make a cold frame for me. It was going to be ready this weekend, but we ended up pumping water out the basement instead of making it. Maybe next weekend....
9 comments:
I hope you dry out soon. Good luck with the cold frames. I'm going to plant in my new ones this week.
tomato's and other plants look leggy to me.
Yup - they're leggy. I always have leggy seedlings. Its hard to give them enough light and I plant to close together. But they'll be staying outside soon.
Please give me advice how to make them look better!
Aw! These are beautiful seedlings. And it’s been guarded by a black beautiful furry dog.
I like what you did to your seedlings, very clever. Thanks for giving us an idea of having a small garden anywhere in the house.
Hi Kathy,
I have been following your blog for about an year but now I have run into a problem! Thought you could help.I started a few seedlings indoors. They have grown 3" to a foot tall. The tallest ones are the ridge gourd (a foot) and cucumbers and zucchinis. I set them under a simple light (60w bulb) in a 3-tier greenhouse. Of late the leaves of ridge gourd, cucumbers & zucchinis are turning yellow (since 3days). I expose them to the light about 12 to 16hrs a day. Is it too much light for them or just the temperature which is the problem? I try to maintain about 60-70 deg F.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jnaneshwar
Vancouver, BC
I would love to exchange places with Skippy about now. I can feel the sunshine.
Jnaneshwar,
I usually start squash, gourds, cucumbers, zucchinis and all curcurbits only a couple weeks before the last frost (mid April for me). They grow very fast and need lots of nutrients and light. My guess is they aren't getting enough light or nutrients.
I start them inside on a shelf with 4 40 watt bulbs (160 watts total) placed one inch from the plants.
You can plant them outside when the night time temperatures stay well above 50*. They like day time above 70* and night above 60*.
I think you may do better placing your big seedlings in a sunny window than under a single incandescent bulb (these get too hot to put the plants close). Make sure they are in a good sized pot and use soil with fertilizer. After a few weeks in a small pot with pre-fertilized soil, big plants will use up all the fertilizer (even though it says it lasts 3 months) and you'll need to add more.
These vegetables come up fast nd grow fast, so if these don't work out you'll still have plenty of time to plant more.
Good luck.
Kathy,
Thanks for your prompt response! I might have to re-seed them as there is enough time before the frost. Also I'll try fertilizing the soil with dilute fish emulsion for the transplants.
Jnaneshwar
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