How much light for tomato seedlings

This can be simple to do if you choose a light stand with adjustable fixtures. How much light do my tomato seedlings need per day? Different kinds of plants need a different balance between light and darkness: short-day plants less than 12 hours of light a day , long-day plants hours of light a day and day-neutral plants hours of light a day. Tomatoes are long-day plants and require hours of light a day. You can set your grow lights on an automatic timer to ensure that your tomato seedlings get the optimum hours of light each day.

If your air temperature falls below that, or if you keep your house cooler overnight, set plants on a seedling heat mat or use a space heater to keep the grow light area warm. Keep the grow light area free from drafts. Get more info on our Tomato Seedlings Pinterest board.

Tomato grow lights explained Choosing a grow light system for growing tomatoes from seed Using fluorescent grow lights to start seeds, grow tomatoes Fluorescent grow light systems to choose from For example, a growing pepper seedling has a smaller light bucket than a pepper plant, which is ripening fruit.

In seedlings, this looks like stretched, thin plants with lots of space between the leaves. In this analogy, different light sources whether the sun or lamps put out different quantities of light. A tomato seedling may have its light bucket filled for the day in just five hours in full sun, whereas the same plant may need 22 hours of a fluorescent light, just because there are so many more photons coming out of the sun every second than out of the fluorescent light.

How much light the light source gives every second is called the light Intensity. We measure Intensity as the number of photons that hit a square meter every second, and we count the photons in moles. The plant can only use the water and not the mud, so if the hose gives a lot of mud it needs to run longer to put out the same amount of water as one that has less mud. Plants use some wavelengths of light very well, other wavelengths not so well, and other wavelengths not at all.

How much of the light in the wavelengths that is useful to plants is called the light Quality. If the hose was running for 15 hours a day in New Hampshire, the bucket assumes it is in June.

When the hose only runs for nine hours a day, the bucket assumes it is in December. How long the plant is being lit between dark periods is called Daylength. Air Tomato Dirt best advice: steady temperatures! Take off plastic or clear covers from seedling containers to let seedlings breathe. Circulation will help prevent nasty diseases and fungi from spreading. If your tomato seedlings are near a window, watch for drafts.

Cold air mixed with over-wet soil is a deadly combo for seedlings. Nutrients The jury is still out among tomato gardeners about how much to fertilize seedlings at this point in their young lives. One side says plants are still feasting on the nutrients provided by their seeds. They need a strong start. Read more about fertilizing tomato plants. A large number of successful home gardeners recommend waiting to fertilize until you transplant your baby tomato seedlings into their next-size-up containers.

Others say to feed them right away. Tomato Dirt best advice: keep an eye out for yellowing leaves, which indicate the need for food. If possible, wait until your seedlings have at least sets of leaves before feeding. Keep an eagle eye out for crystallized salts on soil surface. More about Starting Tomatoes From Seeds Grow tomatoes from seeds: what you need to know How to germinate seeds to get best results when growing tomatoes Best seed starting containers to use to grow tomato seeds What potting mix to use when you grow tomato seeds Seed starting mix for tomatoes: what ingredients are important I have tried several, but my favorite combination is as follows you will need to scale down proportionally for smaller batches :.

The main thing to know is to use a sterile potting mix, not garden soil. Garden soil carries disease-promoting fungi that is hard on young seedlings, not to mention the weed seeds prevalent in garden soil.

Any container will work, including yogurt cups, peat pots, etc. Larger seeds like squash would need flats with larger cells I use cell flats for large seeds. One of the reasons I start my seeds in flats with shallow cells is to fit as many seedlings as possible under the grow lights, but an equally important reason for me is that the seeds will germinate faster in smaller shallow cells.

The small amount of potting mix in each cell heats up more quickly, and there is not as much of a danger of over-watering. It is worse for the container to be over-watered rather than under-watered that damping off condition again. My seed-starting shop is not heated, so I do use a small electric heater to keep the ambient air around 70 degrees during germination, but the main heat source for the soil is watt bulbs placed under the trays.

A heating pad placed under the flat would work also, but these lights were something I had on hand 14 years ago and they worked so well I never found the need to upgrade. The watt bulbs put out quite a bit of directed heat and the seeds all germinate within 3 days. I do check the flats once a day and mist the cells with water if they look dry. I will also turn the flats around if the germination is uneven. Remember that germination time also depends on the seed variety and how old the seeds are.

The date on the seed package is a packaging date, not the date the seed viability was tested. This is important because too much watering can lead to the damping off situation described above. The plastic sheets that cover the flats should be enough to keep the cells moist until germination, but you should check the edges of the flats often, as this is what tends to dry out first.

I tend to keep the peppers on the dry side and the tomatoes a bit more moist. I use a small coiled hose attached to my shop sink. If you are a visual learner and want to see video around these principles, here is a 5-min video on getting started.

Whether you have one light fixture or twenty, there are several key components to remember:. I keep the daytime temperature around 65 degrees and the night temperature around 55 degrees.

At this stage it is important not to have wide fluctuations in temperature. Seedlings will need more water at this stage than when germinating, but it is still important to have a light hand with watering. The plants are still very tender and should be watered gently.

Do it. A fan works much better. An overhead fan is ideal, but a floor fan or a table fan will work fine also.