IMPORTANCE OF SUNLIGHT

No one knows better the importance of sunlight than the folks at home who like to start their seeds at this time of year in order to get a jump on the spring season. Without the bright light your seedlings will germinate, then stretch out to very unattractive pale green, thin and weak plants. You simply cannot get enough light, or sunshine to do any damage. Too much heat however can certainly cause damage. It is important to find a location that gets bright light without all of the heat.

When sowing seeds you usually need a warm place to get them started (germinated) but soon after they germinate they must be moved to a cooler location to prevent stretching. Also try to re-plant your seedlings as soon as you have two leaves into separate cell packs or into individual small pots. Separating the seedlings soon after germination helps to prevent “damping-off” disease, a fungus that will quickly kill all of your plants.

Temperature ranges to follow for starters would be your normal household temps of around 70 degrees, maybe up to 73, then transplant and move to a location with very bright light and temps around 66-68 degrees. These varying temperatures may sound trivial but they make all the difference in the world to your plants. Later on you can put your plants on a cart and move them in and outside where they will benefit from natural air and light. You can even leave them out overnight if temps stay above 50 degrees. This would really do them a lot of good.

The use of “Gro-lights” or any artificial lights will not be a good substitute for the real thing. A couple of stories…my wife and I went to Purdue University in West Lafayette and was given a tour of their new, state-of-the-art, all artificially lit room where testing was to be performed on growing tomatoes and corn and other plant life, to see how much light it would take to do the job effectively. They had all kinds of lighting in the ceiling, down all of the walls and in the floor. When all of the lights were turned on, you needed sunglasses to protect your eyes. Guess what…it was not enough light to grow a healthy plant. There is no substitute for the sun.

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Second story…in our greenhouses we have a house with white plastic (not clear) on the roof in order to use it as a “holding house” not a growing house. Last year I had the bright idea to place our vinca vine, spike and sprengeri plants in this “not very bright” house so that the customers would have an easier time finding them in our greenhouses. The problem that arose was that the lack of natural light caused these plants to not develop a very good root system. We learned our lesson last year and those plants are back in the sun this year…find them!