When can I put seedlings under the big light?

[Dimmo]

Hi all, I have 5 SLH feminised seedlings in 1.5 litre coco, they're about 3 days old, and I have them under a small CFL lamp but they're really reaching for the light.

 

Is it ok to put new seedlings under MH if I leave it up high in the grow space? If not when is the best time to do it please.

 

Dimmo

[Stix87]

I would move seedling closer to cfl to stop the stretching I would also wait until they at least have a few leaves on them before you put them under the bigger light

[DoctorWho]

I sprout under my 400w hps light.  I keep them a little further away from the light than normal for a few days to let them get established and then I smash them.  I've tried sprouting under CFLs and all it lead to was lanky stems that had to be buried or massively staked to keep the plants upright.  Keeping them under a decent light in a high air flow environment keeps the stems short and better replicates what they would naturally receive outside giving you much better overall growth too.

[Dimmo]

Thanks for the replies

 

Am inclined to lean towards the Dr's advice, if the light is way up shouldn't do any great harm, not as much harm as a long stem would do anyway.

 

Dimmo.

[Stix87]

iv got plants under 80w cfl no stretch at all nice and close. I dont bother raising seedlings under such a big wattage light seems like a waste to me. imo best to get them goin under smaller light then once established put them under a bigger light but each to there own good luck

[DoctorWho]

iv got plants under 80w cfl no stretch at all nice and close. I dont bother raising seedlings under such a big wattage light seems like a waste to me. imo best to get them goin under smaller light then once established put them under a bigger light but each to there own good luck

Those 80w CFLs are decent little lights and I would definitely use one for seedling over a hps light if I wasn't already running the hps.  I tried 2x 23w CFLs and gave up but those 80w CFLs really do a good gob for their size from what I've seen online

[herby]

ide say its more the distance you have them at then what wattage the light is...I had 3 seedlings under a 250W cfl, had them really really close and it worked well, but i had a bunch of seedlings in a corner of the tent which i forgot about that had only 2 leaves and stems about 5 CM long after over a week, all those seedlings toppled over, i used some cardboard to hold them up and moved them to a clone tent under a 110w fluro about 15cm away from the tops and after the first day the stem got fatter and strong enough to hold them selves up again.

if your using smaller wattage lights either use a smaller grow area ( ie : clone tent ) or move it closer.

[pegz]

I sprout under my 400w hps light.  I keep them a little further away from the light than normal for a few days to let them get established and then I smash them.  I've tried sprouting under CFLs and all it lead to was lanky stems that had to be buried or massively staked to keep the plants upright.  Keeping them under a decent light in a high air flow environment keeps the stems short and better replicates what they would naturally receive outside giving you much better overall growth too.

Not my experience at all, seedling will typically grow to within about an inch from the CFL, if you start them off very close to the light there will be barely any stretch. I start mine under a household CFL for the first week or two, big savings.

Edited March 31, 2014 by pegz

[forgetiwashere]

i jam mine straight into the furnace, i have seeds that havnt even cracked sitting under 800w of CMH right now MWAHAHAHAHAHHA

 

that said i have clone mums and all sorts of other stuff under there too, but basically you can start seeds under the big light immediately if it suits your needs, go CFL or something if your energy conscious

[nibbler909]

If you sprout them, from say coco, under MH or HPS they will be fine. Yeah I agree lift the lights a little. Problem is when you sprout em under low light and introduce em to intense light. If you dont let them acclimate they could burn real easy