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ipswich, ma usa

I've been messing around with the advanced seed starting method with a few of my own seeds from this years pumpkin and have had great success. My question is, how does one keep the seedling from becoming leggy? I have placed seeds in their pots when the tap root has just broke the shell surface to when the roots are three inches long and still growing in the moist baggy on the prop mat. I also have played with the amount of real and artifical light the plants get and also the amount of heat. All tend to have produced fairly long plants. This is not a problem but more out of curiosity. It seems to me that energy may be wasted in growing length rather than throwing leaves.

Thanks

John (5150)

12/3/2002 10:49:46 AM

Webster, NY

The plants become leggy because of the amount of light they are getting. You can put a grow light closer to the plants,that might help. When I start my plants, as soon as they start pushing through the soil, they are outside in full sun (weather permitting) and then back inside at night when it gets colder. The plants don't get leggy and are already hardened off to being outside.

12/3/2002 11:14:36 AM

Cologne / Germany

Take a look at my diary entry:
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=3267
I used the neon bulb because some growers had a bad experience with burnt seedlings. It kept the temp around 70 F and worked great.

12/3/2002 12:08:58 PM

Connecticut, USA

The seedling will reach for the light. Put the light just a couple of inches above the highest leaf. You can use books to adjust the height.

12/3/2002 12:20:19 PM

Caceres, Spain

I've grew many plant species in pot inside, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines, pumpkins, squatchs, and I have to say I was never happy with any kind of normal artificial lights (I didn't test the very expensive proffesional growing lights, 400 watts: sometimes leggy plants, sometimes leaves burnt, sometimes odd leaves (too much irradiation, somebody said). For me the best is to put the plants out in a greenhouse (mini, big, any kind) as soon as the cotiledon point is emerging. No leggy, no burnt, no irradiate plants this way.
Don

12/3/2002 1:19:40 PM

syracuse, ny

well, i'm a leg man, but not when it concerns pumpkin seedlings! this past season i sprouted my 9 main plants and put them on my
windowsills---nice n' sunny for most of the day...i was
not there to place them on other side of house in the afternoon...
ANYWAY, relying solely on natural light, they became like
8-11 inches tall in a very short time! LONG story short,
i planted them at a steep angle in the real dirt, laying the stem over a piece of really soft foam, to make up for the extra stem length. other sprouts a few days later i had under 2 side-by-side brite-stik fluorescents, like 2 inches above the tops---24/7----resulting in short, stocky, tough little plants! all (12 or so) were excellent! and the
main 9 never had any problems related to the LEGginess...pumpkinpal

12/3/2002 5:20:43 PM

i used 48inch fluorescent lights two inches over the top also and covered the lights and tray up with a lite piece of plastic..the temperature underneath stayed at 80 degrees and the stems where short and fat..

12/3/2002 6:28:43 PM

Herndon, VA

Plants get leggy becuase they are reaching for light. If yout are using artificial light, try moving the light source closer (with in a few inches). That should solve the problem, but keep a close eye on the leaves and watch for burning.

12/3/2002 8:58:54 PM

Kentucky - USA

You can keep fluorescent grow tubes a inch a way on most plants.

I use 3 double bulbed 48inch lights mounted on two boards "a inch a part" with adjustable chains on each corner. I'll never had any problem with burning of the plants and they grow just as good as if they where out in the sun.

Tim

12/3/2002 9:18:31 PM

Key West, FL

interesting idea pumpkinpal, do you burry up to the leaf nodes? that could let you direct the vine without any chance of it going anyother way and help get more of a root system.
ben

12/3/2002 9:42:39 PM

syracuse, ny

yes, i did bury the seedlings a little deeper than usual--
combined with being at an angle, like 45 degrees...
i'm sure i'm not the first one to have done this (i think
neanderthal man grew a few pumpkins, too!)but it turns out that everything is news to us at one time---and yes, my thinking was to point them in the right direction, and the
long stem made that easier! IF THERE'S ANY QUESTION ABOUT IT
THE MAIN VINE WILL GO OPPOSITE THE DIRECTION OF THE FIRST TRUE LEAF--USUALLY--and no i did not CONCENTRATE on burying up to the first true leaves...perhaps the plant was sticking out of the soil about 6 to 8 inches, but that's just a guess; i think SOME stem above-ground is good.
Another thing i've noticed is that some seedlings i'm tossing out (after germination-testing)have rooted from the stem, while others have not: : :another experiment is in order! 'pal

12/4/2002 5:15:04 PM