Re: [CH] yellowing under artificial light
mstevens@exit109.com
Wed, 17 Oct 2001 13:56:49 GMT
At 08:51 AM 10/17/01 -0400, Karen Stober wrote:
>I bought the florescent bulbs that mimic the Sun and put muskmelons, basil
>and peppers under them. They are in the basement where very little natural
>light hits them. They started turning yellow after two weeks. I
>fertilized them. I leave the lights on even longer, twelve hours now, and
>the yellowing happened even faster. The basils and muskmelons appear to be
>lost. What am I doing wrong? The lights are about six feet up on the
>ceiling, the pots are on the floor. The melons also got a case of powdery
>mildew which didn't bother them to much.
>
Florescent lights need to be closer to the plants to provide enough light. A
foot or so from the tops of the plants is good. You may want to lower the
lights but a better bet would be to raise the plants. This would help to avoid
drafts on the basement floor.
Another problem is that florescent lights are deficient in the red end of the
spectrum. Plant lights attempt to correct this but still are not great. You
might want to supplement with either a halogen lamp or just an incandescent
floodlamp. This can be placed farther away from the plants than the
florescents.
=Mark