I have planted quite a fewseeds indoor. Most of them germinated, but now I am seeing that they are getting long and very thin at the stems and eventualy break own or fall. Any recomendtion what I shall do or look for .... Thanks
It sounds like your little plants are not getting sufficient light. I don't know what you are growing, but unless you have a greenhouse, sunroom or some really bright area of the house, it is hard to grow garden plants without supplemental lighting. You might want to put the seedlings under a fluorescent light. Fluorescent light is usually high in blue light, which will help plants grow full (red light will make stems elongate more). If you use an ordinary fluorescent light, put the plants close to the light (4 inches - 10 cm). You might want to look into light systems if you are going to do a lot of seed starting. I also use a small grow light to over-winter tender plants.
Thanks for the reply Eric: I am growing ( trying to grow rather :-) ) a mix of vegie and flower plants as follows and I used ordinary table lamp. Example: toamto, cucumber beans Cup and Saucer Columbine Lupine I'll try ot add a photo tomorrow of their condition
Ordinary lamps are usually incandescent, very high on the red spectrum. Too much red light in the balance will make plants leggy. You may do better just putting them in your brightest windows. You might even try moving them to the brightest windows throughout the day if you are at home. Put them outside in a sheltered spot on warm days, but introduce them to the sun gradually. The strong sun can burn them at first. If your plants are really leggy you may just want to start over.
Gardenwise Magazine (Apr 2005) says leggy seedlings can be caused by: -Air temp too high. (good for germination, bad for seedling). 68F or 20C is too hot. 2. Poor light. 3. Over or under feeding and watering. I put mine outside on a sheltered deck for a few hours a day, then made a cold frame/greenhouse (stacked bricks for a frame to hold up a glass top) and left them outside after March.
