I have started some of my veggie seeds inside under flourescent lights. The room they are in is cold so I have the lights on 24 hours a day. Is this ok for the little seedlings until night time temps stop dropping below freezing? I am growing tomatoes, corn, broc, cauli, zuchinni, acorn squash, cucumber. This is a great site, I wish I found it last year when I had my first veggie garden!
Have your seeds germinated (sprouted)? If so they can stand a little colder temps. than they would need pre-germination. Still they will probably do better if the soil temp is at LEAST 60 F... though this is on the low side and might result in slow growth. The other thing is that they need some time off from that light. You should only have the light on for between 14-16 hours a day. I have mine on a timer, otherwise I'd forget. To keep them warm and still under the light you could put some kind of transluscent cover over them - either makeshift (plastic wrap) or from the nursery. Hope this helps. Can't speak to what each individual plant might need as I'm rather new to this whole gig. A really good web site to check out as well is gardenweb.com They have insane amounts of forums, you'd for sure be able to get your answer there!
I kept the light on for 24 hours until the seeds germinated and then I switched to 18 hours of light. All the plants are doing great. I now have them under a 400w light awaiting some warm weather.
