I noticed yesterday that the Marigolds were opening their first true leaves, so today was transplant day before the root systems get too big.
That fluffs two little cells in a tray into a large tray that takes up a whole shelf.
I am fully enjoying the Vego grow light tower. I have it outfitted with fans on timers. I have one negative note about the design. All but the lowest shelf are adjustable to two different distances away from the grow lights. However - if you keep the top shelf on the highest setting, which creates a perfect hooded area to hold heat and germinate seeds, the lowest light has to be three levels above the tray instead of one or two. And this is quite a distance if you are growing trays of newly transplanted seedlings that should be about 10" from the light to avoid stretching.
You can purchase extra trays and extra lights.... but that doesn't solve this particular problem because there is no available shelf on the lower section of the frame to hold the extra tray at the desired height. So I solved that problem by purchasing an adjustable kitchen shelf. The adjustable shelf has two height settings so you can even tweak that by another two inches.
This shelf works perfectly. With it in place you still have a little storage below it. And if you needed to you could temporarily add another magnetic light underneath it for low growing plants. I consider this shelf essential, because most of the seed starting season you need to use the top tray at the highest adjustment. I need it there for five or six weeks, but I need the fourth shelf (bottom shelf) for the second half of the season, another five or six weeks. The two time periods and conflicting agendas overlap by a couple of weeks. The clip on fans work perfectly. I've had one of these for years and I purchased three more to match. The Vego tower comes with hooks that are perfect for hanging a heat mat thermostat.
I still need my older grow lights. I have two out of the three set up, the Oslo from Gardeners and one of my original florescent fixtures. This set up badly needs trays to contain water when it drains out of the tray and I have two Oslo trays on order to solve that problem. Then I will be completely decked out!
Under the Oslo high intensity LED fixture I have my Zinnias and Dahlias. The Dahlias can be pinched back soon but they are going to have to stay in their cells at least until the Cole crops get planted out freeing up another light because when I start bumping these up, a single tray of cells can become three or four trays of larger pots requiring more lights. One thing to note is that the plants by the window do not lean towards the extra light coming through the window at all which means they're getting adequate light from the fixtures provided. That's a good thing and pleases me because I've tried very hard to achieve the best set up .
I bumped the Coleus cuttings up to deep four inch pots and they are taking off, even the ones that had really been languishing in the cool workshop over winter. They have almost doubled in size this week. In fact, those big ones can be pinched, making either two or four more new cuttings.
I am also starting my sweet potato slips. This sweet potato was left over from the 2024 crop. The second winter they really lose their sweetness and texture but still do not rot. This one was in a basket in the kitchen and started to sprout on its own, so I potted it up and put it in the window. These slips are about ready to be broken off and placed in a jar of water to grow better roots.
...and Daffodil season is here.
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