1000 watt mh and seedlings

I was wondering how you all felt about putting 1 week old seedlings 3-3.5 feet away from a 1000 watt mh light. The temperature is running 74 degrees Fahrenheit during the hottest period of the day and wont drop under 72 throughout the night. The seedlings are currently 2 inches to 3 inches tall. I have run out of room underneath my t5 florescents. Originally my main concern was the seeldings getting burned, so i moved them a reasonable distance from the light. I've read that young seedlings should be given a chance to get used to the high wattage light. But with how cool the room is im starting to think i should move them around a half a foot closer to the light. What are all your opinions on the subject? Ive searched online and read a large handful of books and magazines in my possession and cant find much conversation on the matter.

The lights are currently in use for a few mother plants so the waste of energy for seedlings isnt a concern. Personally i feel like they will be alright and am monitoring them to see how the react.

-Speciosa

your temperatures are fine they could go down to 60 at night and be ok. 65-70 is a good root zone temp and its good to try and have roots be at around 68. Canopy temps can be 70-80 during the day

I put my seedlings under cfl for the first 5 days after they pop and then under my 600 at 30" and drop it 2" a day for a week. Keeps em short n fat

Lol thinking way to hard into it.

"adjust" to the brighter light, ever read the conclusion of a trial on that?

Lower light, seedlings will compete for light and stretch... Increasing you guessed it..vertical growth with less lateral branching.

Higher light, stresses some species of plants inhibiting their growth all around (shade plants). For light plants, it is normally good for them as they do not worry for the competition of light and focus on you know... Growing as their genetic code tells them to......

As for the temperature. Damn! 74 Fahrenheit degrees? My tomatoes seedlings see 97 on a good day in my hobby house. The plugs I take care of at work see the same thing. They grow perfectly healthy. Heat only speeds up metabolic processes within the plant... It's a good thing.


Stop worrying, throw them under the light, start at 3ft and monitor the ambient temperature at the top of the seedlings.

Thank you all for your quick replies. Glad to see i dont have much to worry about

My suggestion is to not waste energy on a 1000 watts for the first 2 weeks of a plants life. Unless you are cloning and only run 3 week veg cycles.

see4 said:

My suggestion is to not waste energy on a 1000 watts for the first 2 weeks of a plants life. Unless you are cloning and only run 3 week veg cycles.

Click to expand...

If you read his last paragraph you wouldn't have the need to post this, plus he said nothing about cloning in his post.

+1 useless post count for me and you.