Giving your seedlings light

I started out growing my seeds in the basement in the dark to get them started. Since I live in Chicago it was too cold to leave them in an unheated garage in the beginning of March. They started sprouting and since the basement had no windows I installed grow lights in a clamp light from the local hardware store. When using the clamp lights remember to use the correct watt light bulbs or it can cause a fire. I use one 75watt bulb to a tray and then have 2 -60watt bulbs thrown in the center of the table to generate more light. The lights are about 1-2 feet above the plants. If you have the lights higher then that you wont get the most out of the bulb, and any lower you can run the risk of burning the plants.

I set my lights up on a timer to run from 7am-7pm. When growing plants it is important to give your plants equal amount of light and dark. I have all my lights plugged into a grounded power strip and the power strip is then plugged into the timer. I rotate the plants once a week to make them grow straighter vs. them growing towards the light and leaning over.

Remember to check on your plants often once they are under the lamps because their soil will dry out. When watering the plants it is important you don't over water because like animals plants can drown.