There are many factors to consider when it comes to choosing the correct grow lights. There are many different types of grow lights from which to choose, and all of them have their own advantages and disadvantages. In the end, it is important to choose the proper light for the proper type of growing or growing situation. The lighting requirements for seed germination are different than those of growing houseplants.
Some plants require a lot of light, while other plants are more adaptable and can survive with very little light. To choose the proper lights, it is essential to know the type and amount of light that different plants and growing conditions need. The cost of different types of lights will also vary, as will the cost of the electricity for using them. Something that costs more may not necessarily be better.
I have been growing plants indoors for almost 30 years. I’ve done everything from starting seeds to propagation and even growing exotic tropical plants. I have never used anything but fluorescent lights. I opt for fluorescent lights for a variety of reasons. They are inexpensive to purchase and they are cooler burning. They are also the most cost effective type of lighting to use.
When it comes to starting seeds, the cool light from the blue spectrum is best. This is the light that helps plants develop healthy dark foliage, and that makes them grow fat and bushy. Seeds can easily be started by using cool fluorescent lights in a shop light fixture.
Shop light fixtures come with chains that make it possible to move the position of the light. For starting seeds, it is vital that the lights be as close to the top of the seed starting container as possible. High output lights have a higher lumen number and generate brighter light that covers a wider spectrum.
Warm fluorescent lights have more light from the red spectrum. This is the spectrum that helps plants grow taller. It helps them mature and encourages fruit and vegetable production in food crops and flower production in flowering plants. Although high output warm lights do provide a great deal of benefit, they should not be used alone unless there is an adequate sunlight to supplement the warm light.
Cool lights are useful when there is little or no available sunlight, because they provide that spectrum. For plants such as African violets or orchid cacti that don’t require a tremendous amount of light, cool lights on their own are perfectly adequate.
When growing most other plants, regardless
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Growing Celeriac
The stem or swollen bulb of the Celeriac is produced on the surface of the ground and grows like a root crop. It is a member of the celery family and in fact the texture is very similar but instead of growing tall and straight it is short, dumpy and bulbous. It is known also as celery root, knob celery and turnip-rooted celery. It has a similar taste to celery with the addition of aniseed and parsley. Celeriac can be used in recipes that call for celery, it can be added to soups and stews.
Soil Preparation
Celeriac grows best in soil that contains plenty of organic matter, an ideal crop to follow potatoes or peas. During April add manure and compost to the soil and fork over lightly; after which allow two weeks before the plants are put into the plot. At the time of planting add fish manure at 3 oz. (90g) to the sq. yd.
Sowing
The seeds are sown into trays of John Innes seed compost during February in a greenhouse, with a maintained temperature of 65 deg F. (18 deg C.) Press down the compost level and firm, as the seed is tiny, sprinkle it thinly over the top; sift a little amount of soil on top. Water through a fine rose, taking great care not to disturb the soil too much, place the trays on the staging of the greenhouse and cover them with a sheet of glass. It is a good idea to wipe the under-side of the glass every day and as soon as the seedlings pop up remove it altogether. When the seedlings are in. (6mm) high prick them out and plant them in pots containing similar compost. Keep them in the greenhouse for another three weeks allowing them all the light they can have, after which they should be moved to a cold frame to harden off. They should remain in the frame for about a week before they are ready to plant.
Planting
Plant the seedlings about 1 ft. (45cm) apart and 1 ft. (30cm) between the rows. Bury the roots with the leaves just resting on the surface. Shallow planting is necessary as the swollen bulb-like stems are produced above the surface of the soil.
General Care
Keep down the weeds by hoeing lightly between the plants, drawing the soil a little away from the plants rather than towards them. During November, begin to draw the soil around the bulbs to help blanch and to protect them.
Harvesting
The crop can be dug up during winter when they are required.
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It’s easy to imagine a garden that is full of tall, brightly-colored sunflowers. They’re easy to grow, simple to maintain and can add a dazzling splash of color to any landscape. However, though sunflowers are easy to grow and maintain, there are several potential pitfalls. Small critters can steal the seeds before they have a chance to sprout. High winds can decimate a sunflower garden if stakes aren’t used for structural support. Wild birds can swoop down to pillage the seeds before they can be stolen by other animals.
By taking a few preventative measures, you can help ensure that your sunflowers grow to be a vibrant, stunning component of your garden. Below, we’ll explain how to grow sunflowers and provide a few useful tips for cultivating a gorgeous end-of-summer garden.
Sow The Seeds Indoors
Most enthusiasts plant their sunflower seeds outdoors. But, doing so exposes your seeds to small animals. If left unprotected, these critters will often steal the seeds for food. You can prevent your seeds from disappearing by planting them indoors. This has the added benefit of preventing the frost outside from damaging the seeds. Plant them in peat pots using average to rich soil. Then, place the pots by the window to allow them direct access to sunlight.
You’ll notice when you plant your sunflower seeds indoors that they’ll grow quickly. You should transplant them from the peat pots into the soil outside by the time the seedlings reach 2 inches. If they grow much taller, they may not be able to stand properly when you transplant them.
Transplanting Your Seedlings
There are several factors to consider when transplanting your sunflowers to the soil outside. First, don’t be afraid to get rid of less-than-stellar seedlings. By throwing away the stragglers, you can boost the overall quality of your sunflower garden. Plus, you’ll prevent overcrowding (a common tendency amongst novice gardeners). Also, it’s important to place your seedlings in an area that receives constant sunlight. Your sunflowers can grow in low-quality soil. But, sunlight is critical.
To ensure a healthy-looking crop of sunflowers, prepare the soil prior to transplanting your seedlings. Dig a small hole a few inches wide and a few inches deep for each sunflower. Use a high-grade soil with a time-released fertilizer. This soil mixture will be more expensive than lower quality soil, but it can have a dramatic impact on the quality of your crop.
Weeding And Watering
Sunflower seedlings are extremely susceptible to drying out. They need to be watered daily from the moment they’re transplanted into your soil outside. Once they reach 1 foot in height, their stems should be sturdy. You can reduce how often you water them (every other day should be sufficient). Once your sunflowers grow to 2 feet, you can further reduce watering to every few days.
Also, keep in mind that weeds can quickly overwhelm your sunflower seedlings. Make the effort to keep the weeds at bay. Once your sunflowers are taller, the weeds won’t be able to strangle them. You should still eliminate the weeds simply because your garden will look nicer, but your sunflowers won’t be vulnerable.
Tender Loving Care
A patch of tall, vibrant sunflowers can look exhilarating. Many can grow over 12 feet. The bright yellow of the heads combined with their majestic height can add a unique blend of personality and nobility to your garden. Growing them is easy. They simply need a little attention each day. Once your sunflowers are fully grown, they won’t require as much attention and you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. With some tender loving care in the beginning, you’ll have a garden that attracts the envy of your neighbors.
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Plants need light in order to manufacture food and use the nutrients from that food they produce. The amount of light a plant gets will influence all aspects of plant development. So for anyone who wishes to grow plants indoors, it is necessary to supplement the light through artificial means.
To understand exactly what the light requirements for healthy growth are, it is helpful to understand how light works and how different types of light can benefit different aspects of plant growth.
Plants absorb red and blue light and when those colors are combined, photosynthesis can occur. Red and blue light are important for other aspects of plant growth, however.
Red light is largely responsible for flower and seed production, but it is an essential requirement for plant maturation. If plants only grow under red light, they will grow very tall and spindly.
Blue light is needed for leaf development and growth. Plants that are only exposed to blue light will not grow tall. They will be short, stocky and have thick stems, and the leaves will be very dark and the plant will produce few flowers, if it produces any at all.
The typical round light bulb that we have in our house is called an incandescent light. These lights are perfectly effective and acceptable for plants that have low light requirements. These plants are foliage plants, not flowering plants. Incandescent light won’t meet the needs of flowering plants or plants that require a lot of light.
Incandescent lights give off lots of red light as well as infrared radiation, and that is converted to heat. This is why a light bulb feels so hot to the touch. The high amount of heat that these lights give off can damage the leaves of plants, but because the bulb is only giving off red light, the light doesn’t get distributed and it only covers a small area.
Florescent lights are considerably more efficient than incandescent lights. The amount of light they emit per watt is 2 1/2 times the amount of an incandescent bulb. But florescent lights vary when it comes to red-blue output. Cool bulbs tend to be bluer on the red-blue spectrum, whereas warm bulbs tend to be much redder.
In order for plants to grow, thrive, flower and be generally healthy, they need both the red and blue output. Cool bulbs may be acceptable for starting seeds.Once the plants start growing, however, then it becomes necessary to provide the full spectrum.
It is possible to accomplish this by using an equal number of cool and warm florescent
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It’s that time of year when I start to think about which veg I should be planting, as this year I have been a bit lazy and got all my plants from the boot sales, this has cut down on lots o f time which is usually spent getting seeds, compost, potting and cultivating in my hot house.
Of course some people like to do this and I used to love pottering around in the garden shed, but for this year I have cheated and gone to the boot sales to buy most of my vegetable and fruit plants from the sellers who have done the ground work for me and I have bought the pots of established plants from 50p to 99p depending on variety and size.
You can buy the seeds from garden centres for around 99p to 1.99 depending on variety and you can also buy established plants too, but I find nowadays the boot sales are taking over the garden centres, for choice and value for money.
There are a few good types of tomatoes which will bring you a good yield. I find that the Money-maker and the Histon Early, but there are other types too.
The Amateur can be grown in a greenhouse, along with the Early Market and the Harbinger.
Any are good but the money-maker will give you a good crop.
Seeds are usually sown about an inch apart in something like John Innes compost and can then be transferred to the pots, beds or outdoor boxes when taller.
I also buy the trays of individual smaller pullet pots which are made of bio-degradable substance, these can be planted with seeds then popped into the ground, grow bag, box or greenhouse without to much bother as the plant will grow and the little pullet pot will breakdown in the ground.
March is a good time to plant the seeds then transfer to the greenhouse when taller usually about three inches high, you can make a little Polly tunnel out of frame and polythene and grow them in grow bags, I have seen this done with good results of tasty large crops.
Don’t forget that most tomatoes plants grow tall and will need propping up with bamboo supports, tie these to the stem but only loosely so as not to damage the stem.
Remember tomatoes love water and air so make sure they are regularly checked for both, tomato food can be given if you like to promote growth.
When the plants have produced around seven trusses of flowers pinch out the tip of shoots to promote swelling of the fruit, if this is not done puny little tomatoes will grow.
Fruits can be picked as they ripen and green tomatoes can be picked if they have reached the right size and put in a drawer to ripen. Lay these on brown paper bags in the drawer.
The tomatoes is quite easy to grow as long as you remember to water, feed nip and pick the fruit, but they can be susceptible to diseases.
Leaf mould, which is yellow blotches on the upper sides of the leaf.
Stem canker which causes darkening at the bottom of the plant stem and makes them fall over.
Greenback which is hard green or yellow patches on the fruit near the stalks and other diseases which can all be treated with sprays from the garden centres and a watchful eye on your plant for the early signs.
All in all the tomatoes is a goof plant to start off growing if you have decided to turn your hand to gardening, it is fun and easy for children to grow as one pot takes up no room at all if you have no garden and the fruit can be eaten when ready.
There are lots of good recipes for tomatoes and they add that extra zing to a sandwich especially if you have grown it yourself.
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Are you growing up
or growing backwards…
an oxymoron truth!
Are you growing stagnant
or growing old?
Or growing to be an annoying wench?
Are you growing with love
and with maturity?
Is there a growing appreciation?
Growing taller, growing bitter…
the word “growing” can denote negativity…
something which breeds opposition
to the word’s original definitive intent!
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Sunflowers are incredibly easy to grow. They can grow to over 6ft tall, with big flower heads in bright yellow. They attract bees and birds, which devour the large seeds.
You need to sow the seeds in average to fertile soil under a hot sun.
Direct sowing
Sow seed 5cm / 2inches deep and spaced 45cm /18inches if you are placing them in the garden. Water the seeds regularly and when growing tall forms, feed sparingly with a liquid fertiliser when 2ft high.
Starting in pots
Use 7.5cm / 3inches pots and a good sowing compost. Sow one seed 2.5mm / 1inch deep per pot. Water and cover with either polythene or bubble plastic to retain the heat, or place pots on a heated bench or in a propagator with the temperature set at 13C / 55F You will need to remove the covers when the leaves appear. Plant seedlings outside when they are large enough to be handled, and the roots are well developed. Add garden compost to the soil if it is infertile.
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When children are very small the way it learns take several distinct steps. Traditional toys help in the development of actions and will facilitate the learning experience. Babies go through a stage of clasping and pushing toys to see what will happen – around six months onwards – and learn that a ball will roll away etc.
Once he gets to nine months old he will apply the same tactics on all objects in its path. This is a learning curve and the child will discover that different actions will produce different results. By one year old the child will have worked out the different between kicking a ball or shaking a rattle.
When he starts to walk – the toddler stage – it will require more complex toys to keep him engaged and interested. Toddler toys come in many forms from push-along toys to sit-in toys, from ride-on toys to rocking horses, the list is endless. Some clever toddler toys are built to ‘grow’ with the child. They come with flip over bases to turn the toy say from a wheeled toy to a rocking toy when the child is more confident with its balance. This also applies when the child grows taller.
Traditional toys like trikes – either two wheel or three wheel depending at what stage of balance the child is at – are firm favorites with children and adults alike and you can virtually see the child growing in confidence when he has mastered the art of co-ordination. Of course it is the precursor to the more grown up bicycle. Ride on toddler toys provide the first sensation of motion and they soon learn to scoot along with their feet. This both strengthens the legs and co-ordinates hand movements used to turn the steering wheel etc.
Ride on toys also strengthen the legs since the pushing motion required to move the toy is somewhat more complex. Naturally the parent can push or pull the child along until the child can master the art so this toy is ideal for getting the adult involved. Both of the previous toys usually come in bright colors and interesting shapes. They also have noise makers on board whether it be a vibrating noise mimicking an engine or the wheels clacking as they go forward. Sometimes lights or bells are included for effect and children just love the drama of it all.
What is interesting about traditional toys is that there is a growing demand for them after the influx of electronic toys. More and more people are looking back to their own childhood and realize that perhaps a child should be allowed to play naturally and use its imagination to the full. They don’t have to be ‘entertained’ by TV or computer games all of the time and if they are they soon become unresponsive to outside stimulation.
It is a recognized part of human development that children will shout and run around, make noise etc. Provide them with traditional toddler toys that will allow them to develop naturally.
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“Honeysuckle!” Pooh Bear exclaimed just before sticking his face into a bouquet. “No, you don’t eat them, Pooh. You smell them.” Kanga told him kindly. Oh, he was disappointed but only before he smelled them. No one could be disappointed then. From late spring to mid- Autumn I have the lovely, intoxicating scent of Honeysuckle wafting around my house. Only Heaven could smell better.
Honeysuckle, botanically known as Lonicera, is a wide-ranging group of both flowering shrubs and vines, some evergreen, some semi-evergreen and some deciduous but almost all with a scent that will knock your socks off. Virtually every Botanical garden I’ve visited (and I’ve visited at least one in every state in the US plus a couple in Canada) have a Honeysuckle of some sort. Doesn’t that tell you that perhaps you should have one too?
Tartarian Honeysuckle, L. Tatarica, is the first in my yard to explode in sweet-smelling pink blooms in May. I also have a few bushes that bloom yellow. It is a huge one if left to its own devises about 10-12 feet tall, but it can be tamed to a sedate yet solid barrier 6-8 feet tall. You won’t need fencing with this around. From May to October I don’t see my neighbors! It is a vigorous grower and produces loads of bright red berries the birds go nuts for. Of course, birds being the natural “helpers” they are, they tend to drop seeds all over so you may find baby Honeysuckles growing in places you would never guess they could.
Honeysuckles do well in bright sun as well as semi-shade. They prefer well-drained, humus-rich soil but truly do well in anything. I’ve yet to kill one. Vigorous climbers need strong supports and if one gets out of control cut the whole thing down after blooming. Don’t worry, it will grow back and perhaps then you can keep it tamed.
Dropmore Scarlet, L. Brownii, has long, tubular flowers in bright scarlet with bluish-green round leaves. This one only grows to 10 feet and is quite manageable.
Coral Honeysuckle, L. Heckrottii, has oval leaves and a tubular flower creamy yellow on the inside and coral pink on the outside, simply gorgeous and the bees and hummingbirds adore it too. It is rather tame as honeysuckles go though it is known to grow as tall as 15 feet. It blooms continuously for me from early summer to late fall.
L. Japonica Halliana, the Hall’s Honeysuckle, is the vine I have trouble taming. As a matter of fact, I’ve given up and it wins. It sprawls on the ground rooting along the way (New plants for friends), climbs fences, posts, other plants and grows into the Rhododendron patch. This is the one with its zillion yellow and white flowers that needs a severe pruning every year either at the end of the growing season or in early spring and several times in summer if I want to get into the side door of my house. But I just love it. I snip off branches all summer long for cut flower arrangements to bring that wonderful scent indoors. Who needs air fresheners when you have Honeysuckle just outside your door?
All the ones I’ve mentioned are deciduous, at least in my section of the world but some Honeysuckles can be invasive in warmer climates and should be handled with care. By that I mean try not to let it out into the wild where it could strangle some trees and shrubs and become quite a nuisance. Vines in general are the wildest, least easily tamed of the flora, the Tasmanian Devil of the plant world, if you will, but with a gentle but firm hand they too can behave in the garden. I’d advise you to give at least one a try and you too will shriek in delight “Honeysuckle!” at the first sniff.
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As plants continue to grow, there comes a point when they just don’t look as full or lush as they did some time ago. With some plants, by allowing them to grow up, we prevent them from growing out. With others, sometimes part of their natural cycle makes them drop leaves in places, or because they’ve grown in length, they look scraggly.
There is a very simple solution that will help your plants look healthier, allow you to fill in an empty looking pot, or even better, provide you with more plants that you didn’t have to buy. What is the solution? Take cuttings of your plants. Taking cuttings of plants encourages the remainder of the plant from which the cutting was taken to regenerate new growth.
Philodendron, pathos, ivy, and Wandering Jew root easily in water. Simply take the cutting wherever you want. I usually try to take the cutting in a place where there is considerable empty space because leaves have dropped off, but it isn’t essential to take the cutting there. If you take a cutting from a place where there are remaining leaves, remove the leaves from the bottom portion.
Dieffenbachia tends to grow very tall over time. As it grows tall, it doesn’t get any foliage on the lower portion of the trunk. The taller it gets, the less attractive it becomes because of all the bare spots on the lower portion of the trunk. Moreover, the trunk on a large dieffenbachia can be very heavy, requiring support. Even then, it will be difficult to keep the plant upright because the top part of the trunk will be so much heavier than the rest.
That is why it’s wise to cut the trunk of a dieffenbachia before it gets so tall that it really looks unattractive. These cuttings can be rooted in soil or in water. If you decide to root them in soil, it would be wise to use a rooting hormone. If you decide to root the cuttings in water,you will need to remove leaves to the point where no leaves will be in water when you put your cuttings in water.
Put the cuttings in a clear class of water and place the glass in a place where it will get some light – indirect is fine. Make sure that the place where you put the glass is a place that will stay warm. I prefer to root cuttings in water simply because the water allows me to see when the cutting is developing roots and when it has enough roots to be planted in a pot.
Some plants have incredibly shallow roots. Those plants would be cacti, Aloe Vera plants, bromeliads, Desert Roses, and the new shoots or babies of spider plants.
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