Growing spinach indoors...questions!

[cdog222]

Now that all of my tomatoes and peppers have been moved to the outdoors, I've been trying to think of a way to use my basement lighting setup until it's time for planting seeds for next season. I thought that various greens might be easy - quick growing, not fussy, etc. I started with a plastic tub about 2' x 1.5' and 6" deept, and planted about 5 rows of spinach, with the seeds pretty close together. My intent was to start a new tub every two weeks, and once I get 6 tubs going I can have a full tub of greens every two weeks. Anyway....that's the background infos - here's my question!

I planted my spinach on 4/27, so about....3 and half or so weeks ago. I just noticed little seed heads forming in the middle, which is much sooner than I would have thought. I currently have them under lights, 16 hours per day. They are in organic potting mix, which I did not amend with any additional fertilizers but the organic mix says that the nutrients are good for a month. They are watered as needed regularly, so no issues there. I think the most obvious thing that I need to change is lighting - maybe 16 hours makes the plants think its summer? Anyway, I thought I could either experiment for several months, or ask you fine folks that probably already know the answer

Thanks!

[jal_ut]

Have not grown spinach under lights. When I grow tomatoes under lights I leave the lights on all the time.
I am not sure what prompts the spinach to send up a seed head, likely age? Maybe size? I think you are thinking maybe the length of daylight hours?

My take on it: Work on the soil. Soil fertility is key. Give the plants plenty of water. Leave the lights on 24 /7 and see what happens. Keep the lights close to the plants.

You didn't say what type of lights you are using. Fluorescents? I use 4 foot fixtures with two tubes per unit and hang them on chains with hooks so I can adjust the height, and put the tubes right close to the plants.

Oh, question: does your basement growing station get any light from a window? A little direct light from the sun makes a big difference.

[cdog222]

I am using flouro lights. The spinach is under a 4' x 2' flouro unit with 6 bults - 32 watt T8s. The height of the lights is easily adjustable (with the chains and clips), so I keep them quite close to the plants. I guess the 'length of day' seemed to be the most plausible explanation, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something obvious. The variety that I planted is Bloomsdale Long Standing which according to the package is a slow bolting variety. For some additional nutrients, I will probably water with a little leftover diluted compost tea from the garden. At any rate, I'm sure I will be doing some experimenting - I think the potential is there!