HelpfulGardener.com

gosh, it sure seems like it is taking forever! I don't know if I'm just being impatient or what. I don't' think it normally takes THIS long every year I do this. Maybe my lights need to be replaced. how often do you replace your bulbs?

also, how long does it take lettuce to come up for you?

You didn't say how long it has been, so I have no idea if you are being impatient or not. And I don't know what you are growing. Maybe you posted that elsewhere, but it is beyond me these days to remember all of everybody's posts. A link would help.

Anyway depending on what plants and what conditions, I think a week-ish from seed leaves to first true leaves is pretty expectable.

Lettuce done indoors is usually very fast, a couple days. I direct seed mine outdoors when it is cold, so it is a lot slower.

sorry, that is what I get for typing with cranky kids peppers and tomatoes. and brussel sprouts. the peppers sprouted prob two weeks ago? tomatoes, last week. brussel sprouts last week.

lettuce I planted last week and only one out of about 12 containers have come up. I'm having a bad year I think. normally I'm very good at this.

my peppers also seemed extremely slow this year. Not just to sprout, but getting true leaves as well. I attribute it to the cooler temps in my house this year though. they took almost 2 and a half weeks to sprout and now they have been sitting with just the seed leaves for about 2 weeks. But they look healthy so I'm just gonna keep on keepin on. Let em do their thing.

My tomatoes and pepper have also yet to get their first true leaves and it's been about 3 weeks to a month since they have sprouted, but it always takes a long time for me, might still be too cold here, I start all mine outside.

I'm curious to hear answers on how often people replace their lights...can you just wait until they burn out or do their "growing powers" have a certain life span?

well, I know when keeping fish and doing live plants, they recomend changing your lights every 6m. but that is using them daily every day. so I wans't sure if people also do that when raising seedlings as well.

I have never changed my bulbs. Some of them are ten years old, some are newer because I kept expanding the grow light area. Some I just got last year when I finished making the top level 8' long and got rid of some little 2' long bulbs I had pieced it out with. I can't tell any difference between the plants that are under ten year old bulbs and the plants that are under last years bulbs.

I will change the bulbs if I see any signs that plants aren't doing well under them!

My lights are on 16 hrs a day. The first ones get turned on early January. I just turned the last ones on a week or so ago. They will stay on until mid to late April and then they are turned off and just rest until next year.

Here's how it is looking:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12209&start=120

I have found that keeping them on the heating pad a few days after the true leaves have appeared helps.

The plants that have been taken off the pad immediately after germination take longer. Sometimes I need the space on the pad free'd, so I have to make the sacrifice.

Peppers even more than tomatoes need the heat. Consider moving the peppers upstairs or to a warmer room. Clamp on utility light fitted with 100W equivalent daylight CFL bulb is your friend.

The room that used to be DH's den is turning into a plant room. He says he wants a "normal" room back, but that's what he gets for claiming dibs on a SSE exposure upstairs room! They'll all go outside when the weather warms up anyway, and HE gets to enjoy the orchids in full bloom.

they are still upstairs..they never made it down to the basement. I've been in mid-construction zone down there and I'm hoping after today I can get them down there. they're taking over my house! I am finally seeing some leaves today! Yeah! All I had to do was talk about how naughty they were being and they're going to show me up LOL!