HelpfulGardener.com

Hello everyone,

I am new to gardening. I have some bell pepper seedlings that are approx. 1-1.5 inches tall. They have their two little "leaves" at the top and are under a grow light for 6-8 hours a day. They are in my bathroom for the warmth and humidity. Problem is, they seem to have stopped growing the last week.
I started them in a Jiffy seed starting kit. the kind that has those little hard dirt discs that you add warm water to to get them to expand. They germinated well and came up great.

Any suggestions on how to get them going again, or should I start over?
Thanks!

Typically they should be under lights for 12-16 hours per day. Try leaving the lights on longer?

I agree, you need more light for a longer period of time. I have had great success with 18 hours on. Also, when you go to up pot or plant This little guys out in the garden carefully cut the netting off of those pellets. I tilled my garden this week and found those pellets from last year. The netting was in near perfect shape and had not broken down at all.

T.M.H.

SOB & Mad Hatter,
Thanks so much for your advice! I will leave the lights on longer. I did not realize they needed so many hours. Does this apply to all types of vegetable seedlings?

Mad Hatter, thanks for the tip about the netting!

Yes the hours of light applies to all kinds of seedlings. I start about 500 plants from seeds under lights every year, flowers, herbs and veggies. My lights are on 16 hrs a day, sometimes more when I'm up late (they go to bed when I do! )

Also you want the lights as close to the plants as you can, just 2 -4 inches above the plants.

All this is because the light we provide is so much less intense than sunlight. Our eyes are so good at adapting, we don't even realize how dark even a well lighted interior is compared to outdoors.

Thanks, Rainbowgardener! I appreciate your advice on the lights!