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Hey first time doing seeds got about five seed starters with a variety of vegetables in them I germinated the seeds in paper towels then put then in seed starters I'm trying to figure if I got my light to high it's about 12 inches above but I have tons of plants starting they are about an inch high stalk with leaves on top are they suppose to be that tall of a stock?

Assuming these are fluorescent lights that don't give off a lot of heat, then preferably you would want the lights much closer, just a couple inches above the plants, hung so they can be raised when the plants grow.

An inch doesn't sound real "leggy" so far, but it is hard to know without knowing what the plants are. Some plants naturally get taller before they send out leaves than others. What you are looking for is "stocky" stalks, that is not thin, spindly, tending to curve or lean.

No stupid questions! Welcome to the Forum!

Ok thank you I put my light closer and I have tomatoes spinach onions carrots marigold snapdragons rhubarb cherry tomatoes and trying my luck at some lavender

TheDouda wrote:Ok thank you I put my light closer and I have tomatoes spinach onions carrots marigold snapdragons rhubarb cherry tomatoes and trying my luck at some lavender

Sounds wonderful! Kind of a mixed bag though. The spinach, onions, and carrots are usually planted directly in the ground. Root crops don't transplant well. And those are all cool weather crops that can be direct seeded in the ground, as soon as the ground can be worked. That means as soon as the ground is unfrozen and dried out enough that it doesn't clump up when you turn it. Where you are, that may be true already.

I'll rem that next year def and yea it hasn't drop below fifty here in a while lol

And also I'm doing most in containers like the carrots and onions ill have a seperate raised bed for each of the others now do marigolds really help keep down the bugs Bec that was a problem I had last year I'm also going all organic soap and water helped a lot last year but could def use extra help lol

Well, it's a bit controversial, how much marigolds help keep down the bugs. Personally, I think it makes a difference, if you have them mixed in with your regular crops. Just makes it a little harder for bugs to find your crops. But it is certainly no guarantee. The most scientific evidence about marigolds is that they do exude a substance from their roots which keeps away bad nematodes in the soil.

If you have extra seed, I'd really recommend just planting the spinach, carrots, onions in the ground now. The spinach will just not last long as soon as the weather warms up. The earlier you can get it in, the better. Onions are very slow from seed. I usually plant them in the fall to be harvested the next summer. But again, the earlier in the better.

I am growing peas, beans, peppers, and tomatoes from seed and under a light right now. My tomatoes and peppers have about 1" or a little over that of a stalk before the leaves. This is normal. My beans are about 4" before the first leaves, and my peas have their leaves on the dirt.

It's all good. You should see the plant change from normal to leggy. You are in good shape.

Remember that the off time for lights is just as important as the on time. My lights are on 16 hours and off 8.

Good luck sounds like a well rounded set of plants!!

Will do ill prob plant all the spinach in the ground now I'm also going to keep a couple of each and see what I can grow indoors year round should be interesting yea my light time is the same I just wasn't sure if they where trying to hard to reach up to the light lol but from what you guys have explained I should be good I'm going to lower the light anyways though prob to about three inches above instead of twelve . And thanks for the replays guys first forum I've ever posted in lol

Do keep us updated how it is all going!

Your plants should do much better with the light closer. Light diffuses by the square of the distance. Now they are three inches away, when they were twelve inches away, that's four times as far. That means at twelve inches away they were getting one-sixteenth as much light as they are now!