red cabbage germination with CFL light help please

[amifarmer]

Hi every body .recently I want to grow tomato but I found that it's cabbage.
I use CFL light 24 w and the temperature was between 23c and 32 c.
Now it's after 6 days what should I change in temperature and the duration of CFL light that I have good cabbage.
Please help. I never grow any thing I afraid they destroyed.

[applestar]

I was going to post this in your other thread you started when you thought these were cherry tomato seedlings, but I see you' ex started a new thread.
-- I'll go lock that one and leave a link to this thread so we can keep things straight.

Now, I found an old photo of a purple kohlrabi, which is not red cabbage but would look similar at this stage. None of the seedlings in your photos have completely unfurled seedleaves, but they should end up with typical mustar/cabbage family seedleaves like this one pictured on the left:


I think of cabbage as cool weather crop. They sprout readily at high temps like 30°C as you may have noticed, but they prefer to grow in cooler more comfortable temp. (Like 50's-60's °F) How much cooler can the day/night temperatures be where you are?

[rainbowgardener]

yeah, I'm not totally convinced about the cabbage ID either, but definitely a lot closer. Please do show us some pictures once they are a little further along, especially with first true leaves.

I agree with applestar, that cabbage is a cool weather crop. Now that they are germinated, they should grow comfortably with temps around 60 -65 degrees F. For growing under lights, you need lights right down close to them (just 2-3 inches above) that can be raised as the plants grow. Lights should be on 16 hrs a day.

For more information about growing from seed, check out the seed starting basics thread here:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 48&t=44183

best wishes!

[amifarmer]

Hi every body.thanks a lot for your reply.
the temperature of room is 76f and when I put the cfl light 3 or 4 inch above them, the temperature goes up. What should I do?!
And I have one cfl light is it enough or I should use 2 of it?!
how can I prepare cool temperature for them?!
I'm so worry about them and don't like to miss them.

[rainbowgardener]

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, and they still aren't very far along, but they are still not looking cabbage-y to me.

So you are using one of those helical CFL bulbs, sideways? Is it giving off much heat? Fluorescent bulbs should not give off any significant heat. But the bulbs like yours are meant to be used in a bottom down position. Bottom up positions for sure can cause a lot of heat to collect, but perhaps sideways will as well. What you need are fluorescent tubes. With a tube the plants can be right up close to it, without any heat issues. I have had plants grow right up in to them, when I wasn't quick enough to raise the lights, without getting burned.

76 degrees F is very hot. Some plants like melons and peppers would enjoy that much heat, but cool weather things would not.

[applestar]

Right now, they are looking to me like Balsam flower seeds and sprouts.....

You could ease the heat issue a bit by using a small fan blowing sideways across the top of the soil. This would help strengthen the seedlings, too.

Oh! Also, the container you are using to sprout them looks a bit like a small ice cube tray.... Is it? If so, there should be drainage holes in the bottom. If it's an ice cube tray, my feeling is that it wouldn't be deep enough for cabbage or balsam seeds. They grow long roots that are probably 2-3 times as long as the height of the seedlings at seedleaf stage and will quickly run out of nutrients. You may need to uppot them earlier than true leaves.

This depth container might be OK for starting smaller seeds like lettuce or even smaller like thyme. Bottom half of carton for extra large eggs filled completely to the top worked well for cabbage and lettuce (but was a bit shallow for Swiss chard and spinach, BTW). See the recycled container suggestion sticky at top of Seed Starting forum.

[amifarmer]

Thank you for replying. Yes. It's ice cube try with hole in bottom.
When I should change the container? Now or after true leaves?!

[rainbowgardener]

Thank you for replying. Yes. It's ice cube try with hole in bottom.
When I should change the container? Now or after true leaves?!

After.

[amifarmer]

Thanks rainbowgardener.
I'm going to prepare fan and change the light.

[rainbowgardener]

any update on how your little seedlings are doing? Have you figured out what they are yet? If not, if you post some updated photos, we can probably help you ID them.

Best Wishes!