Problem mechanical timers (not shutting off) & lighting on seedlings Q?

It's time to give them light for sure. You don't need an MH but a cfl with screw right into any extra lamp you have and will be perfect for what you need and cheap. After that just throw it into your most used light fixture in the house and save money till you need it for your plants again. My comment about the start up wasn't so much about all the power it uses but more about the fact that bulbs and ballasts don't last forever and the more you turn it on and off the quicker and more likely it is to burn out or fail, which will cost you more money to replace.

The leaves will only turn green once they get some light on them. If you can keep a plastic dome on them of even a pop bottle top with the bottom cut off for a humidity dome, just remove it a few times a day to changew the air. If you wrap a white peice of paper around it it should filter the light just enough.

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Originally Posted by PlainJane

Oh good, thank you! I can give them about 3 feet of space between the HPS (250w) no problem.

here is that photo:

[attachment=o200404] <- click me!

So you think they are OK for light at this stage? Like a simulated day-night cycle? Seemed logical since if they were outdoors they would be getting light but I keep second-guessing everything since this is all new to me and I don't want to screw it up.

If they're better off being eased into it by a window or something I can do that too.

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I don't cover my seedlings from light at all the dirt will keep them dark and when they pop up the light it waiting for them. I would just put them on a warm window sill under a pop bottol dome till the get a few sets of true leaves then move them under the hps.

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Originally Posted by Chronic Chrissy

It's time to give them light for sure. You don't need an MH but a cfl with screw right into any extra lamp you have and will be perfect for what you need and cheap. After that just throw it into your most used light fixture in the house and save money till you need it for your plants again. My comment about the start up wasn't so much about all the power it uses but more about the fact that bulbs and ballasts don't last forever and the more you turn it on and off the quicker and more likely it is to burn out or fail, which will cost you more money to replace.

The leaves will only turn green once they get some light on them. If you can keep a plastic dome on them of even a pop bottle top with the bottom cut off for a humidity dome, just remove it a few times a day to changew the air. If you wrap a white peice of paper around it it should filter the light just enough.

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Oooooh, I see what you mean. Yeah I definitely don't want to wear out my HPS and ballast.


Thank you so much for the help and the ideas. Very appreciated.

The white piece of paper as a light filter is inspired genius. :thumbsup: I'm going to do that. I will use a small clear tub of tupperware for the humidity dome and tape the paper on top of that. Fortunately things stay pretty humid here so that shouldn't be a problem but it keeps them from being hammered by the HPS and fans at this early stage.
I think this plan instead of the window sill may be better because I worry about temp control by the window.


*gulp* going to get those starter cubes and little sprouts into soil and ready for light. :)

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Originally Posted by PlainJane

Oooooh, I see what you mean. Yeah I definitely don't want to wear out my HPS and ballast.


Thank you so much for the help and the ideas. Very appreciated.

The white piece of paper as a light filter is inspired genius. :thumbsup: I'm going to do that. I will use a small clear tub of tupperware for the humidity dome and tape the paper on top of that. Fortunately things stay pretty humid here so that shouldn't be a problem but it keeps them from being hammered by the HPS and fans at this early stage.
I think this plan instead of the window sill may be better because I worry about temp control by the window.


*gulp* going to get those starter cubes and little sprouts into soil and ready for light. :)

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Leave the cubes the way they are they don't need more soil yet. Your better off to leave them in the miffin cups and to wait till some roots poke out the bottom and sides. If your place is already humid then instead of a humidity dome just find some way to let the air flow but still suspend the paper above it some how. If ssedlings are too moist they sometimes suffer dampening off and the stem gets mushy at the soil line and they flop over. You spent the money on feminized seeds so you don't want that to happen.

If you look at your picture you'll see the stems are a little curvy, that's because if they would have been under the light they would have grown towards it strait up, with no light they only had gravity to help them guess where to grow. You'll also see that they are just a little stretched but that to is because when there isn't enough light they need to stetch to find some.
Don't worry about it, I'm just telling you so you understand a bit better. Once they are under the light they should straiten out pretty well and even if they don't once they get bigger you'll never notice.

Just don't over love them or over water them(#1 cause of dead seedlings) the cube should be evenly moist and only watered once the very top starts to dry out. A seedling in soaking wet cube will drown and damped off. If you really want to help just gently breath on it and give them some CO2 and a slight breeze. but don't worry you'll get sick of that quick.;)

Thank you Chrissy, very good info and it makes a lot of sense. Now I wish I'd read that post earlier. I already put the cubes into soil. :o It felt like a slightly bad idea as I was doing it (just for the sake of doing two different things and shocking the babies) but like a dummy I did it anyway. My brain has an acute case of the farts today. I am hoping they will be OK since they're still in their cubes just with soil around them. *nervous*

Here are photos of what's going on:

[attachment=o200410] [attachment=o200411]

Good temp, good humidity and decent circulation and light breeze in there. I have my fingers crossed.

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Originally Posted by PlainJane

Thank you Chrissy, very good info and it makes a lot of sense. Now I wish I'd read that post earlier. I already put the cubes into soil. :o It felt like a slightly bad idea as I was doing it (just for the sake of doing two different things and shocking the babies) but like a dummy I did it anyway. My brain has an acute case of the farts today. I am hoping they will be OK since they're still in their cubes just with soil around them. *nervous*

Here are photos of what's going on:

[attachment=o200410] [attachment=o200411]

Good temp, good humidity and decent circulation and light breeze in there. I have my fingers crossed.

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There are no roots sticking out of the cubes so the transplant wouldn't have stressed them and neither will popping them out of the soild and just letting them be in cubes a bit longer. I've never really stressed a plant by transplanting so long as I've never damaged the roots. The set up looks good. and the two fans but you will need a fan to pull that air out of the room later on not just move it around the room but that's later.

I had a flick through the posts and it doesn't look like anyones answered your original question about the timer.

I had two timers that did the same thing they were the 3.99 ones from tesco.

In the end I went to my local growshop said to them what I was running (not something that's reccomended in tesco "hello I need a timer to run a 400w HID growlight" doesn't sound too smart. But the guys in the growshop sold me what I needed for 15 quid and I havn't had a problem since.

Oh yeah.....nope never had that problem. I think around here silence is taken as an "I don't know"......do you really want to read 20 posts saying no?

Thanks everyone. :thumbsup:

Chrissy, I do have an extractor fan/filter. I think you can see the passive intakes and part of the carbon filter in one of the photos but here's a better shot. I'm a n00b but I'm not a total 'tard. :p I can't be having dodgy odours going round. I think the cabinet the husband and I built is pretty decent, I just get in a muddle about the plant milestones, it seems. :o

[attachment=o200486]


Also the sprouts are looking a bit better (straighter) after having some light. They are on a normal day-night cycle now, with that filtered light via paper on a tupperware thing. Here is a photo without the "light filter" over them so you can see.

[attachment=o200487]

I used to have problems with those Intermatic timers not shutting-off, till I started doubling-up the red 'off' keys. I put 'em side by side, and if one fails to swithch off, the second catches it fine. No problems for a couple of years now. :thumbsup: