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Old May 18, 2016   #67
TFdaggar03
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 10
Default Advanced Grow Lighting Technology

We have been growing tomatoes from seed for the past 5 years with moderate success. We read everything that we can get our hands on to try & improve the structure of the plants & overcome the difficulty that I will get to in a moment. What we grow are Heirloom's, Hybrids, determinate & indeterminate's. Our success in the early stages is fine, but as the plants develop further & show promising growth patterns, our nemesis of tall, spindly, leggy stalks becomes evident. Foliage is adequate to the plants size, color is rich green & the overall health of the plant is good.....except for the tall, spindly stalk. We are using fluorescent fixtures w/ Agro lamps. Additionally; the temperature of our growing space is kept between 52-58 degrees, Lastly; within the space is a North facing window directly in front of the plant beds. At this point we are of the opinion that the artificial light source is not producing a quality of light adequate to promote more robust plants at an earlier stage. So the idea that we have been toying with for next season is to take a page from the marijuana growers play-book & switch to full spectrum LED's. 2 questions for the community in closing: First; is anyone else using LED's as a light source & Secondly; based on the limited information that I have posted, does anyone see problems with our current protocol & in your considered opinion, is it a light source issue at all or something else entirely? Please bare with us as we are new & while our intentions are good, tend to ask many questions. Thank you all.
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