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06-01-2004, 03:33 PM

On 6 Jan 2004 11:44:29 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

In article ,
"Mark Allison" nomail@please writes:
|
| My question is, on the packets of most of these seeds, it says sow
| December - March. I have a 12x8 greenhouse, but it's unheated. I do have a
| small electric propagator - should I sow them in there (if they'll fit). Not
| sure what to do. I could sow them on the window sill but I don't want them
| to get too leggy.
|
| Ideas? I fancy sowing them this week.

Far too early. Don't even think of sowing seeds for a month yet,
and possibly even longer for warm-climate plants. The problem
isn't the temperature - it is the light, almost total lack of.
Subtropicals etc. are adapted to growing fast once they start, and
will not do well if kept warm and half-dark.

You can get away with the hardiest of plants because they are
adapted to growing slowly - so you plant them outside and they will
do that. But it won't work for warm-climate plants.

And I thought *I* was the Light Nazi! :-) A look at wunderground.com
reveals the following sunrise/sunset numbers for today:

Cambridge, UK: 8:07 AM GMT 4:02 PM GMT

Hampton, VA, USA: 7:19 AM EST 5:03 PM EST

Close to 2 hrs difference in sunlight, 'though of course this changes
as the seasons progress.

I usually started seeds in an unheated greenhouse (but with heating
mats) in late February. This allowed for at least one occassion of
either freezing (power failure) or broiling (warm day with a lot of
sun) all my seedlings and starting over. One failure-free season, I
eventually had 2' high, multi-transplanted, tomatoes before it was
reliably warm enough to plant outdoors (we go by "last frost date"
which is circa April 15th here).

On the whole, I agree with Nick. Once the plants pop up, you need a
lot of light for most of the things you mention. And while a heating
mat (is that the same as a propagator?) keeps seeds and seedlings
warm, tomatoes and particularly peppers don't like to be over-cool
when they've become adolescents.

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