One doesn't often talk about legginess or etiolation until seedlings develop one or more sets of true leaves. Obviously some of yours (curcubits and tomatoes?) are just starting to develop these. At this stage, all of them looked good to me.

I generally separate after 3-4 sets of true leaves form, but it is a personal preference.

George

Hmmm tried to post your photos here so we didn't have to leave the site and all could see them but instead I got a security alert so use this link with care.

Yes, some of your plants in the photos do appear to be rather leggy. Not excessively but more than ideal.

Sorry to disagree with George but this is the point at which I prefer to correct the condition rather than waiting for it to become worse.

You can transplant them now - with care - and bury all that bare stem. Will doing so make it easier for you to get them mush more and closer light to keep the problem from re-developing?

Dave

Dave, are you talking about the first few pictures, the broccoli and cabbage?
Everything else has fluorescent lights that are around 1-2 inches higher than the top of the seedlings. the container that i planted my brassicas in restricts me from lowering the lights.

This post was edited by pannu18 on Sun, Mar 30, 14 at 15:53

Some of the tomatoes too as I recall. 2" may well be too high. Depending on the type of lights used some work best if no more than 1/2" above the plants - especially just after germination. If that doesn't do the trick then it is likely the amount/number of lights isn't enough.

There were a great many plants in those first two pics as I recall. How man broccoli and cabbage are you planning to plant out? :)

Dave

I want to plant out as many as i can salvage. Do you think i will be able to save them?

My impression is that most of the seedlings are fine at this point, as George said, but I did see at least one container (maybe the one you were talking about) that seemed questionable. IF some of the seedlings are unusually "leggy", I would agree with Dave, that the situation should be addressed ASAP.

It's hard to suggest a solution without knowing a lot more about what's going on. In the fourth? picture, I do see a couple of fluorescent bulbs, but we aren't given details about the type of bulbs, number of bulbs, area of coverage, etc. My impression from the picture is that you don't have enough bulbs for that large of an area. But, I'm basing that only on what I think I'm seeing, rather than actual information from you.

P.S.

By the way, I don't see any problem with "saving" your seedlings. Most don't appear to even have any problem at all. The ones that may, are very young and just probably need more light.

Hi,

They are t8 tubes with 34 watts. I'm keeping all the brassicas in a separate room that is much colder. I have 4 t8s covering those three containers. The fixture is 24 inches by 48 inches. it is the exact same size as those three containers so I just place the fixture right on the containers. The light cant escape out of the containers. In the 4th picture, the flash has made it look dark, it really isn't.

That amount of bulbs is on the lower end of what I would consider using for that coverage area, but might be enough for seedling if they are very close. You might also check the color/frequency/wavelength of the bulbs you are using. If they are less than 4100K (for example, 2700K), the plants may not be able to effectively use a large percentage of the light being emitted. Also, if they are above 5000K (for example, 6500K) the bulbs may not be putting out enough lumens (higher frequency bulbs put out less light per amount of power).

Your seedlings look pretty green/dark-green, so that's a good sign. If I were you, I might consider adding another bulb or two (if possible) over the more lanky seedlings, but probably wouldn't change anything else with the lights unless I saw a need to do so. From what I see, if your seedlings are having problems, they aren't very severe.

'I want to plant out as many as I can salvage'

Crikey - are you starting up a farm? You have several hundred brassica seedlings there and at least 50 tomatoes that I can see.They look OK to me but I would be thinning them quite a bit. They certainly don't need 'salvaging' as they are not doomed. All they need is more light and more room.

You didn't ask, but as a suggestion for next year, with deeper trays I like to build up the bottom of the tray with egg cartons or balls of twine or foil to start so my top layer of seedlings is up higher. This gets them much closer to the lights. When replanting I can use the same tray with a layer removed so the plants are still at the right height, without any of the hardware having to change.

Looks like you have quite a bumper crop coming, best of luck!

Hi,
I read the box that the tubes came in and the spectrum is 4100k.
Also, they are 2700 lumens each. I"ll transplant all the brassicas tomorrow into deep sheet pots and put the light 1/2 inch higher then the plants. I'm only going to to be able to fit 4 trays under that that fixture so about 120 plants. Could i move the rest of the seedlings outdoors in a greenhouse? would it be a problem?
Also, what temperature should i keep the brassicas in? What about all the other seedlings?

Thanks!!

"I read the box that the tubes came in and the spectrum is 4100K"

That type of bulb should work very well (arguably, the best for seedlings).

"Could i move the rest of the seedlings outdoors in a greenhouse?"

Is your greenhouse heated?

No, it isn't heated. I was just thinking about moving the brassicas over there. The window is always openin the room I keep the brassicas so I thought it would be okay.