I always thought that it'd be a good thing to germinate seeds in the warmth and then move them to a cooler cellar under light to help them grow slower and stockier. I've never grown anything but tomatoes up until this year, so by the time I start tomatoes, apparently my cellar is warmed up enough.

This year I started broccoli cauliflower and petunias. I moved them under the lights downstairs and they seemed at first to be ok. Now I have stil tiny, only first true leaf and some are purple. I went to get a thermometer and found out that even under the lights it's only 52F. Way too cold. See, we only use the woodstove and this cellar doesn't have any heat source, not even residual heat, so until it's warmer outside, the cellar is that cold.

We don't heat the house during the day at all either, so at times the house is cooler than I like...maybe 55F but then I start a fire and it heats right up.

Is there such a thing as too cold to start seedlings? I used a heat mat for germination, but I don't intend to use one throughout the growing time.

Any suggestions? TIA