150 hps, short plants

17 years ago

Hi everyone, I started some plants (lettuce, dwarf tomatoes, radishes, cilantro, basil, other herbs) just after the New Year under a 150W hps bulb. I also have a few 150W compact fluorescents on the sides and a grid of neon tube lighting along the back (it's white and somewhere in the blue spectrum, no idea of the lumens, roughly the size of T5).

So far the plants look healthy and they've grown much faster than under the flourescent tubes I used last year. But the only issue is that they seem shorter. The leaves are developing really well, but the plants themselves aren't getting very tall. The exception is the radishes which are practically ready to eat!

Maybe I'm just used to leggier plants which have to reach for light? Maybe they need more blue/green light? Or should I move the hps bulb further away to encourage the plants to stretch (it's about 2 feet)? When I had it closer the plants looked a little wilty.

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

colokid
17 years ago
I don't see any thing wrong with being short.
Kenny
hautions11
17 years ago
Agreed, short and stocky is good.
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wordwiz
17 years ago
What kind of ferts and how much are you using? Ones that are higher in Nitrogen (the first number in like 10-10-10) contribute to internodal growth.

But like the others, short and stocky is preferred, especially when growing under lights.

Mike
turquoise
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the replies! Mike, I'm using Miracle Gro potting soil, then I used diluted Miracle Gro (8-7-6) about a month in.

I have some tomatoes about 3" high that are already flowering (the plants are just over a month old)! It's bizarre, the smallest flowering tomato I've ever seen (they're Tiny Tim and Red Robin, but still!). I wonder if I should pinch the flowers off?
colokid
17 years ago
"have some tomatoes about 3" high that are already flowering (the plants are just over a month old)! It's bizarre, the smallest flowering tomato I've ever seen"
Wow. Don't know about that but could you have too much red light and not enough blue? Or just too close to too much light? The usual problem is the other way around, lots of growth and no flowers when they need red.
Kenny
turquoise
Original Author
17 years ago
Yeah, I agree Kenny, I think we need more blue/green light. We're going to add some more this weekend. I'm waiting to see if fruit will set!
hydroponica
17 years ago
I've got two different tomato plants going right now, one about 4" tall and the other about 3" tall. The taller one looks like it will fully bloom the first flower tomorrow or the next day, and the shorter one is about a week behind.

Some varieties of tomatoes stay very small. The ones I have are a Micro Tom and Florida Petite. Both are supposed to remain exceptionally short.