In my experience, if you get leggy seedlings enough light, soon enough, they can recover. They'll never lose that initial leggy stem, though. You plant leggy broccoli, it'll end up a bit "L" shaped, with the initial leggy stem laying on the ground. :)

I have had fluorescent fixtures that won't stay on. Sometimes they turn off after 5 minutes and sometimes after a couple hours. It's happened to me twice with different shop lights bought from different place (HD and Wal-Mart). Does anyone know why they turn off like that?

Because they're cheap crap made in China?

I don't know but it's VERY frustrating. Since I have my seed starting set up in a closet, I didn't know the thing was turning itself off for several days. (Timer works, lights don't).

The only way to get them to come back on is to unplug them, take the bulbs out and put them back in, then plug them back in. The bulbs are seated, it's not that. The damn things just turn themselves off for no reason.

That's exactly what mine did. Maybe someone who knows will chime in with an answer.

What are you growing? My tomatoes went for about a week last year with my lights turning off. They were leggy, but I transplanted them deep and got them under lights that worked. They turned out okay. Good luck.

Well I finally broke down and opened up the third shop light, and it seems to be working - so far. I should have done it before but having 2 in a row kind of depressed me and I just didn't want to think about it.

I'm growing tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, eggplant, shallots, lemongrass, several kinds of basil, some asian herbs, melons, green beans, peas, a slew of flowers, Korean cucumber, Korean radish, winged beans, scarlet runner beans, yardlong beans, coriander/cilantro, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, pak choy, some kind of Asian "lettuce". I've got about 8 or 10 different varieties of tomatoes and about that many different varieties of eggplant.

I'm sure there's other stuff that escapes me right now, but that's what I can recall off the top of my head. I may end up having to buy bell pepper plants because I still don't have the seed I ordered from Pinetree Gardens. This is the first time they've stiffed me on something like this. Since it's past time to start that indoors even if they finally get around to sending me that it'll be too late for this year. I've got squash seed back ordered from them too that isn't here yet but at least there's a month or so to go before I have to plant that out.

It's still pretty cold here even at the end of April. We have warm days but then it gets chilly again. I'm waiting til the end of May (90% chance that all danger of frost is past by then) to put out my warm weather starts (peppers, eggplant, maters). I'll go ahead and seed melons and things before that because if they get nipped I can replant, but I'm saving the transplants until I'm about as sure as I can be that the ground's thoroughly warmed up and they're not going to have Jack Frost nipping at their noses.

I bought a T8 fixture at Walmart for $9 and it's been going for 2 months now with no problems. Mine wasn't made in China. It was Lights of America or something and was made in the US. I did make sure I picked one with a pristine box though as a few of them looked a bit banged up. Maybe I just got lucky. I got my other 3 fixtures from freecycle, so just needed to buy the one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Luke's SF Victory Garden

Yeah, sorry, but Lights of America products are made in China.

The shop light in question (8045E) is ASSEMBLED in the US, from parts made in China.

A lot of their stuff is flat out made in China.

It's the ballast that's faulty and that was made in China.

I guess I didn't look that closely at the label. They just worked so I didn't really see the need to poke around. I like them, especially since it's my only fixture that doesn't hum. My freecycle ones hum like crazy. Good thing they're tucked in the basement.

Here is a link that might be useful: Luke's SF Victory Garden

>I have had fluorescent fixtures that won't stay on.
>Sometimes they turn off after 5 minutes and sometimes
>after a couple hours. It's happened to me twice with
>different shop lights bought from different place (HD
>and Wal-Mart). Does anyone know why they turn off like
>that?

Can't say about the 5 minutes...
but if its after a half-hour or more, that sounds to me
like the light's ballast is over-heating. As a safety
feature, most (but not all) ballasts have a thermal
protection circuit in them that will cut power if the
unit overheats...those that do not have this (like the
older Lights Of America shoplights) can go up in smoke
(which believe me doesn't smell too nice)

What might cause overheating?
Are you using the right bulbs?
(i'll assume 48" lights for this):
a T-8 ballast should light any T-8 or T-12
T-12 ballasts can be picky... standard T-12_40watt bulbs
will always work fine, energy-saver T-12_34watt bulbs
will cause overheating problems with many cheap shoplight
ballasts, but will be ok with most commercial-grade lights
(my advice is avoid energy-saver 34w T-12's altogether).
T-8 bulbs in a T-12 light may or may_not work...its very
much ballast dependent.

How warm is the room (or plant enclosure)?
heat ofcourse rises, so check the temp up high - near the
lights...if its getting into the upper 90's or above, then
you'll need a fan to cool the lights.

How is the light mounted?
ballasts can generate allot of heat... is the light mounted
directly to a wood shelf (for example). That can block
heat from escaping (of course the warmer the room, the more
of an issue this is)

------------------------------
For anyone who has lights that shut-down randomly...
next time it happens (right afterwards), feel how warm the
light-frame right where the ballast is mounted....but a
word of warning be careful, it might be HOT!