" Riddle me this. For annuals and establishment (where they really start to go bloom crazy and round), is it more about roots and the size of the stem. Roots helps it in the hot days and the thickness of the stem/stoutness helps it draw water ? "

That is a meaningful question, The answer may depend on which annual you are talking about. Since zinnias are the main annual I grow, I should talk in terms of them. At first glance, it seems that leaf area is the controlling factor. In the garden zinnias can develop huge underground root systems, many times their above ground structure. But, indoors under artificial conditions of light and nutrition, zinnias can develop tall plants seemingly unlimited by root volume in a small 3-inch square pot. Click on the pic to see the larger version.

Those zinnias had just been removed from their 3-inch square pots, preparatory to re-potting them (belatedly). But their leaf volume far outstripped their root volume, and they seemed to be doing fine. It may not be true for all zinnias, but for those zinnias leaf volume (or area) seemed to be the controlling factor for plant development.

ZM

Hi ZM -

I don't do much seeing indoors except for the vegs - normally I'm just starting the germination indoors thrown in the boiler room as it's a bit warmer at the time of the year. I did try doing some annual seed germination one year. This is with those lights that those - mary jane- growers use. It was insane....I got a headache from entering the -grow room- setup as the lights were that intense. Even had like 15 minutes of dizziness once I left the grown room. I believe it has something to do with how the -brain- translate the color or intensity of the lights . The lights even had different settings not only for intensity but color/spectrum, as apparently the light spectrum/color was different for germination, vegetation, bloom, etc.

The seeds were not stretched at all, but very thick luscious stems, leaves and height. Both seeded annuals and veg. germinated that year was gangbusters for the growing season, as both size of plant (height, stem, leaves and roots) were extremely developed @ planting time. Still have like 3K in lights lyng around....but it was more a one time experiment . It's too much -work- sowing indoors...

grow the roots.. and the plant will follow ... subject to you transplanting them of course ...

the larger plant is older.. and at the key point in growth ... was finished in the greenhouse of the grower..

the smaller plants were ripped form the greenhouse... and sent to your garden.. presumably in cooler spring weather.. so all the various variables slowed them down.. and it took time to recover.. and start growing ...

so basically.. you are paying for that extra time in the plant nursery.. to get the bigger plants.. that were finished to a more mature plant ...

it the usual cost benefit ratio .. time or money ... i used to say i have more time than money.. so i would buy twice as many smaller cheaper plants.. rather than fewer larger plants ... that i had so many plants.. i had more patience to wait for the babes to grow up ...

ken

It's no a fair comparison I am using as a benchmark with these much smaller plant plugs. Mainly because I know for sure they did get stressed and maybe stunted due to timing of when they were planted.....all of the trays got planted in March when they would have been much more happier being planted in May. I was in no mood to be outdoors with the whole CV19 so I shoehorned them all in - planted early, instead of transplanting them into smaller pots, etc. Some leaves did show cold burn but all is recovered. But root development, I kinda wanna say when planting as early as I did , it may have a larger -root system- than my normal 4" pots planted in April.

Hi a1an,

" ...did try doing some annual seed germination one year. This is with those lights that those - mary jane- growers use. It was insane....I got a headache from entering the -grow room- setup as the lights were that intense. "

Many of the marijuana growers use a mix of red and blue lights, because those are the parts of the spectrum that plants need. Plants are green because they don't need green light, and reflect it. The red and blue lights combine to create a hideous purple light. I definitely will not tolerate purple light for growing plants indoors, even though the plants may like it. I much prefer daylight white light, and my fluorescent tubes are a mix of cool white, warm white, and a few extra warm tubes that produce light very similar to incandescent bulb light -- kind of a yellow-orangish tint that gives plants a dose of red that they like and doesn't bother me because it is mixed with a lot of white light.

" Still have like 3K in lights lying around....but it was more a one time experiment . It's too much -work- sowing indoors... "

That's a lot money tied up in lights. I totally enjoy both outdoor growing and indoor growing. But I confess to being a little weird in that regard, because I actually get some enjoyment out of washing pots. That's sort of like enjoying washing dishes. But the indoor growing lets me continue my zinnia breeding indoors during the Winter. Zinnias grow fast, and I can get two generations of zinnias indoors in addition to two generations outdoors. So four generations of zinnias per year contributes to making some significant breeding progress. I have several zinnia flower forms that are not available commercially. This is an example. Click on the pic to see a larger version.

Those petals are tubes, which changes the look of the flower. By making many crosses between my hybrids, I can rearrange genes to get new forms of zinnias.

Recent advances in lighting technology have improved indoor gardening. However I am still using T8 fluorescent lights, because I have them. When I first started indoor growing in 2005, T8 lights were considered modern. But not anymore. However, they still work fine, partly because they are rated at 20,000 hours per tube and partly because I have learned to overdrive them to increase their brightness significantly.

ZM