Window Light, Grow Light, & Outdoors

Once germinated, seedlings LOVE sunlight. So much so that if they don’t get enough they will rapidly grow toward the light to try to soak up more if they are not getting enough. However, this is almost certainly a quick means to a short end because if this unmet hunger for sunlight goes unchecked, the stem of your rapidly growing seedling will thin out and not be able to support the weight of this tall, leggy plant leading it to almost certainly die…

This is a common problem when growing seedlings, especially indoors. The seedlings in the video above were being grown by a window, however, the light coming in from that window was not enough and some of the seedlings started to reach out for more.

Problems like this are best caught quickly, which we fortunately did. To resolve them, you want to move the seedling tray to an area that gets more sunlight, use a grow light for your seedlings, and/or move them outside into direct sunlight (which is what we did), weather and temperature permitting. The added light should return their growth rate to normal and the stems shouldn’t weaken any further. 

In general, seedlings do best when they can get 12+ hours of light per day. If you move them from inside to outside as we did, direct sunlight can be a little harsh at first. Move them to an area that gets more light than they had inside, morning sun is best since it’s less harsh. Then over a few days move them into more and more direct sunlight. Eventually, 6+ hours of direct sunlight is what most plants will need. 

And as an added note… if your puppy gets curious and knocks over your seedling tray just tidy up, replant, and thank them for drawing your attention to the leggy seedlings that needed more light, but you were too busy to realize it 😉