-1
My new grow light fried a whole tray of seedlings last month
I was setting up a new 150 watt LED panel in my basement grow space for some heirloom tomato starts. I must have misread the height guide, because after just two days all the leaves were bleached white and crispy. I moved the survivors to a north facing window and kept the soil moist, but only three out of twenty plants pulled through. Has anyone else had a light burn disaster and found a good way to check the right distance?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
jason_stone1mo ago
Man, that's rough. I saw a video where a guy used a cheap light meter app on his phone, just to get a ballpark idea. He said for seedlings you want it way lower, like maybe only 15-20% power on a strong LED, or hung much higher than you'd think.
6
jennifer_west521mo ago
Yeah, that "ballpark idea" from a phone app is a solid tip from @jason_stone. I fried my first batch of lettuce starts by blasting them at 50%. Now I keep my panel at like 18 inches above the tray and the dimmer barely turned up, maybe 20% like he said. It feels way too low, but they don't stretch at all.
6