Tom seedlings growing leggy

Mark.c91

Hi guys its that time of year again when i get out my little electric progator and sow my 20 tom seeds , however every year that i do this i end up with tall leggy seedlings that i have to keep burying...

I have my progator on a window sill and i presume there bolting for more light.

This year i came by some of the warm white strips of mains powered LED lights and i was going to try putting these in the cupboard and making my own grow cupboard however on further research this does not seem to be so simple as you need diffrent colors of like and also a certain amount of wattage for a certain area covered..

Can any one provide any advice or shed some light on this for me :-D

Dovefromabove

I wait until April to start my toms on the windowsill

its hard to wait but I get better plants that way and there’s plenty of other things to grow at this time of year. 

Kitty 2

I agree, you should wait. By sowing too early you're making problems for yourself.
My windowsill toms are sown around the end of March.

Mark.c91

Yeah i like to start them now to get the out in the green house soon as possible , has anyone ever used grow lights before ? 

Lyn

There’s  not much point in that,  sow some more around mid March, no heat, they’ll be stronger plants, they wont ripen any sooner, you still need long warm days for flowering/fruiting.
no need for propagators and lights, just wait for nature’s own and they’ll be fine. 
Far to early to put out in the GH unless you’re heating, and then there’s no need for that, just wasting power. 

I daresay loads of people have used propagators and lights, they’ll all be on here asking why they’re leggy. 

Slum

I've used a few grow lights. If you're trying to get Tomatoes growing early I'd leave them on the windowsill and supplement with something like this. Led is the way to go as they use less power and don't generate the heat others do. I use one of those lights in a north facing window and the plants do just fine. I used it last year to get chillis growing early. 

Slum

I've also just bought these. I've had them over some cuttings for about a week and they look to be doing well - although it is too early to say for sure. It is worth noting though that I also had to buy a cable (99p) to link the 2 tubes together and they need wiring - either adding a cord and plug as I did or wiring into your lighting circuit.

pansyface

Why are people always in a rush? 

Nature does everything in its own good time and nature is in balance until someone comes along and puts it out of balance.

The days are lengthening, the temperatures are rising, the soils are warming. 

More haste, less speed is a good maxim for a gardener to work by, I think.

Don’t worry, listen to this and have a laugh.  A rueful laugh, I admit.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c

Lyn

I think we are just too old fashioned now Pansy, it’s the day of consumerism and instant gratification, no one wants to wait these days. 

Dovefromabove

@Lyn It’s just that the world is full of folk trying to sell us ‘stuff’ ... all of which uses energy, takes up space and makes other folk rich at our expense. 

The idea of gardening putting us in touch with nature and aiding our understanding of the environment seems to have flown out the window 

I’m all for keeping things simple 

Perki

I sow tomato around the beginning of March normally on my birthday. I bought a LED grow light this year, it has red / blue light which I am sure is full spectrum for LED. I use it on my little propagator in a south facing windowsill, I turn it on for a few hours when it goes dark, I put a cardboard box on top of it because it lights the room up purple don't want the neighbours / others to think I am up to no good