I put peppers and tomatoes into pots about mid July. Only since September have they shown any significant willingness to bear. It is now October, what to do, what to do. Having a recent discussion with a fellow I vendor with down at the Kootenai County Farmers' Market. He told me a lot of light, he also suggested using a fan. I can think of why on the latter, stirring the air around plants would reduce fungal infections as well as keeping them stronger for not being out in the wind. As for "lots of light." Well, you need special fixtures and ballasts for "sun stick" full spectrum lights. But checking out the Sylvania web site and I found "daylight" light bulbs of various wattages (I chose 60 watt.) And ordered 3 packages. Then going to Lowes, I found 48" 40 watt daylight fluorescent tubes. Installing them without need for a special ballast and they were roughly equivalent to the sun stick in near all spectrum bright. And not as spendy. So, my plants are now in the basement. Hopefully, I can overwinter at least the peppers and bring them out next year. If I actually manage to overwinter the tomatoes, I'll let my fellow vendor know, and what to use as light. Tomatoes need 14 hours of daylight. Would daylight bulbs help? Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I stumbled over from Huckleberries and found this post. Just a month ago I was considering what to do with all my geraniums for the winter ... and was considering a 'daylight' bulb for my basement. I decided to try overwintering them in the crawlspace part of my basement (per the instructions of a neighbor that does the same each year) ... but I am going to try leaving a few in pots on a windowsill inside too.
Glad you found me. Just so you know, I also have a web site and do the Farmer's Market in Kootenai County.
Thanks for the comment.
Post a Comment