Dining and Cooking
Are these Leggy? Buy fan or better lights?
In Hot Peppers

Are these Leggy? Buy fan or better lights?


Are these leggy? Buy fan or better lighting?

Took the lid off the propogator yesterday and started using the light, and already these look bigger and longer than they did yesterday!

I’m concerned though that they might be getting leggy.

What should I buy, better lights (that little LED strip doesn’t seem great) or a small USB fan for airflow?

Or are these ok for this growth stage?

by baileyyy98

10 Comments

  2. vXvBAKEvXv

    You want a light with 10 to 20 watts per foot at minimum. Anything less may work but will leave you desiring stronger lights. Ideally 20-40 watts/ft for things that like full sun.

    Full spectrum LED is a plus

  3. mwagner36143

    My vote is for both. A stronger light to avoid leggy seedlings and a fan for stronger stems. If on a budget or limited space, sansi makes some inexpensive and effective grow lights that don’t require a lot of space.

  4. Inner-Peanut-8626

    I have a mix of led grow lights, warm lights and day lights. What you can buy at your big box store is typically fine. 4ft florescent tube LED conversion tubes are fine.

    I use a fan occasionally.

  6. miguel-122

    Definitely need better lights. Your plants are ok right now

  8. BOGDOGMAX

    If you decide to upgrade your lights, be mindful that many scammy companies will list their product with inflated wattage numbers. They might claim 40W calling it equivalent to a 40W HPS light. The actual power draw might only be 4W. Buy lights based on actual power draw, not an equivalent.

  10. DDMaattDawg

    You can download an app called photone and it can tell you roughly your light levels. Put a piece of printing paper over the camera to diffuse light. For pepper seedlings you want roughly 100-300 PPFD so if your window sill isn’t providing enough you’ll need to supplement with proper lighting. Even something as little as a 19watt LED can provide enough light to get going but you need to do your research on PPFD levels at certain heights to see if whatever you’re looking at will even work.