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16 hour light 8 hour dark is what I do. There are many publications on the cyclic requirements of optimal plant growth. The light cycle and temp cycle induce various hormonal cascades in the plants that signal vegetative and reproductive growth. For example, raise an average (always exceptions)...

To get plants to bloom, might want to try to keep them under a 16hour light and 6 hour dark lighting schedule, and find out if the type you are trying to grow requires temperature change to induce the formation of flower buds. With pansies at least, to get them to flower, I usually start...

I'm so jealous at your starts! I don't even get to start mine for another few weeks b/c I can't plant out till may and find that getting them in the ground prior to any buds is better for their establishment. The trick with the tubes is to get enough foot candles down in the right spectrum and...

Totally jumping in... and don't do any fancy types of tomatoes due to short cool growing season in the PNW, but that looks like what happens to tomatoes here if they get inconsistent water and hot/cold day nights. At least that's what happens to the ones here... most of which never ripen before...

Fred meyer in our area has decent shop light fixtures for 13 bucks each. Pick up a pack of T8 cool white or wide spectrum lamps at home depot (for some reason fred meyer here does not sell proper lights for their offered fixture), and you'll have lots of lighting. This is my set up: Gives me...

Starting seeds early is addictive... so much so, this year I upgraded and put together a pair of grow shelves. 100 bucks for the shelves, 10 per light fixture, and 40 for a 10 pack of T8 grow lights. Wide spectrum or cool white seems to be just right to get most plants off to a good start. I...

My guess it might be the soil and weather. From my understanding, they like the heat. I don't even try here.

If their skins are hard, I think you can just store inside and they will ripen. However, if they are soft, you could try to eat them like summer squash, or try to see if they will age/cure a bit like pumpins turning orange if picked green. Might not be as sweet. In prep for any molding, make...

Bt resistant crops have been planted in many areas in both the US and China. There are rules in the US that state that if you plant so many acres of resistant crops, you have so many acres of a trap crop so that any recessive genes in the bugs that confer resistance to the Bt toxin won't become...

So how well do beets "overwinter" in the soil. Or rather, I am leaving town again till thanksgiving and we are sure to have a kiling frost before I get back. I'm sure we'll have a killing frost within the next month really. Will this killing frost kill all the beets and render them spoiled? The...

Not sure on variety, but for more sweeter types, I think you want to find "se" or "sh-2" types.

Never heard of bantam corn, but perhaps it wasn't meant to be a sweet corn? My guess is that because you said it was so starchy, it's purpose in life was to be grown all season, picked after it was dry, and turned into stuff like flour? Else, the corn got too old before you picked it or the...

Really it is up to you. You can start a new topic or you can just continue on your old one. If your old one is more than about 4 pages long, often a new one is easier to follow.

If nights are in the mid 60's don't bother covering. Peas do best in temps below 70. I don't even think they will produce any peas if it gets over like 75. If it gets too warm under the cover for your brocoli, it might bolt and all you'll get is a stalk with a pile of yellow flowers. As for...

Don't think it's possible either since HTML stuff isn't activated in the headers.

In additoin to variety, sometimes, if you space a two ear type too close, it will only produce one ear. Often I harvest the 2nd ear for baby corn and keep the big ear to mature, unless the season looks long (yeah right in the PNW), I harvest the top ear about 2 weeks before the second. However...

You must be in a warm area. Growing season is about over here and it'll freeze within the next month and kill everything. Perhaps there is not enough compost in the soil? Peas are good at nitrogen fixing and making due without much, while your brocoli and cabbage might need more. Or if it is...

Best of luck. I can't be of much help since the cool summers and mild wet soggy weather of puget sounds is great for the plants and given the chance, if you pull weeds, they will take over the garden here. I started with I think 24 plants 5 or 6 years ago. I now have a few hundred. Never pinched...

Welcome! That is GREAT to hear the other side!!!

Potatoes will grow out from root like structures above the seed potato but under the soil. If you mound up the plants and your season is long enough and you keep them watered, you can have new spuds popping up from stem level areas under the mounded dirt.