Green coleus. This is one of my rootings I propagated in water. Id like to say that comparing my roots so far from water to soil to vermiculite is .. my roots are very fragile in water as I was warned but they are plentiful at the same time. So Im not saying I dont care for the water because I find it nice that I can watch my roots grow and I know how well they are doing as opposed to soils. I know when there is enough root to transplant.

The vermiculite is too early for me to give an opinion due to I have not completed a pot yet.. I can say without question the vermiculite is so simple! Every plant I have potted in vermiculite has done no less than thrive .. so far the vermiculite seems like a sure thing unless my cutting was not very good. Its also worry free of watering!! Thats a great plus for me because I over do everything including pinching..

That leads me to a question.
I'm adding another pic of the new coleus, please remember peeps Im a very new gardener and Iv been nervous about pinching from the start. So question. ))(Should I be plucking anything at this time) . Id love for him to be a nice med height full coleus. In a perfect world.. but I can tell you his stems are no where near as stong as they need to be to hold much more weight . I feel he is getting a little leggy but not much and I dont think thats the issue, I think he needs to get much stonger before anything else.
( Is there a way I can slow down leggyness to build thicker stems? Or to just strengthen at all? )

Please anyone with knowledge of growing inside coleus.
I also added a new pic of a coleus I grew for my daughter. He is stunning when it comes to his stems. Wow he is so strong! I did that outside though. I feel worried I can not get mine to do the same inside. . . . Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm a bit confused, it sounds like the pictures above are of your daughter's plant not the one you are concerned about, or is one your daughter's and one yours? I'm guessing the latter. Legginess and weakness of stems indicates that there is not enough light in relation to temperature, moisture and possibly fertilizer. When there isn't enough light, pinching out the growing point will produce stems that are also leggy and weak.

You hit er on the head ! @sooby
😎😎😎

So set it closer to light and or maybe put him under a stronger light and let him Be for now?

Pamela those cuttings both look pretty good, but did you root them in water and then pot them into vermiculite? Vermiculite is fine for rooting cuttings, but will not support a growing plant for very long. No nutrients and no organic material in there. It is too light. You need to pot those Coleus up into potting soil, as well as get them closer to the grow lights.

PamelaLynn77 said:So set it closer to light and or maybe put him under a stronger light and let him Be for now?

Yes. How many hours are the lights on per day? Go easy on the fertilizer too.

Is the grow light in the old fan hood the only source of plant light? Have you purchased more/stronger lights?

I could use the reptile basking light in stead but yes its just that grow light hooked up to the hood of a old stove area. yes. The fan also works so thats good.
I can go get a bulb now for this very purpose ..
Which would you all prefer if its what you had to work with in this sitting.
There is about 12 inch between lights n plants id guess..

I will add pic of the space since i changed it some. i believe its a little better.
I removed everything from the area under the hood and I set 2 shoe boxes in there so that I could get a few plants a little closer to the light . Its 78 to 82 in that area. I need to get it warmer . I know ... i also put a box over the front of the area to try to keep in heat but that light just isnt enough .. Im scared to use the basking light in fear of burning up plants but right now im running these lights 12 hours plus a day... yeah i know its alot. Advice would be greatly appreciated

I learned the hard way that it takes a lot more light than just one light bulb.

I purchased two fluorescent bulbs for an old desk lamp to use for seedlings and the light The are lit was about 18" by 18" and the light was not adequate; see how leggy the seedlings were? Not enough light for happy growth.


I took a quick look online to find a photo of the setup that is similar to what many folks use for starting and growing plants indoors. You need something similar to this:
https://www.growjourney.com/wa...

Pamela, for lower light you need lower temperatures, not higher. Twelve hours is not a lot. Summer sunshine gives brighter and more hours of light than that. I don't know anything about basking lights, you want a light that provides the right kind of light for plants but does not give off a lot of heat.

Edited to add - I looked for info on reptile basking lights and I'm not sure that they are the right kind of light, and they may give off too much heat. I think you might have posted info on your light on another thread, would you mind repeating it here?

Here are a few pictures of the lights im using.. the plant light is what I have under the stove hood for rootings ect... and what if i changed it to the cfl bulb?

Pamela, I'm sure the basking light will not do your plants any good other than to keep them warmer. You need more real grow lights. You might also want to let the temperature drop to slow down growth at night when the lights are off. Temps of 80 during the day and give or take 60 at night are great for growing sturdy plants. If the plants keep growing at night because it is too warm, they also get weak, leggy and spindly. This is the reason I need to start seedlings indoors in the summer - it's too darned warm outside for them!

Here's my one little light stand that I use to start seedlings. It has two very bright daylight fluorescent bulbs in it, and I can raise and lower the light fixture so that the light is only a few inches above the plants. You can see how bright it is, plus the plants are also in front of a large south-facing window for additional light during the day. In summer here the sun does not come in that window since it is nearly straight overhead but there's lots of good indirect light.

This setup is only enough for one tray of seedlings at a time. It would be good for two rows of 4in. pots, too.

This is what i have set up for now. I have a box i closed the front off too for more heat. I cant get more heat though. Id already thought about using the cfl bulb. Its stonger right.. wouldnt it help then?

Pamela, why do you want more heat, is it colder than normal room temperature where those plants are?

I looked up the "Spot-Gro" and from what I found, which wasn't much, it is a tinted regular incandescent bulb designed to enhance the appearance of the plants (make them look more green) rather than to provide them with light for photosynthesis. If that's truly the case then it wouldn't be adequate even if it was closer to the plants, it's not a grow light. What does it say on the side of the box, if you still have it?

I actually have it a little warmer than room temperature in that area where the plants are.
So about 80 thur the day and 60 at night would be the ideal temps for this area. I dont have the box for that grow bulb anymore but I do feel it was mosleading but honestly Iv had that problem trying to buy ( grow light) what i have learned is ( do not but the bulb that says grow light) lol idk guess its just me. So what about the CFL light. Would it be better for the plants under the hood. Or its for my larger plants more ?? I using daylight flood for the bigger plants. Ill add a pic, of those lights too. There on 12 hours a day or more if i can sometimes.



I have another one I bought in the very beginning of this lighting venture... general purpose light. Would it be better than the grow light ??

Plants need a very specific type of light in order to simulate sunlight that lets them make food for themselves, Pamela. Any old light will not work, you need to buy lights that are for the specific purpose of growing plants.

No idea if that bulb would give a plant enough of the right light to photosynthesize. You'd have to try it. I would put it in a lamp and put one plant under it, no more than 5in. away. Give it 12 hours of light per day for a week and see how the plant is doing, then you'll know. But . . . well you'll need a lamp like that for each plant you are growing, and as they get bigger, you'll need more lamps . . . trust me, it will be cheaper and more successful in the long run to just get a big fluorescent fixture that holds 4ft. tubes and do it right.

I don't understand why you have learned not to buy the bulb that says "grow light"? I doubt that either of the bulbs pictured above is going to give enough light for that many plants at that distance from the bulb in the set up pictured unless maybe you have extra light coming from a window.

I actually have it a little warmer than room temperature in that area where the plants are. The temperature gauge reads 80 / 82 degrees in there while light and fan is on. . I dont know what it is when the light is off... grr I'm feeling frustrated atm.. I wish I could just get this right And it wasnt so hard for me to understand, although I do understand 50% more than I had 6 weeks ago this lighting keeps coming back to bite me in the butt.. lets see is this correct statement?
"So about 80 thur the day and 60 at night would be the ideal temps for this area". ???
I dont have the box for that grow bulb anymore but I do feel it was misleading but honestly I had that problem trying to buy ( grow light bulbs) what I have learned is do not buy the bulb that reads grow light lol idk guess its just me. So what about the CFL light. Would it be better for the plants under the hood. Or its better for my larger house plants more ?? I using daylight flood for the bigger plants. Ill add a pic, of those lights too. There on 12 hours a day or more. With the 2 flood lights and a 18 inch led o er top. I will say the plants seem to be doing well althrough my Cassandra is getting leggy. And the Basking light did burn my beautiful penta up. I removed it I hate that basking light so much.








I have another one I bought in the very beginning of this lighting venture... general purpose light. Would it be better than the grow light ??

Ok ok ty very much .. maybe this is the answer because there isnt any other light from a window but . Thanks to.some goodwill shopping lol last week i pick these 2 lamps for less than 8 dollars.








I didnt figure the bulb 18 in was good for the plants. I can buy another bulb

"to buy ( grow light bulbs) what I have learned is do not buy the bulb that reads grow light lol idk guess its just me. So what about the CFL light."

From what I've found on the web, the "Spot-Gro" is not a grow light so that one shouldn't put you off grow lights.

The CFL you have gives 825 lumens. I don't think that is bright enough but it may be sufficient for a few plants if it is close enough.