Grow lights and Japanese Maples

I recently got 2 smaller maples, an A.S. Aureum and an A.S. Microphyllum. I tried to stop shipping but they went out before I could contact the seller. I have them in an unheated part of my basement that has grow lights and is about 55 deg now with good humidity. How much light should I give them since they have already leafed out and how close to the plants? My lights are just full spectrum fluorescent grow lights, not high intensity. I would rather keep them under lights than back and forth outside and some daytime temps might still not be high enough or too windy, etc. This is a pic of the basement area so you have an idea what I am referring to.

With good full spectrum grow buldbs or even cheap grow bulbs like I use two 48" bulbs under one fixture should do the trick ...keep the light as low as possible w/o burning so they stay warm and watch for mold since it's in the basement .... you can also hang some aluminum foil off the lamps edges to give them more light if they start to look wimpy ...remember to acclimate them slowly to outside light when you're ready to put out . Since I'm doing some grafting I bought a portable green house for around 300$ delivered that i think is a great deal ...anyone wanting info on it email me directly or through daves...it is not a full winter GH but has withstood 40mph winds hail 3" of rain nearby tornados and 15 degree weather with a small milk heater with NO problems so far ...it is really a great deal as long as you know its "portable" limitations ...I'd say it's a mid feb through may GH...david

my mid feb through may comments on my portable GH were for zone 5b for other areas much to the south it would most likely work the whole winter ...and conversly in the great white north probably useless...David

How long do you think I should keep the lights on per day? I think I have it at 12 hours or so currently. I use cheap mirrors now to bounce the light around. Seems to work well. The room is not damp, but maybe I'll add a fan to help circulation since these maples have to stay watered. As you can see I usually use it for overwintering cacti which stay bone dry.

yah 12 hours or more would be ok IMHO I don't know if jm's are light/length sensitive like many other plants so you don't want to take a chance and trick em into thinking it's fall ;>0 so the longer the lights are on the better..The crap weather should change shortly and hopefully you can get 'em out of there by mid apr...by then it should be past any major frosts but this bleeping winter just doesn't want to quit does it...follows the pattern of most mild winters and will probably be NO spring and right into summer!!! David

I thought about upping it to 16 hours but didn't want to burn the foliage. I would think they are light-length sensitive in combination with cooler temps for fall, but hopefully that light length is relative to the conditions it grew in all year. That is a good question that maybe I'll post over in the Tree forum to see what some of those people think. There is a lot more action on that forum than here currently. Thanks

This message was edited Mar 27, 2006 1:03 PM