Overnight Growing?

[AlittleSalt]

Why is it that tomato plants grow so much when the lights are turned off?

I potted these tomatoes up a few days ago. I looked at them many times yesterday and they were all an inch or a little more below the florescent light tubes. I checked them carefully as I was turning off the lights last night.

This morning, I looked at them without turning on the lights and there they are grown up all around the lights. I'll have to move the lights up before I can turn them on.

[Gerardo]

Many variables, if all is available they will spurt in the wee hours.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-big090908.php

[gssgarden]

You should name that one 'Stretch'!!

Happens to me about two weeks before plant out. I have to raise the lights almost daily!

Greg

[AlittleSalt]

I read the link Gerardo posted. I like this part

"If plants detect they're shaded, they elicit growth hormones to elongate. You can see that in the extreme when you leave something on your lawn and the grass around it has grown taller."

Stretch is a good name for that tomato - it's a Casino Chips tomato plant.

[Worth1]

Salt without going to a link I will just say it.
Plants take up energy during the daylight hours and transfer it to growth at night.
This is why it is important for the soil temps to me warm at night.
I left my plants out in the day and brought them in at night.
During the day it was on the cool side in the 50's.
In the house at might is was in the 60's.
I left some out for comparison.
All of the plants that were brought in at night grew better.
I have seen this with peas and beans also, so yes your plants grow overnight.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Many variables, if all is available they will spurt in the wee hours.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-big090908.php

From that article:
If plants detect they're shaded, they elicit growth hormones to elongate

We've had this discussion on here before, relating to whether or not plants need darkness. I realize I always come out as the minority opinion on this subject, but my own thoughts are that stretching and growing are two different things. My seedlings started indoors always get 24-hour light. Maybe it's the lack of nighttime stretching that makes me prefer the 24-hour light.

I started some Bosky Chabarovsky about eight weeks ago to test the seed. They got to the point of starting to bloom, I transplanted them into buckets, and then I got bored of taking care of them and left them in the dark for three weeks. Three of the four are going to survive. The fourth looks sketchy. Curiously, they have stretched to the point that they don't look like dwarfs any more. They look like Big Boys. Now that I have turned the light back on, they have stopped stretching upward and started to get thicker.

I only say that as food for thought. I'm happy for anyone's success, regardless of their methods.