Hi there,

So, I go through these periods where I take up new hobbies, and of course my newest one is growing plants. Now, I haven't done this since I was a kid, and my plants always got that dreaded fungus/mold and my plants always died. Not so, now!

I've haphazardly planted seeds purchased from my local hardware store, with the oldest "seedlings" being about two and a half weeks old. I have been using a seed tray which came with a heating mat, and I have two CFL lights - a warm and a cool one -- that I have set on a timer to be on 18 hours a day.

I still have the heating mat set to come on and turn off as the lights do -- but I'm wondering a) should I leave off the mat now, and b) is 18 hours of light too long for the seedlings? The wire shelving all this sits on is next to probably the only window that lets in a decent amount of sunlight for any good period of time so they also get a little natural sunlight (it is the ONLY south facing window :/) I also have a fan that circulates the air 24/7.

They seem to be thriving. A few seeds didn't sprout at all but I have tomatoes, peppers, chives, lettuces, broccoli, and other random things sprouting. For funsies I even planted a "early sweet sugar pie" pumpkin plant, and boy I tell you that thing grew all crazy like, and very very fast! I may actually plant that outside, as our frost date is towards the end of April!