How to Grow Artichokes Under Fluorescent Lights

Choose an indoor area in which to grow your artichoke starter plants. Select a seedling flat for your artichoke seeds, and situate two fluorescent lights -- a cool white and a warm white -- 2 to 4 inches above the seedling flat. Do not turn the lights on yet.

Add a lightly moistened soil-free medium to your artichoke seedling flat until it is about two-thirds full. Do not use a potting soil, which is typically too heavy for seeds. Place seeds in the flat so that they are about 1/4 inch deep in the soil and 1/4 inch apart.

Place a heating pad under your artichoke seed flat to let the seeds germinate at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a soil thermometer to test the temperature of your soil. Water the seeds gently so the soil remains moist but not drenched. Turn on your fluorescent lights only when shoots begin to emerge from the seeds. Allow the lights to stay on for about 16 hours each day.

Move the individual seedling plants that begin to emerge into individual 2-to-4-inch pots. Keep these seedlings in an area that reaches 65 F in the daytime and about 55 F at night. Allow the seeds to grow for about eight weeks total indoors. Harden them off for a week or two by placing the seedlings outside for just an hour or two a day at the beginning and then increasing the amount they are outside to get them acclimated to outdoor temperatures.

Put the starter artichoke plants in full sun and rich organic soil following your region’s final frost, which is when the plants can go outdoors permanently. Position the plants 3 to 5 feet apart in garden soil and water when necessary.

Take a sample of your plants’ outdoor soil to your local extension office for testing to make sure its pH level is a slightly acidic 6.0 to 6.5, which is ideal for artichokes. Follow the test’s recommendations for amending the soil if needed.