A growing system for promoting the rapid growth of seedlings, comprising: a substantially closed container; a nutrient solution within the closed container; a seedling positioned within the nutrient solution; a grow light; and a controller coupled to the grow light and configured to: receive information on a growth of the seedling; the growing system being characterised in that the controller is configured to: calculate a seedling stress duration, wherein the seedling stress duration commences with the positioning of a first seedling in the growing system and terminates when growth is observed in the first seedling; divide the seedling stress duration into a plurality of subphases; determine a subphase factor for a second seedling positioned in the growing system based on which subphase the second seedling has reached based on an elapsed time; calculate the total number of on/off light cycles and a duration for each on/off cycle, wherein one cycle is turning the lights on and off; and control the grow light to execute the total number of calculated on/off light cycles for the calculated duration of time the lights are on and time the lights are off during each cycle in the growing system. a substantially closed container; a nutrient solution within the closed container; a seedling positioned within the nutrient solution; a grow light; and a controller coupled to the grow light and configured to: receive information on a growth of the seedling; the growing system being characterised in that the controller is configured to: calculate a seedling stress duration, wherein the seedling stress duration commences with the positioning of a first seedling in the growing system and terminates when growth is observed in the first seedling; divide the seedling stress duration into a plurality of subphases; determine a subphase factor for a second seedling positioned in the growing system based on which subphase the second seedling has reached based on an elapsed time; calculate the total number of on/off light cycles and a duration for each on/off cycle, wherein one cycle is turning the lights on and off; and control the grow light to execute the total number of calculated on/off light cycles for the calculated duration of time the lights are on and time the lights are off during each cycle in the growing system. receive information on a growth of the seedling; the growing system being characterised in that the controller is configured to: calculate a seedling stress duration, wherein the seedling stress duration commences with the positioning of a first seedling in the growing system and terminates when growth is observed in the first seedling; divide the seedling stress duration into a plurality of subphases; determine a subphase factor for a second seedling positioned in the growing system based on which subphase the second seedling has reached based on an elapsed time; calculate the total number of on/off light cycles and a duration for each on/off cycle, wherein one cycle is turning the lights on and off; and control the grow light to execute the total number of calculated on/off light cycles for the calculated duration of time the lights are on and time the lights are off during each cycle in the growing system.