Indoor Anything?

[SoyBean]

Ok, I got one teeny little tomato from my entire "garden" this year. (Oh and one carrot earlier on in the season) That's it. I still have the gardening itch, but this warm weather is not going to last long. I can only grow in containers (pots and plastic containers, nothing like raised beds or anything). I would like to experiment with growing vegetables indoors. I have plenty of small pots and plastic containers, and I want to see what I'm able to grow.

I have a light that was going to be used for a saltwater tank, but I took the tank down after 3 months. (too expensive to maintain). But now I have this light that has several months of life left. It is a 36" Nova Extreme T5 High Output light. I know that for growing plants indoors many people use florescent lights to simulate sunlight. (I'm guessing this is because the glass of windows filters natural sunlight and plants don't grow????) I know I could go out and spend the money for new florescent bulbs but if this light is usable, then I'd like to get some use out of it, since I have no intention of setting up a new marine tank any time soon.

I have radish, cucumber, broccoli, and some kind of flower that I can't remember (I need to find the seed packet ) Would any of these be good to try and grow in pots, indoors?

 

[injunjoe]

I say give it a go. I don't know the spectrum of light that puts out, as this light was to show off Coral, from what I see.

Give it a try why not? The thing is the distance from bulb to plant
is important you will have to be able to adjust the heights of the different plants and to be able to move the light up and down.

Different spectrums of light do different thing to plants.

 

[wifezilla]

I am going to experiment with this too. As a start I am taking in some potted herb plants to see if I can keep them alive in the kitchen window

I have a huge basil plant and some stevia and some pepper plants.

Here is the post where it explains LUMENS and how important they are to get indoor plants to grow properly.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25032&p=1

 

[injunjoe]

I am going to experiment with this too. As a start I am taking in some potted herb plants to see if I can keep them alive in the kitchen window

I have a huge basil plant and some stevia and some pepper plants.

Here is the post where it explains LUMENS and how important they are to get indoor plants to grow properly.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25032&p=1

I was unaware of that thread thanks for the link.

If I remember right High Pressure Sodium bulbs worked best for setting flower buds. light like the harvest sun

Metal Halide (HID) bulbs are for vegatation.

 

[bills]

It's mentioned in that thread, that the color spectrum is a factor, and I know this is so, as I learned about it, (way back) in high school science.

It would be a great benefit to know what, and if, the CFL bulbs can produce the correct spectrum. I know you can buy the long tube fluorescent bulbs that are designed for greenhouse growing, but I don't know if they have CFL bulbs for that yet.

BC's largest crop (the illegal one, estimated at $4 billion per year, wholesale) are usually grown with the sodium lights. They draw huge amounts of power, and produce quite a lot of heat. Not really economically sound for a few veggie plants.

As to the plants you mentioned you want to grow, I doubt the cool weather plants, like broccoli would do good. Cucumbers take up a lot of room, unless grown on a trellis, so you have to figure out if you have the space. Radish is generally happiest in cool weather, but you could probably grow them indoors. Tomato's, herbs, peppers, strawberry's, would probably do good at inside room temps. If you had a cooler window sill, or unheated sunroom, lettuce, arugula, Bok-choi, and spinach may do ok.

I think you need to experiment a bit, but also do some research on the CFL light spectrums.

 

[wifezilla]

My room that I will be using is on the north side of the house and tends to be really cool. Any cool season crop will work I think...if I can get the lights right.

 

[ducks4you]

Won't you need to fertilize the flowers (like on a tomato plant) yourself to get any tomatoes indoors?

 

[injunjoe]

Yes you would need to hand pollinate them for fruit!

 

[SoyBean]

Well I had the urge to put a darn seed in some dirt so I took a few broccoli seeds and planted them in a container. I then took a soda bottle and cut the top half off and stuck that over the container and wouldn't you know, only a few days later, I have 3 sprouts! How large should I let them get before moving them to their own containers?