Indoor grow box

[danman1453]

I'm pretty sure this is in the correct topic.
I have built this box:
http://danman1453.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/indoor-uv-grow-box/

It worked up until I got some seedlings up, then it kind of stopped progressing. I have parsely, chives, 1 iceberg lettuce, and some kind of baby carrots. I jumped into this headfirst, looking for both the challenge, and some fresh stuff for cooking. The seedlings seem healthy, but have not gotten any bigger in almost a month. And I may have overwatered them.

So, here are my questions:
What soil "should" I be using?
Is the 24in gro light I have adequate?
How much drainage should I have from the containers?
Is it bad to have nothing but soil in the containers?

The soil has not dried out since I watered about a week and a half ago. I added some holes to the bottoms of the containers.

How badly have I screwed this up?

 

[so lucky]

Novel idea there. Here's my thoughts, FWIW: I grow seedlings indoors but mine seem to need fresh air and sunshine to really take off. If you intend to keep the plants in the box, I suggest you give them more light (if that is a single bulb in there--I can't quite tell from the picture), make more drainage holes--like about 8-12 per container, and figure out a way to get some breeze on them. I imagine regular potting soil will work fine. You could water them with a weak fertilizer occasionally. Don't keep them wet all the time. It's kinda tricky to figure out the happy medium when allowing to dry between waterings, but if you're careful, you can do it.
Actually, with the white interior, you are getting a lot of reflected light from your bulb. You may be able to get by on that one. Overcrowding is usually my problem. That keeps the plants small. Looking good so far!

 

[danman1453]

Thanks for your thoughts. I do have a 12v pc case fan from a server sucking fresh air into the case. The lids have a deliberate gap to let the air in. I tried turning the fan the other direction, and it instantly knocked over half my seedlings. I have also recently added two 30w halogen bulbs on a dimmer to get some of the near infrared light in there. I have been doing some research on the wavelengths plants use, and that was the only one missing from the florescent gro light.

What can I do about the potting soil holding so much water. It doesnt appear that any is evaporating. Even with the addition of the halogens.

 

[vfem]

Are you using the fan for air circulation constantly? I would think that would help with evaporation issues?

I have never tried anything like this other then for starting seed and moving them outside eventually. I would think someone who used one of those growing herb sets would have an idea on what would help? Though I think they grow surprising well when they are ready. I do get quite annoyed with my starts in the house when it seems like they've stopped growing on me!

 

[danman1453]

Yes the fan is running 24/7.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to why their progress has stopped? Also, what is considered overcrowding?

 

[David Harritz]

Great idea there. My light and fan are going to serve there for 24 hours a day and i do not stop them at all. This is not hurting my plants at all and giving good results to me. So you also keep going on will be better for you too.