[Br'er Rabbit]

Does anyone have any experience with indoor gardening?

I am growing my first garden this year and am really enjoying it. I wish I could have made it larger, but because of the dogs, yard size, heavy shade, etc I was limited on space. I am going to add a few more tomatoes in 5gal buckets outside, but have run out of useable space outdoors.

I have an area in my unfinished basement that is probably 20x15 and was wondering if I could turn that into an indoor garden with container plantings and grow lights. That would almost double my growing size and I am thinking I could garden year round.

I did some searching on the internet but found very little information. What information I did find was either on window sill gardening or growing pot, not on growing veggies.

If anyone has experience in this area or could point me to a source of information on the subject I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[tater65ss]

Have you did searches on hydroponic gardening? they are indoor styles of gardening. However when I did research on this for a college paper alot of what I came across talked about how great it was for growing marijuana and only a few discussions were actually about veggies.

http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/index.php?a=SHH9

 

[Rascals]

Have you did searches on hydroponic gardening? they are indoor styles of gardening. However when I did research on this for a college paper alot of what I came across talked about how great it was for growing marijuana and only a few discussions were actually about veggies.

http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/index.php?a=SHH9

Yep and I can see it now. He gets flagged for all the extra electricity usage. Gets raided and then you know what will happen. Grow a tomato go to jail. Remember he did not get monsantos permision to grow indoors. But the cost for the power would be more then its worth I beleive.

 

[Wombat]

I currently have a indoor grow experiment going. I built a 1'x2'x3' box, filled it with soil. Planted lettuce (Iceberg, and Romaine), 4 green onions, 4 radishes, 4 little finger carrots, and a cherry tomato plant. I made a grow light from a lamp kit from Home Depot, a aluminum roasting pan, and a full spectrum grow light. I refurbished an old watering system to water it all via a 3 liter plastic soda bottle. Everything has sprouted, and now i am just waiting to see what makes it through. Should make a nice salad.

 

[Ezra]

A friend of mine grew tomatoes indoors.Comparing them to my outdoor ones the actual fruit was limited and small.

 

[kenser321]

I was looking into this myself. I think the drip hydroponic technique seems to be the best. I'm just concerned with the costs of the nutrients. If it's cost effective im going to build a window garden. Check out this site. I wouldn't suggest buying the product from them they want like $250 just for the setup. You could probably build it for $30.

http://www.windowfarms.org/

 

[kenser321]

Here's a quick instruction guide on how to build one.

http://our.windowfarms.org/2009/07/29/3-plant-air-lift-window-farm/

 

[methemom]

getting enough light and getting it cheaply is what has always caused me to give up in frustration. If I use several "grow" lights, it is doable, but if you are on a budget, especially with the rising costs of electricity, it doesn't make sense. On the other hand, how much would most folks pay for home grown tomatoes in the middle of the winter? If money is no object, it can surely be done.

 

[scienceteacher]

Even in a window in the winter you will need to add a few hours of electric light or your veggies won't produce( I learned that one the hard way nice plants no veggies ) Aim for 12 hours of light a day or 13 to be extra safe. If you have the lights on a timer you could do it easily. Just set the timer for 30 min before sunset and count from sunrise 13 hours for the shutoff time.

 

[Midnightmom]

I currently have a indoor grow experiment going. I built a 1'x2'x3' box, filled it with soil. Planted lettuce (Iceberg, and Romaine), 4 green onions, 4 radishes, 4 little finger carrots, and a cherry tomato plant. I made a grow light from a lamp kit from Home Depot, a aluminum roasting pan, and a full spectrum grow light. I refurbished an old watering system to water it all via a 3 liter plastic soda bottle. Everything has sprouted, and now i am just waiting to see what makes it through. Should make a nice salad.

Can you post instructions and/or a pic of your set-up? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease. :

 

[Midnightmom]

Yep and I can see it now. He gets flagged for all the extra electricity usage. Gets raided and then you know what will happen. Grow a tomato go to jail. Remember he did not get monsantos permision to grow indoors. But the cost for the power would be more then its worth I beleive.

Who would've thought of having to get permission to grow indoors!!! :xeye: Not me.

 

[britzen]

I grow various peppers, tomatoes, melons and other heat loving veggies that don't like the cool Bay Area. I have a 4'x5' vegging area and same size flowering area with 400w MH for veg and 400w MH flowering.

Harvesting 2 3' pepper plants this week!

I use both coco coir in pots and an earthbox. The coco containers are on timers so I dont have to worry when I go backpacking.

My electricity+water is included with rent so I just pay for nutes.

I have to say I learned more about gardening from reading Marijuana growing forums and magazines that i ever did on standard gardening sites.

 

[MaeLace]

I'm currently grown lettuce, tomatoes (fingers crossed), pole beans, and green onions on my dorm window sill. No fancy setup, just sun light and water, so we'll have to see how this goes... But I'm hopeful!

 

[123Testing]

Here's my mindset.... the cost of electricity becomes the problem. However.... If I can figure out how to heat my house for free (Solar Hot Air Collectors combined with wood burning) then I can take that "saved" money and use it for the veggie growing.

The problem with indoor growing is pollination. No bees and butterflies to help you. So you will have to learn about pollinating with an artist paintbrush.

 

[dylanM]

We have a couple of 55 gallon fish tanks that we grow salad greens in . The fish hood light is what we use for a grow bulb.

 

[sammus]

Growing veggies/herbs indoors can be very effective if done right, however it is rarely cost productive. Lighting is obviously the main concern as far as expense goes, You can as many have previously stated go with HID lighting which will be either MH (Metal Halide) or HPS (High Pressure Sodium). MH is used mainly for vegetation growth, stalks stems and keeping plants short and bushy. Metal halide is a bluish white spectrum. HPS is a red-yellow spectrum lighting used mainly for flowering and fruiting of the plants. You can typically get away with using Fluorescents T-5's instead of MH for the vegetation growth as it is much cheaper to power/more efficient. but you will not be able to get away with producing any sort of quality fruit, if thats what your looking for, without using a HPS for fruiting. Newer LED lighting is also becoming more available and it is much more efficient at both consuming less power as well as producing MUCH less heat. You shouldn't have any problem with pollination as you will need to use a fan inside the grow area to strengthen stems, and this will pollinate the plants for you. The next BIG issue is what style of growing you would prefer, and there are many many options but for the sake of simplicity and efficiency you would want as low input as possible meaning you should stick with soil instead of going hydro. It is much easier to maintain, does not require oxygen/water pumps, ph balancing, specific nute levels, algae growth, and many other issues. You might however experience slightly higher insect levels thou. Sorry if thats more info than you wanted...

 

[IceDemon]

I started two days ago to see what would happen. I got a plastic tray, put some compost in and filled it with water. Took some metal cans, drilled a hole in the bottom of each and filled it with a mixture of coir and hydroton. Put in radish seeds and soaked the coir with water. Water seems to come up through the cans to keep the radish watered like it should. Day two already saw them sprouting. Today they are twice as tall as yesterday.

I put this in my kitchen and replaced a burnt out bulb in the ceiling with a 65 watt plant bulb I found at Wallyworld. There is no extra electricity and I don't need to water until the water in the tray looks low. It's doing way better then I expected. Can't wait to see what happens over the week.

 

[LeftCoast Grower]

It's possible to grow veggies with artificial light, the difference would be in the harvest....smaller numbers and smaller size produce.

Unlike plants grown for foliage, veggie producing plants need natural sun rays to insure full potential. Best bet choices would be fast growers like lettuce, beans, carrots...etc. Test out the easy ones first.

You can utilize the underground space for gardening, just keep in mind the harvest outcome vs electrical costs....make sure it's worth it.
I love to hear gardeners with spirit! Good luck!

 

[sammus]

yes crops like lettuce and other greens are great choices, they do not need nearly as much power required for lighting either. Just make sure to use lower wattage lights, and keep the lights farther away as these are cool season plants. Lettuce does amazing under several T5 fluorescents.

 

[Tammon]

Does anyone have any experience with indoor gardening?

I am growing my first garden this year and am really enjoying it. I wish I could have made it larger, but because of the dogs, yard size, heavy shade, etc I was limited on space. I am going to add a few more tomatoes in 5gal buckets outside, but have run out of useable space outdoors.

I have an area in my unfinished basement that is probably 20x15 and was wondering if I could turn that into an indoor garden with container plantings and grow lights. That would almost double my growing size and I am thinking I could garden year round.

I did some searching on the internet but found very little information. What information I did find was either on window sill gardening or growing pot, not on growing veggies.

If anyone has experience in this area or could point me to a source of information on the subject I would appreciate it.

Thanks

You must have alook at http://www.backyardaquaponics.com.au

You can grow both fish and veges in a small space and I would guess indoors would be ok. Just a different type of hydroponics.