Posted: 11/13/2015 5:51:44 PM EDT
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As summer came to an end the lack of fresh veggies started to get to me. Unfortunately the gardens didn't do well enough to can anything. I brought my last tomato plant inside and it's still doing surprisingly well.
Does anybody have experience growing inside over the winter? I have a decent amount of space in the basement. I've looked at some systems online that seem to be nothing more than 5 gallon buckets and an aquarium pump with most of the descriptions talking about "growing tomatoes wink wink nudge nudge" and priced much higher than the components seem like they should cost. What's a good start for reading about this? Lettuce and cucumbers seem to be the most popular plants from what I've seen. What's the easiest way to get into this? Bubbler, ebb & flow, mist? |
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There are some good videos on using Dutch buckets and the Kratky method (although not indoors) here.
Growing fruiting crops indoors is doable but not at all efficient. Just something to keep in mind. Do some research on lighting temperatures to choose the right range for the type of growth you want (vegetative or fruiting). LED lights are the most energy efficient but are more expensive. Fluorescent lights are cheaper up front but will cost more to run. |
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I grow indoors on a modified scale, no pics sorry as I have not set up for this year yet as I only grow in the winter due to the heat. Tomatos and basil only. For tomatos grow only short plants and not what you may grow outdoors. Trust me on this
I grow in 2 1/2 gal frosting buckets I got from the bakery at walmart with holes drilled in the bottom for runoff. I use coco as the "soil" because it is basically clean without any nutrients to deplete over time. Coco is basically ground coconut husks and is reusable from 1 grow to the next with just a little maintenance. For lights I use the cheap 50 & 100w outdoor led flood lights you can get off of ebay with a mix of warm and cool colors. In bulk the 50w's will run you about $15 each and 100w about $20 if you play the auction game. Plan on about 400w's per plant spread out with both top and side lighting. You can go with the big LED grow lights sold on ebay and pay about $200-300 for something advertised as 1200w but then you get all of your light from one direction and from 1 unit. I follow the 2 is 1 concept All the lights are on timers, 18 hours per day, and I have a couple of fans which come on a couple of times within the 18 hours for air circulation and cooling For nutrients I'm using something I got off of amazon; maxigro and maxibloom. To deliver the nutrients I bought stuff from dripdepot. 1/2 and 1/4 tubing connected together. I did not go with any special drip ends. My water solution just runs directly out of the 1/4 tubing onto the plant. I bought a $20 pump off of amazon and a $60 cycle timer off of ebay. The cycle timer, CAP. ART-DNE allows me to water 3 times a day for 5 seconds at a time. It doesn't sound like much but it works and is adjustable as the plant grows. For tomatos it works fine Go to the doper web forums. Its legal now in several states so they are more then willing to talk about their setups. They have a lot of good info on growing indoors which mostly seems to be what they do. |
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I grow a continuous lettuce program with an average of 70 plants growing at various stages. I also do blue Kale and Spinach in the same system. I use the short Tupperware totes with 8 plants per tote. It is a shallow water culture. I just transferred off a NFT system as it became a pain to clear roots out. All veg growth plants live on T5 lights and GH nutrients.
I do peppers and cucumbers in a deep water culture and am trying both in a drip system that I bought off a local "grower". I run the Dutch bucket or bato system for tomatoes and tomatillos. All fruiting plants are grown under HPS lights. I really enjoy it and deep in winter it is nice to walk into my grow room which is very lush and smells great. Takes away the cabin fever feel. I do dirt in there as well, a lime tree, and a few of my wife's tropicals from the deck. I will get some pics up. If you have specific questions, please let me know. |
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I grow a continuous lettuce program with an average of 70 plants growing at various stages. I also do blue Kale and Spinach in the same system. I use the short Tupperware totes with 8 plants per tote. It is a shallow water culture. I just transferred off a NFT system as it became a pain to clear roots out. All veg growth plants live on T5 lights and GH nutrients. I do peppers and cucumbers in a deep water culture and am trying both in a drip system that I bought off a local "grower". I run the Dutch bucket or bato system for tomatoes and tomatillos. All fruiting plants are grown under HPS lights. I really enjoy it and deep in winter it is nice to walk into my grow room which is very lush and smells great. Takes away the cabin fever feel. I do dirt in there as well, a lime tree, and a few of my wife's tropicals from the deck. I will get some pics up. If you have specific questions, please let me know. Have you ever tallied the cost of electricity over a winter growing period? |
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I grow a continuous lettuce program with an average of 70 plants growing at various stages. I also do blue Kale and Spinach in the same system. I use the short Tupperware totes with 8 plants per tote. It is a shallow water culture. I just transferred off a NFT system as it became a pain to clear roots out. All veg growth plants live on T5 lights and GH nutrients. I do peppers and cucumbers in a deep water culture and am trying both in a drip system that I bought off a local "grower". I run the Dutch bucket or bato system for tomatoes and tomatillos. All fruiting plants are grown under HPS lights. I really enjoy it and deep in winter it is nice to walk into my grow room which is very lush and smells great. Takes away the cabin fever feel. I do dirt in there as well, a lime tree, and a few of my wife's tropicals from the deck. I will get some pics up. If you have specific questions, please let me know. Wow that sounds really cool. I'd definitely like to see some pics. What sort of testing do you do to the water? What's your turnaround time for each of the plants? |
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Wow that sounds really cool. I'd definitely like to see some pics. What sort of testing do you do to the water? What's your turnaround time for each of the plants? Quoted:
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I grow a continuous lettuce program with an average of 70 plants growing at various stages. I also do blue Kale and Spinach in the same system. I use the short Tupperware totes with 8 plants per tote. It is a shallow water culture. I just transferred off a NFT system as it became a pain to clear roots out. All veg growth plants live on T5 lights and GH nutrients. I do peppers and cucumbers in a deep water culture and am trying both in a drip system that I bought off a local "grower". I run the Dutch bucket or bato system for tomatoes and tomatillos. All fruiting plants are grown under HPS lights. I really enjoy it and deep in winter it is nice to walk into my grow room which is very lush and smells great. Takes away the cabin fever feel. I do dirt in there as well, a lime tree, and a few of my wife's tropicals from the deck. I will get some pics up. If you have specific questions, please let me know. Wow that sounds really cool. I'd definitely like to see some pics. What sort of testing do you do to the water? What's your turnaround time for each of the plants? Weekly pH testing along with a total dissolved solids check. The lettuce stay in their totes for their life cycle, about 35 days. I don't play with their nutrients once poured. Everything else has a nutrient flush monthly with residual solution feeding my dirt plants. Lettuce is about 35 days or so., Kale is extended as I take cuttings every week and replace the oldest plant every four cycles. Spinach is harvested at 3ish weeks for salads. Tomatoes are reliable around 60 days depending on variety and produce through winter and spring when I clear my system as I am growing outside for them. I had a pepper plant in my room that ran for the year and I just pulled it as I needed the container for another plant. So, my room runs year round but I drop the HPS during summer as the sun can do that. My basement was musty and my wife hated going down there. She loves the grow room as the whole basement is fresh and warm (I duct out my room heat to the rest of the basement). My light/dark cycle is 18/6 hours. I have thought about lowering that ratio but it works so I haven't messed with it. |
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Sorry it took a bit, Thanksgiving took a bit of time away from here..
Here is my lettuce rack 
It is a cycle where the tubs move each week to right. If at the end of the rack, they move to the lower left left. My germinator, it holds sprouts up to week 2 
Week 3 tray 
Week 4 tray 
Week 5 tray 
Week 6 tray - I had a pH issue on this tray.. Oops.. I was using a new supplement and it really raised my pH and I wasn't paying better attention. 
All trays had been thinned out a bit as I made salads for several Thanksgiving dinners that we do not normally provide for so the rack looks a bit bare. |
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The specs on my lettuce rack are as follows:
18"x48"x72" rack was a freebie from a family member Five 10 gallon totes from Home Depot for $30 I have three sets of 4 T5 6500K lights that I bought off a guy on craigslist for $150. (I only need 2 bulbs on each shelf to run this system but I am running a yield experiment to see if the extra light is a positive effect) Net cups @ my local hydro store were I think .05 each, but I bought them several years ago and they are just recycled. My nutrient of choice is the General Hydroponics Flora series. I use 30mL of Micra and Grow and 20 mL of Bloom to get a ppm of 500. I also add in CALiMAGic to increase my calcium as my plants get tip burn from lack of it. I have an air pump that runs an air stone in each tote for $3. The pump is an old unit I had laying around so I don't know the cost back then. Once a tote is set, I don't do much to the water other than a weekly pH check. I will add straight water to a tote if the plants are transpiring a lot. The system produces 6-8 plants per week. I grow Arugula, various lettuce and Kale in this system for salads. We eat a lot of them.... Hydro is my hobby, am I getting a return on my money, yes. Can I go to the store and buy basic romaine or iceberg lettuce for less, yes. We like some strains and not others. If I compared it to going to Whole foods or Wegmans to buy specialty lettuce of the same varieties I grow, I am way ahead of the game. I raise chickens because I don't eat an egg that isn't warm. Same for lettuce, it goes from my grow room to my bowl. The other side is to give my kids responsibility and explain science and what pH value is, what ppm's are and why they are important. If anyone has any other questions, please let me know. I also grow herbs, citrus, tomatoes and peppers indoors. Some in soil and some in hydro. |
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The specs on my lettuce rack are as follows: 18"x48"x72" rack was a freebie from a family member Five 10 gallon totes from Home Depot for $30 I have three sets of 4 T5 6500K lights that I bought off a guy on craigslist for $150. (I only need 2 bulbs on each shelf to run this system but I am running a yield experiment to see if the extra light is a positive effect) Net cups @ my local hydro store were I think .05 each, but I bought them several years ago and they are just recycled. My nutrient of choice is the General Hydroponics Flora series. I use 30mL of Micra and Grow and 20 mL of Bloom to get a ppm of 500. I also add in CALiMAGic to increase my calcium as my plants get tip burn from lack of it. I have an air pump that runs an air stone in each tote for $3. The pump is an old unit I had laying around so I don't know the cost back then. Once a tote is set, I don't do much to the water other than a weekly pH check. I will add straight water to a tote if the plants are transpiring a lot. The system produces 6-8 plants per week. I grow Arugula, various lettuce and Kale in this system for salads. We eat a lot of them.... Hydro is my hobby, am I getting a return on my money, yes. Can I go to the store and buy basic romaine or iceberg lettuce for less, yes. We like some strains and not others. If I compared it to going to Whole foods or Wegmans to buy specialty lettuce of the same varieties I grow, I am way ahead of the game. I raise chickens because I don't eat an egg that isn't warm. Same for lettuce, it goes from my grow room to my bowl. The other side is to give my kids responsibility and explain science and what pH value is, what ppm's are and why they are important. If anyone has any other questions, please let me know. I also grow herbs, citrus, tomatoes and peppers indoors. Some in soil and some in hydro. Longboat how are you managing damping off with your seedlings? Has it been an issue for you? |
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There are a lot of people doing aquaponics in basements. Fish tank and grow bed with a light. Quoted:
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I would love to get into aquaponics but I grow in my basement and there is zero chance of that happening. There are a lot of people doing aquaponics in basements. Fish tank and grow bed with a light. I'm worried about the smell. |
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I'm worried about the smell. Quoted:
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I would love to get into aquaponics but I grow in my basement and there is zero chance of that happening. There are a lot of people doing aquaponics in basements. Fish tank and grow bed with a light. I'm worried about the smell. No odor from mine the wife would let me know quickly. |
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No odor from mine the wife would let me know quickly. Quoted:
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I would love to get into aquaponics but I grow in my basement and there is zero chance of that happening. There are a lot of people doing aquaponics in basements. Fish tank and grow bed with a light. I'm worried about the smell. No odor from mine the wife would let me know quickly. None at all? Even my years old freshwater aquarium had a smell to it. Not offensive, but definitely a smell I can recall right now. |
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Longboat how are you managing damping off with your seedlings? Has it been an issue for you? Quoted:
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The specs on my lettuce rack are as follows: 18"x48"x72" rack was a freebie from a family member Five 10 gallon totes from Home Depot for $30 I have three sets of 4 T5 6500K lights that I bought off a guy on craigslist for $150. (I only need 2 bulbs on each shelf to run this system but I am running a yield experiment to see if the extra light is a positive effect) Net cups @ my local hydro store were I think .05 each, but I bought them several years ago and they are just recycled. My nutrient of choice is the General Hydroponics Flora series. I use 30mL of Micra and Grow and 20 mL of Bloom to get a ppm of 500. I also add in CALiMAGic to increase my calcium as my plants get tip burn from lack of it. I have an air pump that runs an air stone in each tote for $3. The pump is an old unit I had laying around so I don't know the cost back then. Once a tote is set, I don't do much to the water other than a weekly pH check. I will add straight water to a tote if the plants are transpiring a lot. The system produces 6-8 plants per week. I grow Arugula, various lettuce and Kale in this system for salads. We eat a lot of them.... Hydro is my hobby, am I getting a return on my money, yes. Can I go to the store and buy basic romaine or iceberg lettuce for less, yes. We like some strains and not others. If I compared it to going to Whole foods or Wegmans to buy specialty lettuce of the same varieties I grow, I am way ahead of the game. I raise chickens because I don't eat an egg that isn't warm. Same for lettuce, it goes from my grow room to my bowl. The other side is to give my kids responsibility and explain science and what pH value is, what ppm's are and why they are important. If anyone has any other questions, please let me know. I also grow herbs, citrus, tomatoes and peppers indoors. Some in soil and some in hydro. Longboat how are you managing damping off with your seedlings? Has it been an issue for you? I don't. When I started growing I didn't know about hardening off so I never did. I mist my garden twice a day so maybe that helps but it works for me. |
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None at all? Even my years old freshwater aquarium had a smell to it. Not offensive, but definitely a smell I can recall right now. Quoted:
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I would love to get into aquaponics but I grow in my basement and there is zero chance of that happening. There are a lot of people doing aquaponics in basements. Fish tank and grow bed with a light. I'm worried about the smell. No odor from mine the wife would let me know quickly. None at all? Even my years old freshwater aquarium had a smell to it. Not offensive, but definitely a smell I can recall right now. I raised fish for years and even on my cleanest tanks there is always a slight odor. It is why I don't keep fish now. Maybe the plants cycle cleans the air up a bit. When I retire and put up my glass greenhouse I will definitely do aquaponics but for now, I will stick with hydro |
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I don't. When I started growing I didn't know about hardening off so I never did. I mist my garden twice a day so maybe that helps but it works for me. Quoted:
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The specs on my lettuce rack are as follows: 18"x48"x72" rack was a freebie from a family member Five 10 gallon totes from Home Depot for $30 I have three sets of 4 T5 6500K lights that I bought off a guy on craigslist for $150. (I only need 2 bulbs on each shelf to run this system but I am running a yield experiment to see if the extra light is a positive effect) Net cups @ my local hydro store were I think .05 each, but I bought them several years ago and they are just recycled. My nutrient of choice is the General Hydroponics Flora series. I use 30mL of Micra and Grow and 20 mL of Bloom to get a ppm of 500. I also add in CALiMAGic to increase my calcium as my plants get tip burn from lack of it. I have an air pump that runs an air stone in each tote for $3. The pump is an old unit I had laying around so I don't know the cost back then. Once a tote is set, I don't do much to the water other than a weekly pH check. I will add straight water to a tote if the plants are transpiring a lot. The system produces 6-8 plants per week. I grow Arugula, various lettuce and Kale in this system for salads. We eat a lot of them.... Hydro is my hobby, am I getting a return on my money, yes. Can I go to the store and buy basic romaine or iceberg lettuce for less, yes. We like some strains and not others. If I compared it to going to Whole foods or Wegmans to buy specialty lettuce of the same varieties I grow, I am way ahead of the game. I raise chickens because I don't eat an egg that isn't warm. Same for lettuce, it goes from my grow room to my bowl. The other side is to give my kids responsibility and explain science and what pH value is, what ppm's are and why they are important. If anyone has any other questions, please let me know. I also grow herbs, citrus, tomatoes and peppers indoors. Some in soil and some in hydro. Longboat how are you managing damping off with your seedlings? Has it been an issue for you? I don't. When I started growing I didn't know about hardening off so I never did. I mist my garden twice a day so maybe that helps but it works for me. No, I mean damping off. It's a fungal disease that attacks seedlings but wait....Are you not starting in any soil media at all? If not, that's why. It's a soil/media borne issue. I wonder if the cocoa hulls you mentioned somehow don't carry it. Interesting. |
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The lettuce has no media at all. I start seeds in either grodan rock wool, oasis cubes or the root riot peat cubes. When lettuce sprouts, they go in to a net pot where the roots grow down into the solution. They never see any type of soil. Cukes are the same as lettuce and in a similar tote but they are trellised on the wall.
My tomatoes come of the germinator and are grown in coco coir which is completely inert thus should have no fungus or other soil borne issues. Herbs are the same as tomatoes, but on a flood table. Sorry, I have not experienced damping off otherwise. |
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The lettuce has no media at all. I start seeds in either grodan rock wool, oasis cubes or the root riot peat cubes. When lettuce sprouts, they go in to a net pot where the roots grow down into the solution. They never see any type of soil. Cukes are the same as lettuce and in a similar tote but they are trellised on the wall. My tomatoes come of the germinator and are grown in coco coir which is completely inert thus should have no fungus or other soil borne issues. Herbs are the same as tomatoes, but on a flood table. Sorry, I have not experienced damping off otherwise. Interesting that you have not had it in the peat. But that's GREAT if you haven't. Fingers crossed you never do. You apparently have your seed sprouting system set just right as far as light, moisture and air flow. Really excellent. 
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