My Indoor Garden - I grow my own leafy greens indoors - Come and learn how!!!

[kaleboy]

I grew 2 cherry tomato plants with a 90 watt led light and I ended up getting 455 cherry tomatoes in 90 days and they weighed just over 11.2 lbs.

Awesome...thanks for the reply.

[w8mk]

If you still want to grow broccoli, you might try trimming the individual leaves to about half size. Not sure how well it will work with broccoli, but it would be an interesting experiment. Then, if broccoli works like cabbage, when you trim the head, I think there may be a chance small florets will form at the branch to each leaf, if left to continue growing.
If I were to try it, I would probably trim toward the middle of the growth stage, a few leaves at a time, with some days for recovery in between, so that I was done trimming at least a couple weeks before flowering stage starts.

That is good information for a future experiment. The leaves were not wasted though, they made there way into salads and green smoothies!

[streetsurfer]

That is good information for a future experiment. The leaves were not wasted though, they made there way into salads and green smoothies!

Oh absolutely-good use for them. I see I forgot to mention it in there but part of my point was that it will allow more light for the surrounding plants so as not be such a space hog.

[w8mk]

Are those the same UFOs that cost around 180$ or did you purchase a cheaper version from ebay?


You're very clever, the plants look nice. Maybe you can craft a vertical setup for the lettuce to save some space. Have you tried growing wheatgrass or barley?

I heard that rockwell has a higher pH than a plant needs, do you use any nutrients for the seedlings?

I did buy a few lights on Ebay and I got burned. I learned the hard way that there are many, many manufactures that make LED lights in China. The LEDs currently being made range from something like 10 lumens all the way up to 240 lumens per watt. The ones I bought did not grow anything worth a darn. Live and learn I guess. I had much better luck at a local hydroponics store in the city I live and in my videos, that is all I am currently using. They cost me 199.00/light through them. The ones i bought on Ebay cost about 170 or 180 with shipping. Where ever you end up buying yours, just find a source who has been rated well and you will be fine. The Ebay stuff is very questionable in my opinion and experience.

I have set up a vertical aquaponics system in my wife's classroom. My only complaint with vertical units is that plants near the bottom suffer from a lack of light.

I do grow wheat grass and I juice it as well. I never did develop a liking for the taste of it, but I like the health benefits.

Rock wool will take on the ph of your water. So, for seedlings make the ph 5.5 and for most plants 6.0 to 6.8. 6.4 to 6.5 seems to get me the best results.

I will be trying a new medium in the near future called sure to grow and I will make some videos on it. It is a rockwool and hydroton replacement and I have a real nifty idea to try growing lettuce with.

As for nutrients for seedlings, I use a very, very mild solution for seedlings... about .05ml/litre of water.

[w8mk]

Hello,

I am looking to build this setup and just have a question.

Will these net pots be good for this setup. These are 2"

http://www.hydrowarehouse.com/net-po...ck-p-1370.html

thanks

I use 3" net pots for most of the plants I grow. I find that the 2" are a bit small and they don't support the weight of a lot of plants. The 2" will be fine for herbs like dill, basil, as they grow tall and have a smaller base. For plants that have large stems and root systems like cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, I would go with a minimum of 3" pots. Even some larger heads of lettuce will benefit from the 3" as it won't be as constricted and will grow larger.

I would personally buy all 3" pots as you then can change what you are growing in the future, so it would be good for almost everything.

[w8mk]

I think a 2" pot is more suited to propogating/starting cuttings. Maybe growing small herbs. I'm more of a soil man. W8mk can surely advise you better.

Well said!

[w8mk]

Oh absolutely-good use for them. I see I forgot to mention it in there but part of my point was that it will allow more light for the surrounding plants so as not be such a space hog.

Before I try broccoli again, I have so many other things I want to try!!! Right now, I am growing 20 strawberry plants, 20 leaf lettuce, 26 kales, 20 romaine lettuce, 2 green bell pepper plants, 6 pickling cucumber plants, 6 basil plants, and 4 cherry tomatoes. I didn't have room for the cherry tomatoes at home so those are growing at work :)

In the future I would love to try some sort of shorter variety of berry bush such as the norther blue berries which grow 6 to 18" high and about 2 feet wide, corn, and a watermelon. Some of it is just a challenge to see what can be done as it is too much fun!

[streetsurfer]

Before I try broccoli again, I have so many other things I want to try!!! Right now, I am growing 20 strawberry plants, 20 leaf lettuce, 26 kales, 20 romaine lettuce, 2 green bell pepper plants, 6 pickling cucumber plants, 6 basil plants, and 4 cherry tomatoes. I didn't have room for the cherry tomatoes at home so those are growing at work :)

In the future I would love to try some sort of shorter variety of berry bush such as the norther blue berries which grow 6 to 18" high and about 2 feet wide, corn, and a watermelon. Some of it is just a challenge to see what can be done as it is too much fun!

That's so cool! I wish I had the room for that much indoors. One day maybe. I have two, two tube-four foot fixtures set up in sort of a sun room, and use a 1x2' T-5 and a 2x2 t-5 fixture in a 3x3 tent. I've done nothing to the quantity you're doing though. I did blueberries indoors under T-12 and T-8 fluorescents. I had taken a few cuttings form one plant and now have three in my garden I think. I also used my areas for early starts to stuff that gets moved to the outside garden. I propogated calicarpa americana cuttings one winter and moved them to the garden to train up until they were ready to locate where I wanted them. I also did some stevia cuttings and now have five or so plants outside (well, had. I was not there to put them to bed last fall so I don't know if they'll survive), and grew different kales, lettuces, sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, spinach, sage, rosemary, beets, some short stubby carrots, baby bear sunflowers, and maybe a handful of other things which I'm forgetting. I forget if I mentioned it before but these were all soil grown. One day I will give hydro another shot. I have to research it yet but I would love to incorporate a fish tank into a system too.

It's a wonderful hobby-very rewarding when it saves you money instead of costing you, and theres always something new to try.
Thanks for sharing. I've enjoyed your thread. And I hope you don't mind that I've posted my experience alongside yours.

[RawHorizons]

This is very cool setup,I keep eyeing a neighbors metalframe of what use to be a large shed(thinkin maybe I could give em 20 for it)No one lives there,and have been thinking since last year what a good idea it would be for a green house.
I could use this set up in side it,put up walls or film that draw and hold heat,use the reflective meterial you showed in video for inside walls.Last year I decided to try a Container garden,everything I did was in pots arranged around my porch.Idea was if I liked it and it was doable an could save money ,I would plant a real garden in the future.I absolutley loved it,getting excited thinking about growing stuff again this year.

I still really dont know what Im doing,learning though.I had some good yields on stuff.Only thing is almost all of my produce was miniture looking.
Most everyone says thats because I did them in containers,and they will only grow large in the ground.Then one person asked if I added any kinda plant food.I diddnt,did not know I should have.Our soil here is sand/clay.Sucks for growing stuff.
Question is,would I run into the same problem with this system,or is it as simple as adding plant food.I really really like this idea,something I could get my finace in on,he is super handy and we both ohh an ahh when stuff grows lol

I added you on youtube ty for info!!

[SethHall]

How much did all the stuff in your How-To video cost and if possible could you make a list of where you got it? I have a garage and a spare room and plan on trying to grow year round. With the 90W bulb do you think there would be adequate heat to still combat the cold enough to grow in the winter?

[dmb2002man]

Has anyone started there build yet. I have ordered 20 3" pots and still need to make a trip to home depot for the rest of the supplies to build the kit. Im looking on youtube on building my own light fixture as well. As i start the build, i will take pictures.

[dmb2002man]

Here's some parts i ordered so far to build my kit. Going to actually build it like in 2 weeks and will take pictures and a step by step.

3" net pots

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...9HF86V86DARMV9

hydroton 10 liter bag

http://www.amazon.com/Hydroton-10-Li...ef=pd_sim_ol_1

rockwool starter kit

http://www.amazon.com/Rockwool-Start...ef=pd_sim_ol_4

ph control kit

http://www.amazon.com/pH-Control-Kit...ef=pd_sim_ol_1

185 gph pump

http://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-185-Su...f=pd_sim_ol_18

[Bethe007]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS POST. I am just researching and about to buy some herbs that I am going to grow inside my house, since I have no yard. I am highly motivated to grown my own greens and your youtube video and posts are of great help! Thank you.

[Bethe007]

What about lights for the system you built I saw on youtube? I have natural light in my house, but don't the plants need continuous light?

[PunkRotten]

Thanks man, I subscribed to you on youtube. Will check out all your vids thoroughly later.