I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.

My gues is the cost is mostly because of the heating pads, the fluourescent lights are very cheap on electricity. I used to start off seedlings in my garage and had about 20 lights going. It cost, but not much.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 01:40:41 -0500, sherwindu
wrote:

I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.


I usually only grow plants from seed which are not otherwise available
locally to purchase in 4 inch pots.

On May 18, 12:40 am, sherwindu wrote:
I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.

On May 18, 12:40 am, sherwindu wrote:
I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.

The $63 tomato raises its ugly head again.

Personally I've come to the conclusion I don't raise plants from seed
to save money. I do it because I enjoy it, and that makes the process
of killing several painfully raised plants less traumatic.

What you are talking about though is the high cost of raising plants
from seeds under lights. Most of the equipment like heating pads is a
one time expenditure.

You might try winter sowing. People here are starting seeds in mini
milk carton greenhouses in January and putting them outside. The
theory is that although it can take some time for the plant to sprout,
the root development is taking place and the plant quickly overtakes
others once growing in friendlier conditions. There was one woman in
my local hort group who started about 40 last year. Mind you, she had
milk cartons piled against her fence for a couple of months.
Dora
Zone 3

bungadora wrote in
oups.com:

On May 18, 12:40 am, sherwindu wrote:
I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent
increase from ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from
seeds can be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop
lights and about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill
almost doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about
growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.

The $63 tomato raises its ugly head again.

Personally I've come to the conclusion I don't raise plants from seed
to save money. I do it because I enjoy it, and that makes the process
of killing several painfully raised plants less traumatic.

What you are talking about though is the high cost of raising plants
from seeds under lights. Most of the equipment like heating pads is a
one time expenditure.

You might try winter sowing. People here are starting seeds in mini
milk carton greenhouses in January and putting them outside. The
theory is that although it can take some time for the plant to sprout,
the root development is taking place and the plant quickly overtakes
others once growing in friendlier conditions. There was one woman in
my local hort group who started about 40 last year. Mind you, she had
milk cartons piled against her fence for a couple of months.
Dora
Zone 3



Here's a site about it and they even offer free seeds!
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/index.html

sherwindu wrote:

|I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
|ComEd
|in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
|be
|very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
|about
|six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
|doubled.
|Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies
|
|and flowers from seed.
|
| Sherwin D.

Have you tried doing without the heat pads? I start my seeds indoors under
double fluorescents - regular ones, not "grow lights" and don't have any
noticeable problems with either the seeds or the elect. bill. My furnace kicks
in around 50 deg. but the cool utility room where I have the seedlings doesn't
get much benefit from that. Probably gets down around 40.

Doubtless yours will germinate & grow faster-earlier but I suspect you can do
without the heat pads if you're willing to accept a slower start to your season.
|

Alexander

P.S. Fluorescent lights have to be close to the soil or growing seedlings -
about 2 inches is good. This also supplies a small amount of heat.

Alexander

It's the heating pad that killed your power bill. The shop lights alone only
cost a couple of bucks a month to run.

80 watts per two 40w bulbs in one light fixture.
Operate 12 hours a day for 960 watts total consumption.
Operate 30 days in a month for 28.8KW consumption
If you pay fifteen cents per KW, then your total cost is 28.8 x .15 = $4.32

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase
from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from
seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights
and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill
almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing
veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 01:40:41 -0500, sherwindu wrote:
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.

Guesstimation:
Lights: 20 W x 4 bulbs x 12 hr/d x 30 d = 28.8 KW-hr (new 4 ft tubes
actually use 32W)

Heating pads: 50W x 6 x 24 hr/d x 30 d = 216 KW-hr

245 KW-hr x $0.0996/KW-hr = $24.40

(the 9.96 cents per KW/hr is from the residential average rate in Illinois
in Feb 2007, per
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html )

If that $25 doubled your power bill, I'd love to have your bill.

Or you could start your seedlings inside and then put them in a cold frame.
You don't need lights till your seedlings are up; you don't need much heat
once they're up for most species.

My problem is that I have no Sun lit window. Right now, I have my already started
seeds in my only available picture window, facing North. They are basically in
a holding pattern, until the outside temps warm up a bit. They were originally
raised
in my crawl space, where I don't mind the mess involved with this kind of project.

I do have a small cold frame which I use to acclimate the plants slowly to the
outside conditions. I really need to start my seeds no later than April to get a
jump on the season, and it is still too cold to try and germinate seeds outside
with a cold frame. I may try germinating my tomato plants without heating pads,
as they are more inclined to start the soonest. Flowers and certain veggies are
another matter, and I'm skeptical that they would start without some form of
heat. I could be more diligent about turning down the heating pads once the seeds
start showing growth above the soil line. These are all measures I never thought
about when energy was cheaper. I'm not giving up on growing from seeds, but I'm
going to be more careful about how I use energy to do so.

Sherwin D.

Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message
from sherwindu contains these words:

I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent
increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from
seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop
lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about
growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Why? Chicago (42N) is not nearly as far north as me (55N), so I must
have lower daylight-levels than you, and yet I never use artificial
light or heat to start tender seedlings. I do mine outdoors in what we
call a cold-frame, which is about 3 ft by 2ft by 18" high.The walls are
wood, the roof is an old window. No heat. Otherwise, I would just start
them inside the house on windowsills.

Hardier annual veg and flowers, like peas and nastutriums, can just be
sown outside in spring in the place where they are to grow, with no
protection at all.

Janet (Scotland).

sherwindu expounded:

I may try germinating my tomato plants without heating pads,
as they are more inclined to start the soonest. Flowers and certain veggies are
another matter, and I'm skeptical that they would start without some form of
heat.

I never use a heating pad and I get good germination on all of my
seeds. Even zinnias, which are reputed to need to be higher than 70
degrees to germinate.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

bungadora wrote:
On May 18, 12:40 am, sherwindu wrote:

I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.


The $63 tomato raises its ugly head again.

Personally I've come to the conclusion I don't raise plants from seed
to save money. I do it because I enjoy it, and that makes the process
of killing several painfully raised plants less traumatic.

What you are talking about though is the high cost of raising plants
from seeds under lights. Most of the equipment like heating pads is a
one time expenditure.

You might try winter sowing. People here are starting seeds in mini
milk carton greenhouses in January and putting them outside. The
theory is that although it can take some time for the plant to sprout,
the root development is taking place and the plant quickly overtakes
others once growing in friendlier conditions. There was one woman in
my local hort group who started about 40 last year. Mind you, she had
milk cartons piled against her fence for a couple of months.
Dora
Zone 3

I'm not familira with milk carton greenhouses.

I'm about to Google, but do you havny ready references to web sites
discussing milk carton green houses?

TIA.

On Sat, 19 May 2007 06:03:47 -0400, Ann wrote:
I never use a heating pad and I get good germination on all of my
seeds. Even zinnias, which are reputed to need to be higher than 70
degrees to germinate.

Many species don't *need* a warm temp to germinate, but they germinate
most quickly at that temp (and large numbers prefer a night temp about
10oC below the day temp). Lower than optimal temps just increase the
germination period for many species. Conversely, too warm a soil temp
can actually inhibit germination, often throwing the seeds into an extended
dormancy that's quite hard to break.

Kay

On May 19, 11:20 am, jJim McLaughlin
wrote:
bungadora wrote:
On May 18, 12:40 am, sherwindu wrote:

I kind of figured it would affect my electric bill, but a recent increase from
ComEd
in the Chicago area has made it more evident that raising plants from seeds can
be
very costly. For about one month, I had two double flourecent shop lights and
about
six small heating pads going to germinate my seeds. My electric bill almost
doubled.
Guess there is no way around it, but makes one think twice about growing veggies

and flowers from seed.

Sherwin D.

The $63 tomato raises its ugly head again.

Personally I've come to the conclusion I don't raise plants from seed
to save money. I do it because I enjoy it, and that makes the process
of killing several painfully raised plants less traumatic.

What you are talking about though is the high cost of raising plants
from seeds under lights. Most of the equipment like heating pads is a
one time expenditure.

You might try winter sowing. People here are starting seeds in mini
milk carton greenhouses in January and putting them outside. The
theory is that although it can take some time for the plant to sprout,
the root development is taking place and the plant quickly overtakes
others once growing in friendlier conditions. There was one woman in
my local hort group who started about 40 last year. Mind you, she had
milk cartons piled against her fence for a couple of months.
Dora
Zone 3

I'm not familira with milk carton greenhouses.

I'm about to Google, but do you havny ready references to web sites
discussing milk carton green houses?

TIA.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The only reference I kept was this http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/

Just to clarify in case of misunderstanding, I'm not talking about
building greenhouse out of milk cartons. The milk carton acts as a
'greenhouse' - but a very small one.

However, one person on my local group mentioned she has a friend who
fills bottles with water, puts them in a square and puts a plastic
sheet over top and she says it works quite well. I'm collecting
vinegar bottles (they are rectangular in shape) to use in this way to
heat my little tomato house in the fall instead of using electrical
heating. It's worth a try anyway.

There was quite a bit of discussion last winter about winter sowing
amd use of milk cartons on canadiangardening.ca in the Plant Talk
forum. The posts are still there so if you put in winter sowing as a
search term you can find info on how to prepare the bottles, what
they've had the most luck with, etc. You don't have to sign in to read
the forum.
Dora