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#1
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What about growing things indoors?
What about growing things indoors?
I'm primarily interested in veg. It's no good sowing seeds outdoors now. But if I left fluorescent lights on, what are the possibilities? It might be extravagant and wasteful of energy. But leaving that aside for a moment, what could be done? Consider an indoor room, with central heating on during the day, and fluorescent lights on - either permanently - or just during the day. Does any of this make sense - or is it a stupid idea? -- Chris |
#2
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What about growing things indoors?
On Tue, 12 Nov 2002 20:47:28 +0000, Chris ] wrote:
What about growing things indoors? I'm primarily interested in veg. It's no good sowing seeds outdoors now. But if I left fluorescent lights on, what are the possibilities? It might be extravagant and wasteful of energy. But leaving that aside for a moment, what could be done? Consider an indoor room, with central heating on during the day, and fluorescent lights on - either permanently - or just during the day. Does any of this make sense - or is it a stupid idea? No, it's not a stupid idea but it depends on what you want to grow and whether it is worth the expense. The latter mostly arises from electricity to power the light. Fluorescent light doesn't consume so much but would really only illuminate a small area of canopy and that rather weakly - but certainly enough to bring on seedlings etc. It sounds as though you want to produce a crop of veg however and I think that would probably require a couple of 400W halide lamps powered up for a goodly number of hours every day and these consume rather a lot of electricity. I would only really consider it for fresh herbs which, in these dark winter months you would otherwise have to buy in the supermarket eg. basil and such like. But even then I suspect that it would probably be cheaper to get them from the supermarket unless you particularly enjoyed a herb or variety which is unobtainable thence. People up and down the country are at the present maintaining indoor "grow rooms" - but what they are growing is unmentionable in polite and sensible company. Growing hydroponically would be the best way forward as you can give the plant optimum conditions with hardly any effort on it's part (It hardly has to do any work at all). The pace of growth and maturing is therefore exceptional. *Assisted* light and warmth in a well lit conservatory is a more feasible proposition. Methinks. Respect Hussein |
#3
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What about growing things indoors?
"Chris" ] wrote in message ]... What about growing things indoors? I'm primarily interested in veg. It's no good sowing seeds outdoors now. But if I left fluorescent lights on, what are the possibilities? It might be extravagant and wasteful of energy. But leaving that aside for a moment, what could be done? Consider an indoor room, with central heating on during the day, and fluorescent lights on - either permanently - or just during the day. Does any of this make sense - or is it a stupid idea? -- Chris Its not that it cant be done, and for some crops it even makes sense (cannabis for example, so the neighbours dont notice) but in the main, since you asked, its a stupid idea. What would be the point? -- Tumbleweed Remove my socks before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups) |
#4
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What about growing things indoors?
"Chris" ] wrote in message
]... What about growing things indoors? I'm primarily interested in veg. It's no good sowing seeds outdoors now. But if I left fluorescent lights on, what are the possibilities? It might be extravagant and wasteful of energy. But leaving that aside for a moment, what could be done? Consider an indoor room, with central heating on during the day, and fluorescent lights on - either permanently - or just during the day. Does any of this make sense - or is it a stupid idea? -- Chris One problem with ordinary fluorescent lights is they do not give off a good balance of the right wavelengths of light needed by plants. Much of the light would be unusable and wasted by the plants. Ideally you would need specialist (expensive) lighting. The running costs would be exorbitant. Best bet is just to grow a few herbs, or mustard / cress on a window sill over Winter. With a bit of planning, you could still be growing and harvesting veg from outside. I will be harvesting various greens such as cabbage, brussels sprout and spinach right through Winter. It's too late to plant these this year, but if you plan ahead there is no reason why you cannot produce vegetables outside all year round. Drakanthus. |
#5
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What about growing things indoors?
"Chris" ] wrote in message ]... What about growing things indoors? I'm primarily interested in veg. It's no good sowing seeds outdoors now. But if I left fluorescent lights on, what are the possibilities? It might be extravagant and wasteful of energy. But leaving that aside for a moment, what could be done? Consider an indoor room, with central heating on during the day, and fluorescent lights on - either permanently - or just during the day. Does any of this make sense - or is it a stupid idea? -- Chris My brother has built an addition onto the south side of his house approx 2 meters out and as wide and high as the original house was. On the south side of the addition, he left a hole in the wall to allow him to build an extention that that started a meter off the floor of the addition, went out an additional half meter, and was a half meter high. Then for a floor in this extension, he built a framework to hold plastic tubs with holes in the bottom to make a long, narrow dirt holder. He made a sloping roof over the extension out of a durable plastic that allowed light to get through, put glass or clear plastic around the sides and insulated the walls. He installed a normal light and a gas heater. and finished the wall outside so it matched the house. He now grows tomatoes year round, but could grow what ever he wanted in his half meter high, hald meter deep, and approx 4 meter long "greenhouse". Good luck. Dwayne |
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