Grow lights, heaters etc, on a budget

What sort of minimum temperature do we need once the seeds have germinated? I want to aim for good root development rather than rapid top growth. My logic being that that way come spring they'll be well placed to establish outside very quickly.

 

Is this in "tubes" ?

 

Sorry, not sure what you mean?

 

Loo rolls / Newspaper pots

 

Yep, I intend to use loo rolls. Was also thinking of trialling much narrower tubes of similar length to loo rolls, with my logic being that it seems to me that when a seed germinates, for the initial stages, more happens below the soil than above, so a deeper compost but a disproportionately small surface area will enable me to pack more plants into a smaller area.

 

Ta, was just checking you were referring to transplanting, rather than sowing in-situ in the ground

I think it may be more "maximum" temperature ...

The issue with Parsnips is that the tap root grows quickly, and you need to plant out before it comes out of the bottom of the "tube". IME that's about 3 weeks from germination. If you bring them on with more heat that will happen sooner, and you still need to harden them off (they are hard as nails, of course, but if they've only known indoors temperatures they need acclimatising to outdoors before planting out, same as other things in the Spring).

I "sow" mine on a sheet of wet kitchen paper in a Tupperware box (or cover with cling-film, so the paper doesn't dry out). Once they germinate (7-10 days) and the root just starts to appear I "prick out" to my pots, I use a pencil, the seeds will stick to the point to be transferred to the pot; I first make a small depression with the blunt end of the pencil about 1/4" deep, then gentle push back the compost over the seed. The seed leaves are up within the next few days, and then I have 3 weeks to planting date. A week after the seed leaves appear I start hardening off, after another 7 days they are staying out, in a very sheltered spot against the wall of the house, unless we get very heavy rain or very cold nights. The moment the first true leaf appears they must be planted out - any later and you risk the tap root coming out of the bottom of the "tube"

Personally I much prefer newspaper pots to loo rolls. I don't think that loo rolls are anything like long enough, but lot of people obviously manage just fine with them. I fold a double-spread sheet of tabloid in half (top-to-bottom, not side-to-side), roll that round an aerosol can, tuck the bottom inch or so under the can to form the base. That makes a "pot" around 5" tall and only 2" diameter. (Also used for sweetcorn and sweet peas which both like a deep root run)

When I plant them out I tear off the top of the newspaper - if it sticks out of the ground it can act as a wick drying out the newspaper and preventing the roots growing through it.

All explained in a lot of detail, but it is not as much work as it probably seems from reading it, just describing exactly what I do in case it is of any help

 

I reckon that's a lot of help, thanks. Especially the bit about the paper acting like a wick. I hadn't thought of that but it makes a lot of sense. I've seen in the past where good plants have died in paper pots for no reason as it seemed at the time, although I've been surprised when removed failed plants to find that despite as much ground as they could want, their roots never reached out. This is probably why.

I've had good success this year with bog roll tubes though where I've not created a base as such. Instead I've rammed compost into the bottom so tight that it stays put of its own free will. Literally using all my strength to squash it into position, then filled with much more loosely packed compost. All my surviving runner beans were done this way, as well as some very nice coreopsis plants I raised from seed. The latter is what's spurred me on really. The going rate for coreopsis about 1 year old seems to be about £8, but I raised them easily from seed. The whole artificial environment project is about making the most of what I learned from that, and trying to take it to the next stage.

 

Hi

My son is a lighting design engineer, and is looking into this lighting issue He's so far done some rough calculations, and on the face of it, it seems that the lights in my first posting MIGHT be ok. He seems to think that at 50cm's, they will produce around 30,000 lumins. I'll let you know

Cheers...Freddy

 

Worth asking/discussing on the Cannabis forums. Those guys have all this lighting markley down to a fine art, and may have some pros/cons/gotchas that need taking into account.

 

I agree that Cannabis forums have a lot of knowledge about growing under lights - but there is one big difference. They tend not to take the running cost into account. I have heard on police programs, police talking about electricity bills of several thousands of pounds a week. But the growers generally don't pay the bills. They either move on without paying, or bypass the meter. Us, more honest folk, have to take the running costs into account.

 

Plus I guess if your 'crop' has a street value running into many, many thousands, you could afford to splash out a bit on kit and energy.

 

I'd take a slightly different tack Peter; I think most of the posts I have read on the Cannabis forums are from solo self-growers, only raising a few plants. Even so they are probably a lot less concerned about electricity cost than quality of their crop, but I would expect them to have a useful opinion as to whether Lamp A is better than Lamp B (and then us, normal?!, folk can take running cost into account )

 

Just a quick update.

I have bagseyed an old cupboard to convert into my 'grow lab'. I've already mentioned I now have my first grow light, an LED array. Now I've ordered a 23"x11" heat mat. I didn't choose the size at random, my cupboard's interior floor space is 25"x12".

I plan to slot two shelves into my cupboard, the bottom shelf will have the heat mat on it. There'll be just enough space below it for the the four gang power point and a bit of breathing space. Then working up over, the the next shelf will be heated, then the top shelf wont, the ceiling will have the grow light on it.

My plan is that the power point will be protected from water dripping by the heated shelf above, which will be responsible for getting stuff to germinate. Once stuff has germinated, it will be transferred to the top shelf, under the light.

If the thing is a success, I will order at least one more LED array to occupy the spare square foot of ceiling, thus doubling the illuminated area. My plan also has room for up to 2 more LED arrays after that, totalling 4 arrays, or 4 sq/ft of illuminated area.

 

You just need a conveyor belt and you are done Clueless!!

 

My grow cupboard is built (has been for a while) but as of tonight, it is now in its intended spot, getting soak tested for a few hours without inhabitants, just to test to make sure it doesn't get too hot or anything.

Here we go.



Here we go, lights on. Just one LED panel for now, if it works well, there's room for up to three more in my cupboard. Unlike most forms of lighting, LEDs have a very specific bandwidth. That means that if the spec for my light array is correct, then the mix of red and blue LEDs operate at the two specific optimum bandwidths for photosynthesis. LEDs are also extremely efficient so they don't get hot and waste energy. All this in theory means that although low powered, all that power goes towards generating the right bandwidth of light for photosynthesis.



And here is the same shot, but I told my camera not to compensate for the light level. We can also see in this shot the lower section. On the shelf half way down we can see a 2ft x 1ft heat mat. Taking advice from someone on here (sorry, can't remember who), I went for a heat mat that you would have for a reptile tank as opposed to one with 'horticulture' anywhere in the title. As far as I can see the only difference is the price. Mine cost me about £15.

Below the heater shelf is just space I left for the wiring and any misc junk I need to store.



Some details for anyone interested.

The cupboard was a cast off from my mate's house, so it was free to me. The single light array is packed with LEDs. It might have been this one (can't remember) but it is same spec:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225-LED-1...arden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item2eb380da3e

Power consumption for the light = 15W. Price, about £19.

The heat mat is this one (the 23" x 11" one - 28W, cost about £15)
http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/rep...14/heat-mats-450/habistat-heat-mat-26228.html

I used a 4 way mains adapter secured to the floor of the cupboard. I already had one lying around but if I'd had to buy one it would have only been a fiver max.

There's sundry costs to add, screws and bits and pieces but that amounts to pence.

Total power consumption for phase 1, about 43W. Total capacity, dunno yet.

I almost forget to mention, the light array is mounted so that it can slide from side to side so I have some control of its position, and I've made it so that the two shelves can slide out and be slotted back in a different heights, so I have control of how close plants are to the light too.