Hi,
I've never gardened anything in my life -- but I think all this social distancing and isolation has put me into an early mid-life crisis.
I've always been interested in hydroponics. I think there's something about the engineering in it that draws me in. In any case, while my parents are stuck overseas, I have decided to turn their dining room into an indoor garden.
My room is about 13'x10' with 10' ceilings. I've already lined the floor with pond liner and built a 12x10' wood base. On top of that wood base, I've constructed a 12x10x9' 3/4" EMT conduit frame with cross-supports that I can use to hang lighting.
I live zone 8, so it gets pretty warm, with a RH of about 60% during the summer and often multiple days of 100F+ heat. I'll be running AC and fans to try to cool the room, and might even attempt to build an DIY bucket-based evaporative cooler. I have not yet figured out duct-work, but I'll see what I can do about drawing heat and moisture outside. If I must, I can get a dehumidifier and I do some home beer brewing, so I can probably generate CO2.
I've decided to split the room up into 4 main areas:
1. I want to put up some wire shelves for seed starting. I plan on starting with bubbleponics using some 17 gallon tubs. I have already purchased a Hydrofarm AAPA110L and an AAPA70L (1750 & 1100 GPH) pump. I'm looking for some strip lighting that I can mount to the tops of shelves and get really close to the seedlings. I'll probably be using rockwool or rapid rooter plugs to start seeds.
2. My second area will consist again of some wire shelving for growing leafy greens. Here, I'm looking mainly the grow lettuce, spinach, and herbs. I'm not sure which herbs to grow yet, but I suspect there will be basil, parsley, chives, oregano, and cilantro -- depending on the size of each plant. Here, I'll be looking to use DWC or Kratky with anything from 17-27 gallon totes, 5 gallon or smaller buckets, old chlorox containers, etc. My understanding is that the light requirements for these vegetative type plants are pretty low, often in the 17 DLI range.
3. The third area is where I'll be growing several root vegetables. Potatoes, carrots, and onions. Perhaps garlic, celery, and ginger as well. I haven't researched it yet, but I think beans and dwarf snap peaks may be with this group as well. These will mainly be in 5 gallon air-pruning buckets with a soilless medium (coco coir, perlite, vermiculite blend) with drip irrigation and good drainage. They'll be fed a nutrient solution from a 14 gallon reservoir with a submersible pump (Hydrofarm AAPW400, 400 GPH) and a stirring pump (Homasy 80 GPH). The buckets themselves will be elevated by some wood supports, and drain to waste. Trellis or cage as needed. Again, my understanding is that these plants only require moderate lighting, and while they do flower, the focus is on root or legume growth.
4. Lastly, and where I'm most in need of help, is my flowering/fruiting plants. I plan to grow tomatoes, both of the vining/climbing kind as well as the patio mini cultivars. I also plan on growing sweet and chili peppers, and cucumbers (bush variety, not vining). Set-up wise, they will be identical to the root vegetables -- coco coir, perlite, and vermiculite in 5 gallon containers fed from liquid nutrient solution from drip irrigation and drain to waste. They will be fed from a different reservoir with the same 3-part hydroponic solution, though with a different NPK and different micro-nutrients.
The most difficult part of lighting is that it appears that 99% of the information I find online is specific towards growing cannabis. As far as I can tell, cannabis is a photoperiod sensitive plant, and to get its 30 (or even 40) DLI within 12 hours, cannabis growers need a light that can push a ton of umol/m2s. At 1000 umol/m2s and a 12 hr cycle, they're getting about 43.2 DLI. Furthermore, since PPFD drops pretty quickly as you move away from the center point, the 2x2 or 4x4 grow area starts dropping down into the 500 umol/m2s pretty quickly, giving them only 21.6 DLI at the edges of their grow area.
Tomatoes and peppers, on the other hand, are not particularly photoperiod sensitive (as far as I've been able to research). Can I get away with less PPFD for my purposes? If I run tomatoes at 18h cycles, a mere 500 umol/m2s gives me 32.4 DLI. I've already purchased a Blurple-ish (BESTVA 3000W, $310) light, but now I'm wondering if I should return it and get a similarly priced Spiderfarmer SF-2000 ($320) or even Mars Hydro SP-250 ($260). These both benefit from broader spectrum in the green light range, although don't have quite as high PAR values. Also, am I naive to think that I can simply elevate the light to 24" or more to try to get more coverage in the area? PAR drops off pretty quickly with distance, and wonder if I should be looking into DIY LED lighting to better control the spread of light to get more uniform coverage across a larger area, as opposed to such a focused and concentrated PAR in a tight area.
Another topic of concern is height of the fixture. As taller tomato plants push upwards of 5', smaller tomato and peppers are forced further away from the light (unless I somehow elevate them). Should I really be looking at moving my taller tomato plants elswhere, and focusing on the patio varieties along with my peppers and cucumbers? To this point, I wonder if I'm going to have the same problems to a lesser degree with my potatoes and the other shorter plants (carrots, onions).
I do very much recognize that I'm in way over my head. I believe the general consensus is to start small and grow a thing or two and gradually learn. Most would recommend starting with the lettuce and herbs before graduating into tomatoes. I also do admit that some of this has been triggered by all that's going on in the world, and I'm very eager to get some experience into this as fast as I can.
Please help me in particular with the lighting for this project. And before you tell me that I should try traditional (in-soil) outdoor gardening first, I am. But, that's a whole different project.
Thanks!
First timer: Help me plan an indoor garden
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The_Mouse_Police
- LED Lover
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- Posts: 126
- Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:57 am
A few randomly ordered thoughts.
I grew ginger and turmeric last year, in a coir/compost/bark-fines mix, and didn't even give them direct sunlight. They did great. I was going to add grow lights, but the light colored walls did the job. They get hindered by high phosphorus.
Mint, thyme, oregano, and basil, can use up to about 400 umol/s/m^2, but also do well with less at longer photo periods. A higher blue to red ratio seems to help with creating more of the oils and such we love, while lacking UV, at the expense of leaf size and weight. Basils and oregano can easily be found in dwarf varieties, too, so you won't have to overprune just to keep from having a bush.
Greens are lower DLI, and can often get by with under 200 umol/s/m^2, but may respond vey differently each to different red:blue ratios, and far red. The color differences are less pronounce with white light, but heading greens going leafy, or different amounts of growth than expected, may happen. YMMV, so try several varieties of each kind.
Fruiting plants need high DLI, so if you can do sunlight, it's a lot cheaper.
For chives and small onions, I think potting mix is going to be better.
I grew ginger and turmeric last year, in a coir/compost/bark-fines mix, and didn't even give them direct sunlight. They did great. I was going to add grow lights, but the light colored walls did the job. They get hindered by high phosphorus.
Mint, thyme, oregano, and basil, can use up to about 400 umol/s/m^2, but also do well with less at longer photo periods. A higher blue to red ratio seems to help with creating more of the oils and such we love, while lacking UV, at the expense of leaf size and weight. Basils and oregano can easily be found in dwarf varieties, too, so you won't have to overprune just to keep from having a bush.
Greens are lower DLI, and can often get by with under 200 umol/s/m^2, but may respond vey differently each to different red:blue ratios, and far red. The color differences are less pronounce with white light, but heading greens going leafy, or different amounts of growth than expected, may happen. YMMV, so try several varieties of each kind.
Fruiting plants need high DLI, so if you can do sunlight, it's a lot cheaper.
For chives and small onions, I think potting mix is going to be better.