I saw a guy who was growing 100 marijuana plants indoors. Very cool setup.

Indoor vegetable gardening with what conditions? In a greenhouse? Otherwise you might well ask for any success.

But yes the Growing Under Lights forum has all sorts of discussions on this that the search will pull up. It is quite an active forum at the proper time of year but relatively inactive at this time of the year.

Dave

Oh I see, Dave, they are all out in the sun this time of year. That makes sense. I would be too but it is too hot. I will post my comment there when we all come back indoors :). I was thinking of under the lights and a made indoor greenhouse. I have seen some really cool ones on youtube made with tarps. Some made their own lights etc. and others bought a whole set up. I have a mini indoor green house and a light. Just need some bulbs and a few more lights. I've grown some things indoors but didn't do well because I was a newbie and made some crucial mistakes. Going to try it again. If I had the room and $ for a true outdoor greenhouse, I'd do it. It sounds like fun. Thanks for the info!

Yeah some people are really creative with their setups. I saw one in a garage in the middle of winter successfully growing tomatoes using a tarp and lights. Really cool!

Generally, if you want to grow tomatoes inside, you have to COPY the outside summer growing conditions (i.e. light, temperature. AND that is = to having a heated greenhouse. You can be creative to do it in an empty garage or basement( by partitioning an area by plastics with reflective surfaces ) like a hoop house). This way, you will spend less on energy than a stand alone greenhouse outside.

I am going to give it a try Seysonn. It sounds like a fun project. Our winters seem so long. Not as long as some definitely but seeing a little green in the middle of white will be nice. I will try to find a spot and items that mimics the natural environment.

If you heat your home to only 60-65 degrees like I do, it would be easier to try leafy vegetables, like kale, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mesclun, swiss chard, etc.

That's why I suggested doing some reading of all the past discussions about this over on that forum - even if the folks aren't around there right now. You can be learning about the special types of lights needed, how to maintain proper humidity, how to keep the air circulating and keep the CO2 levels up, the pest control issues, and most importantly, the costs.

Honestly most find that the costs of indoor vegetable gardening - all other problems aside - are often prohibitive. A $20 tomato or a $10 bowl of salad greens aren't really worth it. :) Experimenting is great, just start small.

Dave

Some people who grow marijuana indoors make a ton of money. The growing equipment costs are not cost prohibitive and eventually pay for themselves.

I'd be growing veggies as a hobby for my family not for a Farmer's Market so there won't be income from it. I do want to keep the costs down or what would be the point? An expensive hobby? Life's expensive enough lol. If my lettuce starts costing $10 a serving, I am done :). I am really interested in what people were able to grow that wouldn't seem to work. I am going to go look at those older posts Dave recommends. Some people are able to grow some amazing things indoors in the middle of a blizzard. Tomatoes seem to be the most common. But I've heard of a few growing garlic, a mango tree just to name a few while being supposedly cost-effective. I think growing kale and cold weather stuff is a great idea! I am going to start there in the fall. I'll be sure to post my question when most outdoor gardening is done in the lights section forum. Off to go digging in the forum so I am prepared :)ÃÂ

Most successful indoor things are kinda boring...or end up being expensive.

Windowsill herbs, micro-greens, sprouts, green onions...they can be very successfully produced indoors on the cheap, but they aren't exactly strange or surprising. Some people can get away with growing baby salad greens on their windowsills if they get enough sun.

The pepper forum has more than a few people doing strange/expensive things for the sake of having fresh peppers over the winter. Some of the setups are quite impressive. There was a guy a few years ago who had a virtual jungle of Mylar reflective material, lamps, and plants all over an unused bathroom...quite odd, yet dedicated.

Uscjusto Did your friends buy their lights or assemble them themselves and would they work for veggies?

Thanks nc-crn, I will look over there too. Fresh peppers would be quite a treat in winter! I love the mylar idea.

Btw, if you can find a cheap seed source for bulk seed...micro-greens offer very quick (7-14 days, a few 21 days) turnover from seed to harvest for extremely nutrient/taste dense cropping for use in sandwiches, soups, stews, salads, etc. while taking up very little space.

You can crop a wide variety of flavors for whatever application you wish. It's like a fresh "spice" packed with nutrients that's worlds better than plain lettuce. They're on almost every sandwich I make...especially chicken/turkey sandwiches.

Without a good/cheap supply of bulk seed, though, it can become a bit of an expensive thing.

Thanks! That's a great idea. I have been wanting to try sprouts but wasn't sure where to start. I never thought about putting them in stews but that sounds yummy. I will bookmark that site.

The marijuana growers I know invested in good quality lights, ballasts, hoods and fans.
You could definitely use those to grow veggies but I don't think you'd ever recoup the costs since the profit margins of vegetables isn't very high, unlike marijuana.

I know some other people who start vegetables inside and just use shop lights that are cheap, like $20 each.

uscjusto, $20 is more my speed :) although the other setups sound amazing. I will look for some shop lights, thanks! I don't expect the same results as the outdoor garden but I am thinking I could grow things that taste better than the darn store. I wish I could grow stuff like a butternut squash bush variety but that would be almost impossible. I need to win the lotto and buy a greenhouse, I can dream!

Gardengal:

Check out this other thread about shop lights and indoor growing set up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shop lights

Thanks, uscjusto! That is a big help. I like that the options are cheaper. I can't believe some of the prices for lights.

Shoplite is just the receptacle So you buy the tubes separately. There are special grow light tubes that cost more. But I have heard that just the conventional florescent will do. You have to have the so-called "natural" light, is used in the kitchen, etc.

After the light, comes the temperature. For cool crops anywhere from 45F(night) to 70F(day) should be fine . You program your heat likewise, Just the way it happens in nature. That is how you grow orchids. Just a small fan to disturb the air.No need to make a tempest. lol

Lol @ seysonn! I think this will work out perfect. Too bad my kitchen isn't bigger. It has the florescent lights but having those lights on that long would drive my household crazy lol. No one would go for it. But I will look at getting florescent lights to save costs. I have the perfect spot and many of the supplies. The area I picked stays nice and warm so for cool crops perfect :). I even have a little fan. Just need the fixtures and bulbs. I guess I have the gardening bug now. I am already planning next year's crops. Not sure where I will be gardening but that won't stop me.

I almost harvested strawberries in our basement this spring. It wasn't on purpose, though, lol. The seed packet said to start them in January, but that turned out to be waaaay too soon. This is what they looked like at the beginning of April, when I potted them on and pinned some runners (as an experiment). When they started to blossom, I just jostled the plants every day to pollinate. Some of the bigger plants had fruit on them when I planted them out at the end of May. They were under simple shop lights in our basement, along with all my other veggie garden starts.

I've grown dwarf cherry tomatoes (Red Robin) to maturity indoors (started under lights, then moved to a south window). When I trim my onion seedlings, they can be used like green onions in the kitchen. I've harvested lavender leaves and a few small flowers while the starts were still under lights. Thyme, too. Pretty standard stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:105026}}

Macky77, I love the pic. Your strawberries look so healthy. That's pretty cool! I think the lavender would be a fun one to try. I meant to plant some in the garden this year but time got away from me. I was wondering if I could use the green tops from onions. Glad to know I can. Thanks for sharing :)!

One September, I brought a 4 foot long container of plants to my classroom that had been sitting on my deck railing all summer. It was full of end-of-life annuals like petunias, etc. I put it on a south-facing windowsill and pulled out all the spent plants. I let the newly sprouted seeds from the plants grow. It grew into the most spectacular display of outdoor annuals I've ever seen.

The kids learned about all phases of plant growth. I had one kid who came to class each day, put down her backpack and headed first thing to the plants to deadhead the flowers. I knew a gardener was being born.

"I knew a gardener was being born." Good on you, Susan! Not every child has contact with gardening at home.

Our daughter wanted to bring on of my big tomato starts to school for show-and-tell this spring (Grade 1). The Black Krim was ready to go out and had flowers already, so I just put transplanting off a couple of days so she could take it to school. I said they could open up one or two flowers to look at the structure and tip it out of the pot to see the roots. Apparently her classmates found the roots the most fascinating part. :)

Susanzone5, that is such a cool story! Thanks for sharing. That is why I started this thread. You just never know what cool plant might make it indoors. Glad you got to share some of your gardening with your students. I love the idea of bringing a plant for show-and-tell! I bet if more kids were exposed to plants, we'd have more kids interested in gardening and eating veggies.