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What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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Posted by keepitlow 6/7 (My Page) on Sun, Sep 6, 09 at 12:25
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I tried the growing under lights forum, but not much help there for food.
I was thinking about arugula, lettuce, spinach, radish, cilantro, scallions, beets. Can I grow these inside?
If you have grown veggies inside is there a good book you can recommend?
I only have a few hours of sunlight inside, but plan to supplement it with florescent lights.
Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Pretty much everything on you list would work. I don't know if beets would make beets under those conditions, but certainly could be used for greens. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Sprouts are another thing you might consider. They are not super dependent on lighting and the nutritional value is excellent. There are lots of seeds that can be used and eaten in sprout form. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Most any herbs and leafy greens work best unless you have a greenhouse. 99% of your success will totally depend on your set-up. Auto temperature controls, broad spectrum lights, timers, etc. The Growing Under Lights forum isn't vegetable oriented true but all the same principles apply regardless of the crop. Dave |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| I agree with what others have said. Beets might be tough if you have limited space, but the other things should work well. Herbs are perfect for under lights, because I think the flavor gets too strong/bitter when the plants are stressed; the flavor is better when they're babied. If you like them, you might try that. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Thanks for the replies. The temp of my house in winter will be in the mid 50's during the day and low 60's at night. Will that hurt my plans? |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Hmm. Fifties may be a little cold for young seedlings. If it's a bit warmer under the lights, than you should be ok. Can you rig up some sort of small warming structure? like putting an upside-down aquarium over them, or something? Maybe tape a blanket against the window? Window glass can get cold. Keeping them above 60 may help them do a little better than they would at 55 (although I think they'd survive at 55) |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Yeah that's a little too cool but some sort of enclosure would help, that or heating the soil. We try to keep the greenhouse between 55-65 around the clock. Unfortunately, it is often the cost of maintaining the environment they need to do well that usually puts an end to indoor gardening attempts. Indoors just isn't a normal environment for vegetables and providing one that will work for them isn't cheap. Dave |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Do you eat kale, mustard greens, etc? They tolerate cold well. I am trying them in an unheated greenhouse in northern NM now (7000'). This greenhouse - not mine - has a history of, uh, motor vehicle accidents (has been hit - not entirely sealed), so all is experimental. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Yes, the mustards are OK for me too. Nowadays the heating bill can get crazy, so that is why the low temps. I can try some sort of enclosure. I am planning on setting up a large wire shelving unit with lights on each shelf. Still studying up designs. Any good sources you can recommend for photos of setups? |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| I am in zone 6 and I can grow salad greens outside in containers until mid December as long as I cover them on freezing nights. I would think that building an enclosure outside would be much more practical then you don't have to worry about lighting, at least until January. Then it's almost time to start seedlings for spring so you need the light set-up anyway. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| I've been planning on doing the same thing this winter. Will be using chrome wire shelving (48"x18"x72"), 4' fluorescent fixtures and, for heat, was thinking of using low wattage heating cables (the kind used in reptile terrariums) strapped to the undersides of the shelves, then enclosing the whole thing in plastic or Mylar. In addition to most of what you listed, I've already started some small tomatoes (Tumbling Tom, Tiny Tim, Florida Petite). Please let us know what kind of progress you have over the winter. I'm always interested in hearing of others successes :) |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| I'll be forced to take my Dwarf Banana & Dwarf Lime trees indoors soon. Other than that, I may sneak a pepper plant or two in there also. ;) |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Recommendations for set up? Photos? Here's a simple, yet elegant and effective setup shown in the chile pepper forum. (see second and fifth post, the rest of the thread may be helpful, also). I like this and have copied most of it. I don't have the ceiling fixture and instead use the top shelf to store gardening supplies. Just be sure to adjust the lights so they are as close to your plants as possible without touching the leaves. Practice adjusting light heights before you have plants under them.....and get whatever clips you might need to make them secure. Don't ask how I know this might be a problem. It also helps to have another person help if you are moving the lights with plants already in place. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Light set up
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| vwtx, The tube bulbs say they operate at 60 degrees. If I enclose the shelving in plastic as you do I hope to get some warmth from the lights. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?--
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| naturegirl_2007 thanks for the great link. Those pepper guys are serious! |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| keepitlow-My house gets pretty chilly in the winter. We don't use the central heat because I'm not wild about $300-$400 electric bills. Texas has mild winters, so we zone heat (portable heater in the area we spend time in) and put on plenty of warm clothes. I have a heating mat for seedlings that go out in the garden in spring, but thought the cable would work well for when the lights are off at night. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| vwtx your lucky with the heat bills. If I heat to 68 dgerees 24 hours a day my bill would be $600 to $800 a month. Just bought my wire rack and am working on the lights. Will send in a photo once things are growing. Commercial setups are about $800 to $900, so can save a lot by doing it yourself. http://homeharvest.com/fluorescentplantcartslargepremium.htm |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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$600-$800 a month?! WOW, that's insane! I am fortunate that we are in a member-owned electric co-op that keeps costs low. We are currently paying about 11.5 cents per KWH, but the price fluctuates depending on the cost of natural gas.
A couple of years ago we bought an airtight stove to replace the contractor grade fireplace (which imo is worthless) but I'm still waiting for DH to get around to installing it. Can't wait to see a pic of your setup! |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| Keepitlow- You should check out the book "Four season harvest" by Elliot coleman. It is recommended here a lot. Basically all the things you want to grow can be done easily (especially in your zone) in cold frames. zero energy costs. I have it and its a worthwhile read. You can flip thru it at a barnes and noble. |
RE: What is practical to grow inside for the winter?
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| keepitlow; keep us informed I have read most of your post on this I too am interested in growing veges indoors with lights and don't want to spend lots of money I don't have for all the fancy equipment and high dollar lights. so far I have butter crunch lettuce growing in a south facing window 2 plants started on 10 14 09 and one started on 10 21 09 The ones from 14th are 5 inches high not bad for 3 weeks old. Pots are 24 oz. cottage cheese containers. potting mix is 1 peat moss 1 vermiculite 1 Perlite, and 2 vermicast. I am using a compact florescent bulb of 27 watts I can't find a kelvin number on it I think it is a G.E cool white,but am not sure, it was purchased last winter. I turn plantings 90 degrees every day lower and raise the lamp to let in the sun during the day and run the light from late afternoon to 10:30 at night. Lets see the light is 1/2 to 1 inch above the tallest lettuce. I also just transplanted a spinach and have it under a 20 watt cfl. to early to tell on that. sure hope it works looks good so far but plants are young yet.I do have a timer and found out I needed to move lamp holders anyways so it isn't used. Curt:-) |
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