Growing plants indoors

[Ericman197]

Hey, so I remember we had a hydroponics thread a while ago, and it's the season...

First off, to get the jokes out of the way... no, not everyone growing plants indoors is growing drugs




Right now I have a bunch of cacti, bamboo, a few poppies germinating, this weird palm tree kinda plant my friend gave me, and an amaryllis that I think is infected with some kind of fungus. I've also planted a bunch of cactus seeds, so we'll see how that goes over the next couple of months.

For light I have 3 42 watt CFLs (each is a 150 watt equivalent) and I have most of the surfaces of my closet covered in aluminum foil to reflect light onto the plants. I'm running an 18/6 cycle.

I also have shiitake mushrooms which are incubating. I'm not that knowledgeable about growing plants but I have a little more experience with mushrooms, and I'd love to answer any questions you guys have about growing them. If you follow the steps, you can pretty much count on pounds and pounds of them. I'm also going to grow Oysters soon, I haven't had those in a while. It's very different from growing plants, for sure... and not too many people know how to do it.

So question to the experienced indoor growers: Do you think it's worth it to upgrade my lighting? I think a 250 watt HPS light would be fantastic, that would put me from about 8000 lumens to over 30,000, and I wouldn't be using more electricity since I'd be running it for fewer hours than the inefficient CFLs. I'm thinking run the CFLs 4 hours, the HPS for 10, and the CFLs for another 4.

As I understand it, if I want to grow fruits/vegetables indoors, I will need to upgrade to HPS.

[MJ5150]

I have a bird of paradise that is doing well after almost dying outside. We have three banana plants around the house, a crown of thorns, two peace lillys, and some other cool looking things that I do not know the name of. I like having all the plants in the house, it makes the air smell fresh. They are spread out pretty evenly so one area of our house doesn't look like a jungle.

Next step is some praying mantis' to hang out on the bigger plants.

-Mike

[Ericman197]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

I have a bird of paradise that is doing well after almost dying outside. We have three banana plants around the house, a crown of thorns, two peace lillys, and some other cool looking things that I do not know the name of. I like having all the plants in the house, it makes the air smell fresh. They are spread out pretty evenly so one area of our house doesn't look like a jungle.

Next step is some praying mantis' to hang out on the bigger plants.

-Mike

Do you have growlights? I remember you posted in the old thread, were you growing tomatoes or was that someone else?

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Ericman197

no, not everyone growing plants indoors is growing drugs

But they definitely should be...

[FL Knifemaker]

We're growing hydro maters My wife has about 1k invested in lighting. Two are metal halides, the others are T somethings We also have hydro herbs growing as well, cooking herbs that is Other dirt potted plants around the lighting is doing well also. She has several Bonsai trees, Junipers and an Japanese Elm. She's also into orchids and has a bunch of Christmas cacti that are ready to bloom.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Ericman197

Do you have growlights? I remember you posted in the old thread, were you growing tomatoes or was that someone else?

The plants no. Just natural light and the regular lighting in the house. It's hard this time of year up here since the sun only makes momentary appearances every few weeks.

We use the AeroGarden for our herbs, peppers, lettuce, and tomatoes.

-Mike

[Ericman197]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

But they definitely should be...

Haha

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

We're growing hydro maters My wife has about 1k invested in lighting. Two are metal halides, the others are T somethings We also have hydro herbs growing as well, cooking herbs that is Other dirt potted plants around the lighting is doing well also. She has several Bonsai trees, Junipers and an Japanese Elm. She's also into orchids and has a bunch of Christmas cacti that are ready to bloom.

Cool! I don't know what light you mean... the common ones are fluorescent, metal halide, HPS, HID and mercury vapor... maybe a few I don't know about...

E: Got it... she has T5 fluorescent lights?

[MakiSupaStar]

[sandmangeck]

i used to have a plethera of grow equip, sadly when the fiance and i had our daughter and moved, we no longer had space to grow herbs and plants indoors.
as to the original question, its up to you about the light power. i would look into the t-5 lighting. it emits an amazing amount of light, and no heat or noise, so you can drop the light closer to your plants. they also allow different combinations of bulbs (blue-red lighting)
i also have a diy plan for hydroponics system thats amazingly cheap, if anyone is interested pm me for details.

[AlembicPlayer]

a metal halide for the vegetation stage and the HPS for the flower or fruiting stages for a optimum grow

and yes, In Oregon..you can legally grow medicine