Grow Light Question for Germination & Seedlings
by Kate
(Santa Monica, CA)
I built a PVC frame around 24" x 12" with 4 light sockets that can position the bulb angle (to point down/up or flat)... Right now they're around 1' above the cacao (chocolate) seeds. I have 2 CLFs (11 watt?) that produce 600 lumens--the lights are soft white. I have 1 CFL grow light (9 watt?) and it is also 600 lumens and soft white. The last socket is empty right now because I have a large plastic container w/2 seedlings in it (with a separate lighting 600 lumens 10" above the cacaos going through plastic).
I have some small cups in baggies w/germinating cactus seeds, and 2 plastic containers with different tropical seeds... This is all on a heating mat to keep everything warm.
I basically want to start the seeds and once they get a few true leaves, start adjusting them to go outside. My first question is: should I put some kind of reflector around or over the lights? I threw foil (non shiny side) around 3 sides and part of the top this morning--from what I read I panicked and thought I was using way too little light (the foil looks terrible) so if I do need a reflector I will buy the metal to make one.
Is this sufficient for what I want to do? I don't want to burn the plants, I was told the cactus seeds and cacao seedlings shouldn't have direct light. Thanks!
Answer: Kate- very fascinating....I believe you are the first person to grow cacao that I've ever met. First, light from your compact fluorescent grow lights will not do the same thing to your plants as direct sunlight. When people advise to NOT give them direct light, they mean direct sunlight....the fluorescent lights should be just fine.
Second, plants growing in the vegetative stage require much less light to grow properly than plants in the flowering stage. For what you are trying to do, the compact fluorescent lights should be bright enough and should not require a reflector. Simply keep them within a foot of the plants if you can. You biggest challenge is sure to be feeding them properly, keeping them at the right temperature, and transitioning them to outside.
Best of luck Kate....I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
AffordableGarden Design&Setup
Hi everyone, Jason from Jason's Indoor Guide here. When I got started with hydroponic gardening more than 24 years ago, my first garden used rockwool cubes and B.C. Nutrients....and I remember thinking to myself yeah, sure, there may be a lot of advantages to gardening with hydroponics, for example there are very few pest problems, therefore very little pest control, no weeding, no plowing or tilling the soil, no soil testing or having to add things into the garden soil, no watering the garden....but for someone who just wants to grow their own vegetables and have more control over their food supply and the quality of the food that they eat, the cost of constantly having to buy grow media and hydroponic nutrients makes this an expensive hobby for most people...
Epic Nutrient Change
I suppose when you take into consideration how much money you save NOT
having to buy food at the grocery store, it is surely cheaper to grow
your own food hydroponically even with the cost of high quality
nutrients. Nevertheless, I didn't have a whole lot of money to work with
and I needed to make my efforts as affordable and effective as
possible....and in the last 24 years I HAVE learned a thing or two!
As you browse through Jason's Indoor Guide, you will notice all of the
systems that I use personally are homemade systems. As I got 3 or 4
years of experience under my belt, I quickly adopted a preference to
standing water systems and systems that use expanded clay pellets or
lava rock, because the media is re-usable and it eliminates a huge
operating expense. So once a hydroponic system is built, garden
maintenance is minimal- check and adjust the nutrient solution daily,
and to change it completely every 2 weeks....and the biggest operating
cost is the hydroponic nutrients. (and the electric bill, lol)...
Homemade Cloner
And, regarding the cost of the nutrients....I experimented for about 3 years with making different compost teas and nutrient teas, but there is still a lot of expense $$$ associated with making high quality nutrient teas....like kelp meal, liquid seaweed, rock dust, bat guano, un-Sulfured molasses, worm castings. You can eliminate a lot of this expense by becoming an expert at making high-quality colloidal humus compost, and use your properly made compost as the basis of your hydroponic nutrient solution.
Unfortunately, I have been gardening for over 24 years and I have only
just recently mastered this difficult skill....and even then, only
because I happened to find a very easy to follow, high quality technique
and decided to follow the instructions to the letter. I produced more
high quality compost in just one week than I was able to use in a whole
year! If you can master the technique, I highly recommend it. It is one of the top 3 things you can do to
increase the productivity of your food production efforts, while at the
same time decreasing the amount of effort required to grow all of your
own food, and decreasing the total cost of operating your food
production system.
And when I say decrease operating costs, I mean decrease them to almost
ZERO, especially if you are producing your own nutrients...
High Efficiency
Hydroponics
The ultimate solution to eliminate the cost of your hydroponic nutrients: Imagine a hydroponic system that does not require you to buy any nutrients, does not require you to make your own compost, and does not require you to brew your own nutrient tea. Seriously! No cost and no effort as far as providing nutrients to your plants! Plus, at the end of the gardening cycle you harvest all of your garden vegetables, PLUS YOU HARVEST FISH from the system--->
Aquaponics
This solution is aquaponics. If you are serious about producing all of your own food and being self-sufficient, this is the ultimate solution for reducing expenses (as much as possible), reducing the total amount of work required, and maximizing the productivity of your gardening efforts. I have been gardening for over 24 years, and it is the perfect food production solution in my opinion.
Besides mastering how to make high quality compost, learning aquaponics is one of the top 3 things you can do to increase your garden productivity, reduce your total costs, and reduce your total work. The product that I learned from is called Aquaponics4you. With all of my hydroponic gardening experience, the first time I came across the Aquaponics4you product I knew immediately that it was something very special! Place an aquaponics system outdoors and use the sun instead of grow lights, and you have reduced every garden expense to nearly ZERO!
The Same System/ 10 Weeks Later!
