Growing Veggies indoors w/ pics warning 2 dialup usrs

[daisy_dukers]

Someone from this board PM'd me asking for some pictures of how I grow veggies indoors year round.

I grow mine a couple of different ways and under both HID (400W MH and 400W HPS) and floro's (40W tubes).

I grow veggies in soil and in bubblers and each has its benefits and drawbacks.

I had a chance to take some pictures last night of the 10 pot lettus bubbler I setup for the wife about a month ago. It is dead simple to build and grow veggies in, though you do have to watch out for PH drift depending on your nutrients. I currently have them growing in a organic sol'n using a product called Pure Blend which I have used in the past.

So here goes....

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

Here is a shot showing a top down view of some leaf lettus (grand rapids variety I believe) that we have been picking from for about 3 weeks now. It is a bit sparse in the picture but that is because my wife raided it for a salad before I got a chance to take some pictures.

View of the bubbles

Here is a shot of the roots growing out of the net pots. Notice the oganic tea mix they are grown in. Had I used chemical ferts the roots would nice and white and the nute mix would be clear. Either way the roots in this are nice and healthy.

Here is a shot of the roots suspended in the nute mix

Here is a picture with a toonie for size comparison

and here is a handfull

I will post some more pictures of my HID setup later on...
It is currently being used to grow all my seedlings for spring.
I have some decent sized cabbage growing down there also.

Here is some zuccinni from over the winter

Here are some snap peas I grew on a wire cage that got cut down to make room for the seedlings

 

[b.hromada]

That is so cool. Look how clean they are, thats just amazing! What wonderful work you've done!

I don't blame your wife for "stealing" some lettuce for your salads!

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Wow! I like your set up!!

How do you pollunate (spelling?) the cucumbers and peas?

 

[daisy_dukers]

the peas self polinate fortunately....

Cukes, zuccini, and a few others have to be hand polinated....I use a kids paintbrush

Pole beans were the worst for this....I wont ever grow them indoors again....too much work hand polinating.

 

[sslavo91]

This looks great! Did you purchase the supplies needed for your hydroponic system and assemble it yourself, or did you purchase a ready made unit? Are your zucchini and peas just growing in a rubbermaid?

 

[daisy_dukers]

I don't purchase any pre-made systems.

DIY is where it's at.

Bubblers are easy to build, all you need is a container, netpots, airstone, and airpump...

You can make them out of 5gallon pails (for a tomato plant for example), rubber maids etc.

Zuccinni's and peas are just growing in rubbermaids.... Dead simple and most importantly lotsa room for the roots to spread out...

Peas were also planted with lettus at one time....lettus on the bottom, peas growing up the wire frame.

 

[jamieneenah]

Do the regular florescent light work just fine? How much light is needed? I always assumed it would take lots and lots of artifical light to properly grow plants like this.
Jamie

 

[daisy_dukers]

The lettus was grown under floro tubes (two 40W bulbs) as it doesnt need the lumens that tomatoes need for example.

Leafy greens (swiss chard, kale, lettus, basil, etc.) do well under regular cool white floro tubes.

Anything that fruits (tomato, strawberries, etc.) need more light IMHO and based on my experiments.