Thanks for the feedback! I will keep you posted. I actually went with the flouros after calculating what the electric bill would entail. I have a pallet full of 1000w MH and HPS ballasts, bulbs and reflectors I also got at auction which led me to the idea of doing this since I now had lots of expensive lighting for less than $100. =)

The only problem is 1000w seems like overkill, and the electric consumption would be quite high, but more so the extra issues like venting the heat and cooler requirments I would have in the summer (the AC already runs way too much). They are going on ebay soon, and perhaps I will buy a 400 or 600w switchable ballast and MH and HPS bulbs if things aren't going well with flouro alone.

g'day ttaz,

i've found that most vege's i grow need certain periods of light ie.,. the brassicas grown in winter still want 6 hours of winter sun but once the days lengthen and get hotter they tend to bolt and go to seed. tomato's won't set fruit or ripen properly without up to 8 hours of summer period sun, but with porotection from that searing later afternoon sun. by and large most vege's need their sun, just look at how and where farmers grow product.

also many plants won't grow/germinate if the soil temp' isn't warm enough.

not up to speed with your counties whatever but arizona is a hot dry climate yes?

then you need to look at your lands aspect like most gardeners should many don't, the best aspects for gardening would be eastern or southern or inbetween for you (northern for us down here), and as with our climates western and northern aspect in you case are far from ideal vege' gardening aspects.

for your long hot summers you may need to have and eastern section and for winter a southern section? you would need to have tree barriers to the west and north to protect against sun and those undesirable winds.

you could construct sahde covers for summer use.

but for me i would still use raised garden beds very heavily mulched, the plants get stressed a whole lot more if their root runs are allowed to be stressed by heat and/or cold, so a good green hay type mulch at around 8"s or so will not only retain moisture but will insulate the soil in either season.

we are in a sub-tropical zone with reasonable rainfall and many gardeners here won't grow summer crops through december and into february as they haven't worked out how to deal with the heat, we grow all through that season adn do well all because of mulch. my land is flat so doesn't realy have an aspect as such but my gardens are on the north/eastern side of the yard which is pretty much ideal as the house and fence are then between the garden and the later afternoon sun.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

I was a farm boy who re-started gardening in Phoneix about '66 after college and the military.

I remember Armenian cucumbers just loved it. I grew broccoli in the fall, a small heading variety and could pick off heads for my lunch for many days.

I had a Rube Goldberg misting system for a small area rigged to a thermostat that came on when the temperature got too high. I don't recall taking notice of what this did to utility bills.

I would suggest talking to the Gardenweb Gardening Under Lights people. This is out of my league but I think you want to be more interested in Kelvins and less interested in Watts but I am not sure about that. The people on the other forum and probably tell you without hesitation.

Yes light plays important role in plant growth.Red light triggers germination process.All seeds packets have recommended depth for sowing seeds.Some seeds reqire just very thin layer of soil above seeds otherwise they will not germinate.In absence of sufficient light plants will be leggy in search of light for growth.Plant leaves use light for photo synthesis for sugar it requires as food.Blue light has some role in plant growth.

Seems you like to read. Go to your library (or just order the book) and check out "Gardening in the Desert Southwest" by Mary Irish. She's from the area and it's a decent general introduction text for your area. It's really simple stuff in a really simple format, but its a good start to let you know what you're dealing with.

The only downside is there isn't accurate planting calendars, just "this should/could happen this month".

A planting calendar for veggie gardening in your area should be available somewhere online. Might want to write the down the number or email address of your local extension agency, too.

Phone your county's Extension Serivce office to learn about gardening in your climate.

Here's the home page for Maricopa County.
http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/

While there, look for the link to the online Arizona Master Gardener Manual. You can search it for info appropriate to your region.

Chapter 10 discusses veggies http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/index.html

And here's a link to their publications
http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/publications.html

Sounds like you're growing pot!

sshrivastava(9)

Sounds like you're growing pot!

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4 hours ago