New to Growing under lights

15 years ago

I have planned on starting my peppers some time in the next few weeks either in my basement or garden shed.

I have never tried to use lights to grow plants before. What is the best way to start? from what i have read, the higher temperature lights the better, I should put the lights as close as possible to the seeds and raise it up a little bit as they grow to prevent long spindly "leggy" plants. And I should use a heat mat to warm the soil.

I have a few questions though,

first, how many lights? I have ten two bulb fixtures, and three four bulb fixtures I saved from an office remodel a few years ago. I have a ton of scrap lumber to use and tools to work with.

basement or shed? both are not being used for anything but storage right now, i nthe garden shed i would have to put up a shelf about a foot from the ceiling to move my small containers of plant foods and soil amendments to. and a wall basket or shelving to put the spray rigs and hand spreaders on. In the basement i would have to get rid of an old junk wicker living room chair and an old desk so neither are too much work to get cleared.

I dont know what the ambiant temperature is in the basement but i have a heater going in the shed to keep chemicals and liquids from freezing. Also, the basement has a dehumidifier which i am assuming could provide water for my plants.

What is best to grow in? I have heard people talk about using everything from pea gravel to specialized blends of soil. I have always just planted in the dirt from my compost pile....

and last, is it best to put lights on a timer? or leave them on all the time? should lights be on at night or during the day? (for the shed as natural light does come in somewhat)

well, i think ive rambled on enough, i'll read this again i nthe morning and hopefully it will still make sense.

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Comments (4)

zen_man
15 years ago
tlowery04,

Well, you have asked a lot of questions, and hopefully others will chime in to supply answers. With regard to your question, "What is best to grow in?", I would suggest Premier ProMix BX with some added Perlite, or Premier ProMix HP (high porosity). You can get it cheaper if you find it locally, to avoid shipping costs. I have used Premier ProMix for years, with good results. (I have always managed to find it locally.)

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)
taz6122
15 years ago
I don't know what you've been reading but it doesn't sound like it's been on this forum. I think you'll find most of your answers on the first page of threads in this forum.
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tlowery04
Original Author
15 years ago
after reading several posts in this and other forums in the gardenweb arena I was left with tons of questions. Maybe its just me and the way i over complicate things. I was hoping to hear from some of the more knowledgeable growers. Let me first start out by saying thank you for the soil advice. I usually grow outdoors in a garden with pretty good soil amended annually with compost and wood chips and sometimes leaves - I didn't know if that was kosher to use or not.

I read several posts on lighting and they seem to bounce from one wall to the next. One post says 6500K day-lighters are the only way to go and another says 3000k shop lights are the perfect thing. Some people say a ceiling mounted light if fine, others say to get the light as close to the plants as possible (generally this recommendation falls between the 3 and 6 inch range)in order for more light to hit the plants presumingly. Also on the subject of lighting, most people use two bulb fixtures it seems, however it also seems that the "more is better" attitude it prevalent. Therefore - although I have multiple fixtures available to me I am only doing two maybe three trays of 72 at a time. any more than that and I don't think i could keep up with it come transplanting time. As such, I was curious as to whether I should spend 12$ on four bulbs, or 6$ on two.

As a Question directed at more experienced growers, would they recommended growing in a semi heated shed, or a semi cool basement? This question arises from my own concerns over temperature and natural daylight in conjunction with artificial.

I have read that cold temperatures produce a thicker stemmed stockier plant. In this arena I have to wonder if the plant retains it's compact status or if it grows out to a normal size once transplanted.

If The plants were in the shed, and on a 16/8 timer (as suggested as to not stress the plant) would it be best to leave the 8 hours off at night or during the day? My rational being that natural light coming in while the artificial is off may provide additional stimulus. The counter of which would be that lights being on at night may provide a little extra heat and night time growing time.

Once again I have never done this before so my head is a bit jumbled with everything I've read and my own inexperienced interpretations.

Worse case scenario I guess I could do both and see which works better.
yucatan
15 years ago
You're making it more complicated that it needs to be. For a growing area of approx. 4 ft. x 4 ft. you'll need a 4-ft long, 4-bulb or 6-bulb High-Output T5 fluorescent unit will work just fine for 100% indoor growing and no supplemental sunlight. You can use it for everything from seedlings to fruiting and flowering. Read up on it. The Tek-Light by Sun Systems is a good unit. You can mix and match 6500k and 3000k bulbs depending on the stage of the plant's life cycle. My advice is to buy the bulbs in bulk. Get about 8 to 12 since you'll need to replace them yearly.