Phil, yes, the site is up and running now, but I too experienced some problems today.

Will try tomorrow, can get their homepage up but that's it, click on anything and it's just an error page, ah well can't buy yet anyway.

Looks like the Mars site is down again. Or they just don't like the USA ;)

So the guy at my local hydro shop has talked me out of buying a tent. Telling me why invest the money and go through the hassle of cooling and venting a tent? Being out in the open is much better for the plants. Unless you need to hide your garden, if you get my drift... ;)

I just saved a ton of money. It still doesn't solve my light requirements. I have ordered a small LED screw-in bulb 12W to test on some juvenile plants.

Phil I will review the links you posted.

Tracy

A bud box? Really? LOL. I like the LEDs, the brand is decent. However I hope you aren't planning to buy it from eBay. Something like the tent may be okay but the LEDs you would want to get locally so in the event something fails you can return it easily. Just my 2 cents.

Tracy

Hi tracy, maybe the guy in your hydro store is thinking why have a tent when your climate is pretty damn good anyway compared to here in the UK? Did you mention to him about using one over winter months as surely you would need one even over there in the US or was he meaning get a light but don't bother with a tent? If you got say just a light won't you waste and lose a lot of light if not confined to a tent? Or am I missing something lol

He was saying get the light skip the tent. He was merely pointing out that in my scenario I could do without the tent. He said the amount of light lost is minimal. Of course the glowing lamp could be a huge distraction if not make it impossible to inhabit a room. In that case the tent is a viable option.

Tracy

Spec! Holy *filth-flarn-filth*, Phil lol Those beasts had casette tapes. Good times.

Anyway, mylar is still useful for insulation. Even with just T5HOs, my old chamber was able to maintain enough heat to keep soil temperature at 20C during the day. I used to rent a house with a very cold basement so I had to rig a winter habitat by taping mylar to the outside of the box that the dishwasher was in and painted the inside white; punched one hole for an intake fan and another one for out-take; hung 17-watt T7HOs and voila. Nice happy plants all winter. I didn't even have to put extra heat mats down there. The thing did not survive the move but I have a warmer basement now.

Besides, $75?! That is a lot of Mesa Garden seeds, yo.

Pagan

P.S. lol Tracy, one day I will tell you about this mountain village I once went to.....

The house we rent is upside down, so kids bedrooms are dowstairs, we sleep in the room upstairs, so plants will be downstairs and rooms are much cooler there so will prob need some kind of insulation for them to be fair as we won't have the central heating on when we are out, so they won't qppreciate the cold, so even though I could get a lump of seed with $75 I think I'm gonna need a tent.....

I knew I should have kept my spectrum 48k and commodore 64computers,selling them today may have fetched a pretty penny from collectors - aarrghh

The guy forgets about the fact that a grow tent traps heat inside. That is one of the reasons I bought one. ;-) And you probably don't need big fans for air circulation when you grow small Adenium seedlings. Just open the tent now and then and let the LED fan do the rest. ;-)

Maybe the vapour from his erm, 'special' plants shall we say had an impact on him ;)

"Magic tobacco"? Hydro? Snup? Funk? Weed? Nooo, he is growing carrots. I am sure of it! ;-)

Lol you two are too much. I hope I didn't throw a damper on the excitement around Martin's new tent and Phil's new tent to be. Of course they are beneficial for having complete control over your environment.

One more thing I want to mention is that we are also contending with lousy conditions here in the USA. Not all of us live in sunny California. It is raining today. It rained all day yesterday. And the forecast calls for crap tomorrow.

Tracy

He's right though. Those "carrots" are much happier in the sun.

Sid someone mention California, us that where Ceser millan, the dog whisperers place is? Looks magnificent and I think he is superb at his profession

No going back now - gone and ordered the tent, light and hangers :) just need another heat mat, 2 will do to start with, an on/off thermostat, small fan (I think) and some plastic egg crate - after I bought this lot I am going to buy some seed to start with from KO and Rinoa I think :)

Awesome Phil! So pleased to hear your plans are finally coming together. I am looking forward to seeing your setup.

Thanks a lot tracy, don't know why I feel anxious/nervous lol prob cos I just spent £125 and feel guilty for doing so lol,

Congrats, Phil! From Mars Hydro? You will simply love the setup. Now you are able to cook some serious Adenium-stuff. ;-) As you know, I have seedlings under both types of lights, T5HO's and LED, and acutally, the comparison is not fair. ;-) My T5HO's are absolutely no match to the particular LED panel. The difference in growth is HUGE.

Yes pal, got them from the Mars hydro website, it was cheaper than buying the same stuff from same seller from eBay, understandable as they have to cover ebay fees etc

Excellent! :-) Oh, btw, how are your and your family?? Did lightning strike your house??

Hi martin, we have no phone or internet line so judging by the super loud pop whilst I was making tea yesterday it must have hit the line outside the house right next to it as the house is in tact. Never heard a noise like it or as loud. Just on here now for like 5 mins whilst I have a signal at a customers house lol, so I ain't being rude if I don't respond right away lol

Hi Phil will you use your light unit 24/7 and how much will it cost in electricity?. I wouldn't mind something like this but the running costs (I don't know what they are) put me off. I will be interested to see how you get on with yours. Hey! Don't feel guilty, you got to treat yourself now and again lol. Enjoy it!

Hi averil, I will be honest I don't know the monthly cost, at a guess I'd say maybe £8 but it's a complete guess, I'd be surprised if it was any or much more as they are supposed to-be pretty good consumption wise.

By the way the plants are still in full leaf you sent me, not had any drop and still looking good lol.

Just wondering would it be detrimental to them if I didn't let them go dormant and put them under the light in the tent, or is it better to rest them?

Phil, do you know your 1 kWh electricity cost? I can easily do the maths for you, then. ;-)

Not off hand, but I will find out as soon as I can pal and let you play with your abacus if you could please pal ;)

Sure. ;-) Btw, Phil, do you have a timer for your new light set-up? My Red Light Nuclear Plant switches on/off automatically. ;-)

Here you go Martin, 11.01p Kwh is what we pay.

Timer is on my list to buy and I think I will have light coming on at 5am and off at around 10pm :)

The power consumption of the LED panel only will cost you about 6.5£ per month on average (lights on 17 hours/day). :-)

Not bad at all pal, thanks a lot for that, which will be a help to averil and any others here in the UK, ok rates will vary slightly but it's a great indicator to go from, cheers pal :)

The calculation is based on the particular Mars Hydro LED panel (about 110W power consumption).

That's cool, I bet others on here have been impressed by this light so might even sway them to purchase one if they fancy a light and tent lol. Hope mine arrives within a week, once my Internet is back up I will order a stat, egg crate, fan and heatmat and get my Adeniums in the tent as they are still outside in my mini greenhouse, so keeping an eye on evening temps in the meantime.

Seems much cheaper than I thought. I'm glad your plants are good Phil. I don't think it will hurt them if you grow them on under lights. I'm thinking of doing the same but that will be next year. This summer has been rotten. I've brought mine in from the greenhouse and they're festooned all over the windowsills lol

Sorry to hear about your internet and phone lines, hope they have you fixed quickly. This energy cost and consumption looks great, Phil. I am getting excited for you. Pretty soon you will be a mad scientist tweaking your lights to just the correct distance from your cherished crops.

Tracy

Tracy, I think Phil was like myself. Growing without scientific interest but I think that's changing lol. Give him a few months and it will be like "I was working in the lab late one night......"

Isn't it fascinating how it draws us all in Averil? I am really enjoying watching Phil's Adenium experience completely unfold. Defying the weather that is dealt by creating the ultimate environment for his beloveds....

Tracy

Wow how quick was that, tent and light ordered Sunday morning, arrived today, everything else has now been ordered, stat, heat mat, fan etc which hopefully will arrive before the bank holiday weekend so it can be up n running by then?

Hoping when they go under the light they will really take off and grow as it will be a constant environment for them rather than the stop start we get in out typical UK summers :)

I also have to then decide which seed to go for :)

This saga makes me want to get Coke Zero and popcorn. Pictures will be coming up soon, yes?

Pagan

Fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride baby!! :)

So Phil, I apologize for the lecture the other day about ordering your LED on eBay. I am very glad you ordered directly from Mars so you are guaranteed great service if there should ever be an issue.

After giving you my opinion I trolled over to Amazon and purchased an LED which was delivered to the wrong City and State today! I'm sure they will make it right but I suppose they are no less shady than eBay (smacks forehead).

Can't wait to see your rig operating!

Tracy

Mine came from ebay. I love buying things on the internet.

What kind did you get Dain? You should be telling us all about it!

Tracy

Phil, that was a fast delivery! Mine is on its way. Have you turned it on? I think I can see a faint red flickering light to the west... Some of my seedlings are beginning to tilt this way...;-)

Ha ha that must be the red light zone in Amsterdam you see lol. Not done anything with it yet, working late last night and already been to first job this morning, so will build the tent and hang the light in the next day or two as I can't rig up properly until the rest of my stuff arrives

Tent up, it's erm pretty tall lol

Martin - the bars on the top I assume they are supposed to slide quite freely? Just gonna work out how to attach the yo yo hangers onto frame then light onto hangers so it doesn't come crashing down lol

Thought about doing a blog but it's all been done before I guess lol, I can just post a few progress pics here n there instead

Tracy, all in due time.

Phil, blogs are a nuisance. Better just keep the posts coming on here. ;-)

I agree with Dain, you should skip the blog. We are all waiting on pictures right here on the forum. When you get your yo-yo hangers assembled please take a photo of that too so we can see how they work (please).

Tracy

Well got the light hung in my own way as couldn't suss out how they are supposed to go up until I get a net connection back to look online lol.
So for now it's a dry run, 2 heatmats on getting up to temp underneath my 2x2 square piece of egg crate. Thermostat probe is on top of the egg crate along with digital thermometer probe. Thermometer display outside of the tent to easily view readings as it's a hygrometer also.
Once upto temp I will get some plants under it prob tomorrow all being well and hope they start to look half as good as the ones I keep seeing on here.

If you search "Grow Tent" on Google, the possibilities are almost endless. Amazon has them as well, along with the LED lighting. eBay...if you go that route, make sure you buy from the manufacturer so you get a warranty would be my advice.

If you're looking for advice, just ask. So many people can help you out with almost anything.