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Preparing for next season already!

MiLK_MaN

MiLK_MaN

I know you folks in the northern hemisphere are gearing up for your growing season, but I thought I'd already take steps to prepare myself for starting seeds in 4 months. Besides that, I continually need some sort of mini project from time to time.

So, off to ebay I went to find some metal shelves. Thankfully, I find some shelves for $64, and in pretty good condition. Picked that up last night, and today I picked up some mylar and attached it to some cardboard.

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So here is the final product, there are 3 tiers, starting from bottom to top:

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Tier 1 = Initial seed germination. 130W 14000K CFL, using rockwool with a water pump and an air curtain to pump fresh oxygen into the water. So far, seems to be going well with my initial germination tests

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Tier 2 = Once roots show within rockwool, I'll move them to small pots with soil. 90W LED lamp, more red than blue built in.

Tier 3 = 0.8m x 0.45m x 0.8m grow tent. I've got a 220W CFL that's 50/50 mix of red & blue, I might use that, but it does get quite a bit warm. Not so bad during late winter and early spring, but it just gets too hot from time to time.

The weekend will be spent deconstructing the big 1.2m tent I have, and selling that on ebay. I've concluded that the garage just isnt big enough, and I'll probably wont grow over winter but focus more on getting the seeds ready for next season.
 
MM,

It looks like the LED is really promoting stem growth. I've got a 45 watt Red/Blue panel and my toms and lettuce under it look like crap. Next to it are a bunch of basil plants, but the panel is a 14 watt all blue one. They are loving it. I don't know if I should exchange the all blue for the red/blue one or not.

I'm of the mindset that the perfect LED would have 3:1, blue to red ratio. Actually, I wish they came with a dial-up control panel so I can select the color emitted. A store has this LED sign that they display messages on, using all the colors of the rainbow. It's about 48"x36" and I can read the message from 1/10 of a mile away. Think what that would be like in a greenhouse!

Mike
 
Hi Mike,

Im pretty sure I read a forum post on greenpinelane.com that indicated someone built a custom LED with a knob that allowed them to turn up and down different light frequencies, which would be pretty cool.

Bear in mind, in the photos that I took, the tray at the bottom with the small plants are actually clones, but were sitting under the LED light for a few weeks before I changed the setup to how it is now.

My theory is, I'll probably grow seedlings in rockwool cube under the 130W CFL 14000K light until two pairs of true leaves, then move them to under the LED light. One thing I found with my LED light in the big grow tent was that growth was phenomonal, flowering/fruiting was not until the light was very close to the canopy. This indicated to me 90W wasnt really enough if I wanted the light to cover a large area, but for the purposes of starting off seedlings with fast growth, I reckon its going to do a good job.
 
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