hydroponic Switching to hydroponic

[charlie5heen]

I'm a beginner Chile grower, I usually grow some in the summer from seed organically without the use of fertilizer or pesticide in a small tilled garden with decent success. I'm not opposed to using fertilizers I just don't know where to begin, and when I get to the store they have so little stock that most of it is high nitrogen and the plants would be in flower mode. I've been thinking about growing a plant or two indoors and get a nice yield with the lowest amount of money invested possible. What would you recommend as far as a good setup? I'm thinking something along the lines of a kratky rig, how far would this go indoors without and artificial lights or fixtures involved? Thanks.

 

[MNXR250R]

Hey Charlie.
 
Indoors without a light ? Not sure if that was what you were asking... Perhaps you were asking how well it would work without light compared to using artificial lights ??
 
Without artificial lights I would say don't bother unless you have a sun room or porch that gets a whole bunch of light during the day. You're in Ohio, and the daylight is short in the winter which isn't helpful. Putting a plant near a window won't work all that well in my view. Not that it won't work at all, just not very well.
 
If you don't want to invest in a fixture and don't have a place in the house or apartment that gets a bunch of light during the day, you don't really have a lot of options.
 
At a minimum you could get some CFL's. Grow in soil so you could transplant outside in the spring.
 
Now then if you want to go full hydro and grow indoors year round, I think you'll need a lighting system.
 
Good luck.
 
Jeff
 
 

 

[Voodoo 6]

you can always burn candles, 1 candle equals 1 lumen at 1 foot. so you would need 12000 candles, which would probably burn your house down.

 

[AJ Drew]

There is a book: Pot for Pennies that really helped me to figure out cheap alternatives to the high dollar route.  On lighting for a plant or two, I have a thought from back in the day that worked for a budget.  Regular old shop lights with cool white bulbs.  At first when plants are small, overhead hung by adjustable strings.  Then mounted on two by fours vertically on the side of plants in front of a window.  Rotate the plant a lot so each side gets some window time.

Absolutely not the best way to go, not nearly enough light for great productivity, but if you hide the shop lights or decorate them somehow it looks great to have a three foot plant in the window.