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Click and Grow

CanadianHomeChef

By CanadianHomeChef
in Kitchen Consumer

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CanadianHomeChef

CanadianHomeChef

Posted
Posted (edited)

Decided to start an indoor herb garden, and bought a “Click and Grow” based on the recommendation of Cook’s Illustrated. The starter kit

comes with 3 basil pods, 3 romaine lettuce pods, and 3 tomato pods. Planted all three, and came home today (day 3) and saw that all the lettuce and basil pods have sprouted. The image is of the tallest plant so far—Romaine lettuce.  The tomatoes are taking the longest but I think I see a bit of green buried in the soil. 

 

Anyone else have have one of these? I think I’ll just stick with herbs moving forward as I’m too impatient for lettuce, and from what I can see online the fruit bearing plants yield little. Tomatoes are super tiny; much tinier than cherry tomatoes. 

BCD2769A-8272-4CED-BC3C-D2EC1B0B3493.jpeg

Edited by CanadianHomeChef (log)
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Sizzle and Sear

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

I have a big ass grow light for thyme, sage and rosemary on my bathroom windowsill. 

 

Looks like a supernova from the road.  

  • Like 2
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted (edited)

I do a lot of indoor gardening (less so at themoment, but life gets in the way) but from what I can see from their website, the LEDs are really underpowered - especially for any type of fruiting plant unless it's also getting strong sunlight in a southern facing windowsill.  Basil also likes lots of light.  Beware - as basil grows, it becomes a HUGE water hog - I had a basil plant drink over a gallon of water a day!  I've used a lot of the relatively cheap LED lights found on Ebay - some are better than  others, but if you get a 250W (or even a 100W for just herbs or lettuce) light, it will be much better for your plants... and as @gfweb says, you can see my grow light in my apartment window from down the street.

Edited by KennethT (log)
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, heidih said:

I shared this with Ken the other day. A great indoor light primer  https://awaytogarden.com/indoor-growing-under-lights-with-leslie-halleck/

her article was good information for a home gardener.  Those a little more serious can find lots of research online - you need to know about PAR to judge a quality of a light, and then the ppf requirements of your plants...

rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

once sprouted

 

and seed can be helped in the winter w grow mats

 

its all about light.

 

not enough light , of any kind

 

not some much growth.

 

'' tender '' herbs

 

such as basil  might not very well at all

 

perennial herbs  , better

 

best of luck and i hope your system does well for you.

 

pay attention to Bugs.   the love delicious indoor tender shoots to eat

 

like 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealybug

 

BTW on the light :

 

its the square of the distance to the light  for the light effecct

 

the plants will spend all their time getting closer to the light

 

as the expense of their leaves

 

try to get the lights as close to the plants as you can

 

it makes a huge difference 

 

uncles the lights are hot

 

and cook your plants.

Edited by rotuts (log)
  • Like 1
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted

@rotuts Good advice. LEDs are a good choice because they do not radiate much heat towards the plants - which is not to say they don't get hot, but are made with a heat sink to suck out the heat.  Plant stretch (when they get leggy) is definitely caused by not enough light, but is also determined by the wavelength of light it is getting.  Far-red is known to help mediate germination in some plants - too much far-red will cause plants not to germinate at all.  High amounts of far-red will also cause plant stretch and some research shows that high amounts of far-red will also decrease oil/flavor production... so, for purely vegetative growth (what you want when growing herbs/lettuce) you want a higher amount of blue in your light. Back in the pre-LED days, that meant using a metal halide lamp for veg. growth (it has a bluish tinge) and then switching over to sodium vapor lamps to induce flowering (it has less blue and more far red - it looks like the old type orange-ish street lamps ).

dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, KennethT said:

Plant stretch (when they get leggy) is definitely caused by not enough light, but is also determined by the wavelength of light it is getting. 

 

Another reason for leggy plants:

In the outdoor environment, plants develop sturdy stems to resist wind. Wind is mostly lacking indoors.

Commercial greenhouse growers use electric fans to develop thick stem seedlings.

 

dcarch

  • Like 2
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yes, fans are important for a few reasons - not just to develop thick stems.  They are also necessary because stagnant air will cause a humid microclimate around the plant which will cause the plant to slow photosynthesis, slowing growth.  It also reduces transpiration which will cause calcium deficiency in the leaves leading to tip burn.  The humid microclimate also leaves the plant more susceptible to molds/mildew as well as other diseases.

 

ETA: if you only have 1 plant, you don't really need a fan on it, but if you have a bunch of plants grouped closely together, you definitely should have some ventilation...

Edited by KennethT (log)
rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

I used to ' grow ' indoors.

 

I used a fan.

 

suprise.gif.aa79e8877aea0d9a44e3810353f0eab4.gif

 

I no longer do.

 

not as exciting these days.

 

and that's a good thing !

 

money-mouth.gif.3c700d3ac3617af23bca3e1fad3ac823.gif

 

Edited by rotuts (log)
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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

@gfweb

 

nice

 

time do indeed have changed

 

when I did indoor gardening 

 

I used Metal-Halide lamps

 

although there were certain items

 

there were also some tomatoes , basil and etc.

 

I liked the tomatoes and the basil a lot more than the other items

 

and gave them away.

 

some people were pleased

 

i was more pleased by the tomatoes and basil

 

and under no circumstances ever

 

would I give those last two away.

 

I will warn those who want to grow basil in side :

 

please to try it and let us know.

 

its as difficult an item to grow inside as Ive ever tried.

 

as you will do better

 

please report , in detail

 

JP might have said 

 

   " Happy Growing ! "

  • Like 1
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted

I've grown basil inside very successfully - even without artificial lighting - just in my southern facing windowsill that gets a lot of light...  I'm sure I've posted pics of it in the gardening thread - it was the genovese strain and had leaves the size of my hand that were extremely pungent.  I grew them in a deep water culture/nft hybrid hydroponic setup.

  • Thanks 1
dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

COB LED high power chips are very inexpensive. They are very very bright. I built a few for seedlings. I don't use my 3 400W MH lamps anymore. MH bulbs are expensive and they don't maintain brightness very long.

 

dcarch

  • Like 1
rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

@dcarch

 

Im very glad you are up to date !

 

money-mouth.gif.c0e715f16faf2e074a094aead845729e.gif

 

me

 

as time marches on

 

once i go around the block

 

#R#(R%^#^R

 

times

 

Im going to pleased 

 

with my own dinner

 

suprise.gif.7fe612875f08a8037ca018bf146df27b.gif

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