Indoor gardening?

Just curious if anyone knows of any good forums or other sites for information for indoor gardening? I am currently enjoying my veggies growing out on my deck in pots and am trying to determine whether doing an indoor setup for the winter(live in MN) would be for me. I live in a split level home and we don't really use the downstairs for much(most of the brew equipment is stored downstairs) so I figured I could do some sort of hydroponic setup in the corner downstairs. It's fake wood laid on top of a concrete downstairs so while I don't anticipate large leaks, it wouldn't be the end of the world either. The reason I am interested in hydroponics is because the I am a little uneasy about large pots of dirt in my home, and hydroponics seem better suited for what I am trying to do.

Now, I have googled this, and the reason I am posting this question here is because I figure the homebrew/wine/cheese making crowd may be into this as well. The reason I asking for suggestions is due to the fact that googling hydroponic gardening supplies brings up a lot of websites that seem more related to growing other types of not so legal plants. I am looking for resources for growing 100% legal plants, mostly veggies and possibly some fruits.

Any suggestions?

dummkauf said:

I am looking for resources for growing 100% legal plants, mostly veggies and possibly some fruits.

Any suggestions?

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Suuuure you are, buddy....is that what their calling it nowadays? - Fruit and veggies? Haha, just teasin'.

Midwest sells that stuff. Maybe head down there and talk to them.

remilard said:

Midwest sells that stuff. Maybe head down there and talk to them.

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You know I thought I'd remembered seeing some of that stuff down there, but then I went to double check tonight and they don't have any of it listed on their website.....wondering if they don't want to be associated with the usual types of sites that sell hydroponic setups online :fro:

That would be one source for equipment and advice, but I was also looking for some sort of online forum, similar to homebrewtalk, for indoor gardening where I could ask questions as they come up.

I'm also curious if anyone has experience with this and can comment on the cost/savings aspect of a hydroponic garden vs. buying fresh produce from your local market(big chain or farmers market). I eat the cherry tomatos growing on my deck right now like candy, and absolutely love fresh veggies, but I'm also curious if I could see any reduction in my grocery bill with one of these setups(reduction taking into account the amount of money spent on maintaining the garden, not just a reduction in my grocery budget).

Well, a few years ago I used to grow hydroponically. I won't mention what I was growing.

Let me just say that the cost is probably prohibitive for anything but a cash crop. between the hydro setup, the lights and electricity, and the nutrients, you are better to take a trip to Mexico every year and enjoy tropical fruit in the winter.

growing illegal products is quite like growing tomatos. the equipment you would be using would be the same. nutrient amount/ratios woul be different. many of the illegal sites still talk about growing food indoors. but organic soil setups can yeild virtually the same amout of stuff such as peppers and tomatos. cfl(compact floros-the squiggly bulbs) can also provide enough lumens for what you are doing. also it would be much cheaper. i was running a 3x3foot closet of growing space with nothing but cfl's and soil.

I moved my tomatoes indoors last year and continued to have fresh 'matos until Thanksgiving. Eventually they withered and died, but I was just using a few plant bulbs in a standard light fixture and the plants had been outside through the summer.

One problem I ran into were gnats breeding in the soil of the pots. Some playsand on the surface will help avoid that.

the cfl's will do a better job than the plant bulbs as main light, you really only want to use the plant bulbs to add the red and blue spectrums that you dont get from the cfl's

mcarb said:

Well, a few years ago I used to grow hydroponically. I won't mention what I was growing.

Let me just say that the cost is probably prohibitive for anything but a cash crop. between the hydro setup, the lights and electricity, and the nutrients, you are better to take a trip to Mexico every year and enjoy tropical fruit in the winter.

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By "prohibitively expensive" are you referring to hundreds, or thousands of dollars for a small setup?

ChshreCat said:

I moved my tomatoes indoors last year and continued to have fresh 'matos until Thanksgiving. Eventually they withered and died, but I was just using a few plant bulbs in a standard light fixture and the plants had been outside through the summer.

One problem I ran into were gnats breeding in the soil of the pots. Some playsand on the surface will help avoid that.

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That is part of the reason I was looking at the hydroponic setup, now it's just a matter of what that would set me back.

There any many different types of hydro setups you can do. Most are extremely expensive.

You could go dwc(deep water culture) aka bubble buckets. They can be built for very cheap.

Check out Invent Geek which has a couple of nice DIY hydroponics links.

http://www.inventgeek.com/projects.aspx

dummkauf said:

By "prohibitively expensive" are you referring to hundreds, or thousands of dollars for a small setup?

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Well you can go as cheap or as expensive as you want. In my case, I had a full hydroponic setup, with 4x4 foot ebb and flow table, a reservoir and full nutrients. Then you are talking about the lighting, in my case CO2, and temperature and humidity control. The setup cost is definitely at least a few hundred dollars to a thousand or more for this setup.

However, you can go with just soil and pots. Personally, for veggies, this is what I would do. Bugs can be a hug issue indoors so make sure you put an inch of perlite at the bottom and an inch at the top of the soil to keep fungus gnats from breeding.

Then you have the electricity expenses. For my system I had a 1000 w High pressure sodium setup. Nowadays they have LED lights and other cost saving setups, but startup costs should still be relatively high. In my case, my electricity went from about 30 bucks a month to about 120 bucks a month. Not worth it for some tomatoes.

If you can get natural light and stay cheap, it should work fine. If you can get GOOD lighting for cheap, it might be ok. But if you are going to try and get by with subpar lighting, you are wasting your time and money.

Good luck. One thing you can do is try and grow a cash crop of some sort to help subsidize the electricity. Maybe grow some basil or other herbs and sell them to local stores?

I've been looking at doing the same thing, Texas has seen no rain and it's brutally hot.

This small nutriculture system (Drip Irrigation System) was only $90 and is suitable for 10-12 plants. http://imgur.com/UaUy4 I grew 4 lettuce, 2 swiss chard and 3 arugula and 1 kale plant.

Here are the results about 50 days from seed.
http://imgur.com/FOHMY

I used General Organics nutrients about $10.00.

300 LED Grow light about $396.00 delivered.

My electrical bill has not fluctuated, I pay $100-$120/mo, since I'm on the budget billing plan. I calculated my increase in kw/month and figured out this harvest cost about an additional $64.00 to the electric company.

I just wanted to share that you can grow indoor hydroponically without spending a fortune. I would go to your local hydroponic shop or I can send you a few links to stores with good prices on Ebb and Flood systems.

Jason

jlanier01 said:

This small nutriculture system (Drip Irrigation System) was only $90 and is suitable for 10-12 plants. http://imgur.com/UaUy4 I grew 4 lettuce, 2 swiss chard and 3 arugula and 1 kale plant.

Here are the results about 50 days from seed.
http://imgur.com/FOHMY

I used General Organics nutrients about $10.00.

300 LED Grow light about $396.00 delivered.

My electrical bill has not fluctuated, I pay $100-$120/mo, since I'm on the budget billing plan. I calculated my increase in kw/month and figured out this harvest cost about an additional $64.00 to the electric company.

I just wanted to share that you can grow indoor hydroponically without spending a fortune. I would go to your local hydroponic shop or I can send you a few links to stores with good prices on Ebb and Flood systems.

Jason

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uhhh, I'm out...

I grew chives, broccoli, lettuce and tomatoes hydroponically every winter for the past 3 years. With a few 5gal buckets, aquarium air pumps and stones, and some hydro nutrient
with a Bubble bucket

You can do something lo-tech. http://www.popsci.com/lightspikes

Damn, I am so glad I live in California. The only thing you have grow indoors around here, we can't discuss.

The whole seeing the seasons change is starting to get old. My brother, the smart one, lives in San Diego.

jlanier01 said:

The whole seeing the seasons change is starting to get old. My brother, the smart one, lives in San Diego.

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Meh. Veggies in the summer and hockey in the winter. Sounds like a good deal to me!

I've thought about growing indoors, but one look at the cost to start and the electricity (not to mention adding one more hobby) and I opted to forget it.

My friend keeps, or used to, several relatively rare or unusual plants in his basement, and he actually had the police on to visit when the neighbor noticed flourescent lights on all the time through the basement window.

No pot, but a few native plants that are technically not supposed to be transplanted from their natural location. I guess the police weren't interested in finding out if they were legal or not. Just looking for some MJ.

The projects that jlanier01 posted at inventgeek make this look like a fun project for winter, I might give one or two buckets a shot.

Are there any forums for hydroponics that aren't about growing marijuana?

lustreking said:

The projects that jlanier01 posted at inventgeek make this look like a fun project for winter, I might give one or two buckets a shot.

Are there any forums for hydroponics that aren't about growing marijuana?

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Don't know afraid to look.