Hey Everyone!

Recently I got some broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, pepper, onion, and carrot seeds off Amazon for an experiment in indoor vegetable gardening. I found out it is INDEED possible with the right stuff. It has only been six days since I planted the seeds and the broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and tomatoes I planted are growing like weeds, except they are vegetables! I decided to come here and tell you how I am doing it.

First, I used large bins for the pots. I fill them with garden soil, NOT potting soil, (its all I had at the time, but it is working fine.)

Second, I use a grow light on the ceiling. My garden is in the basement and there is not much light except for the grow light. I keep it on all day and turn it off at night.

Third, I water sparingly, meaning I use just enough water for the seeds, but I try not to over fill the bins.

I do all three of these things and my vegetables are doing beautifully! I got 4 tomato plants growing, 6 cauliflower, 6 broccoli, and about 50 carrots. I lost track of how many carrots I am growing, actually!

It is INDEED possible to do vegetable gardening over winter! It just needs to be indoors!

By the way, I had a vegetable plant in the backyard that was flowering, I think its watermelon, but frost is coming soon, so I dug it up, carefully preserving the root system and transplanted it into a bin, and it is doing BEAUTIFULLY! That is possible also!

What do you guys think?

Jared

I think you have quite an indoor garden going there, Jared!

What type of grow light are you using?

Hello!

I am not sure what kind of light, but I will make a video of the garden later and show everyone. All I know is that it a plant growing light and it works GREAT!!!

Jared

What kind of containers are you using? I've always wanted to ty indoor gardens but I'm so afraid of that electricity bill..

Great job Jared
I am a Vietnam, I lived in the United States just two years and I also had an indoor plant vegetables like Jared. The results were so many and clean without chemicals.

I am excited to see how your harvest ends up. Especially the watermelon!

Ha ha ha. How's it doing now. What kinds of bugs did you bring in with that garden soil?

I've had the fun of taking this cabinet from my brain and lamely making this diagram, figuring all the math needed to give the grow cabinet it's best thought up design. My first ever design!!  Gimme your thoughts?!


72" x 24" x "72 or 6ft × 2ft x 6ft
(W x D x H)  stand will be assembled with 2x2 framing lumber and ply wood.


Grow space broken down.


Avg 5 gallon pail  18" tall
..added to..


36" grow space ~ 3 ft

As well as.....

Combined avg 12" for plug in socket, adapter and bulb with reflector.

For a combined height of 72" ~ 6 ft



Width.. The total of 4 pails is avg 44" wide.    I decided upon 72".  That only leaves a combined total of 28" left over with 4 pails in place....


that's an average of 5.5cm between pails (or pails to the walls)

Depth is 24" your pail is 11"

Minus your pail depth, leaving 13 inches of left over depth space.. Allowing an average of 6.5 cm extra grow room on the front and back of the cabinet.

I decided to put each light on it's own rail track with a bracket so each pail has it's own adjustable hanging light (not all plants grow the same)  

2 clamp fans  on "L" brackets at the top center of the sides.


Finishing it off with a set of custom made doors. 35" inches per door.

..

..
It will be painted a flat white to reflect the light around.

..


I will be putting 2x 6500 lumen bulbs for each plant to start and increasing from there if needed. (With 3 way light splitter)


This grow cabinet is designed to grow an indoor vegetable garden. 


Please comment on whether you think this set up would work?? Thanks, E.M!

Looks like a good well thought out design.

How is all the indoor gardening going?

I couldn't tell what kind of lights they are.

I'm guessing that, inside the bulb, they are "pretzel-shape" CFL bulbs. ("Compact Florescent Lights"). Those are fairly efficient, but I never found a really, really bright CFL.

6500 lumens sounds like a lot for incandescent: those are the very worst.

Are you considering the very intense "metal halide" bulbs that come in 400, 600 or 1000 watt sizes? Those used to be the "pro choice" years ago, but LED lights are said to be more efficient now, if you can afford the initial purchase price.

I forget how the efficiency of metal halide bulbs compare to T5-HO bulbs, but the metal halides create a smaller but brighter spot, while linear tubes create a wider, more uniform illuminated area. I guess you can spread out intense light with reflective "spreaders" if you use metal halides (MH bulbs).

CFL-pretzels aren't too bad, but T5 or T5-HO linear bulbs might be more efficient (lumens per watt). For example, 4-foot, 4-tube T5-HO fixtures.

You must have massive amounts of lights to grow tomatoes and such! Do you have solar panels to provide the light "for free"?

Hi everyone,

I actually moved and this experiment is no longer being done.

Jared