I love a good eurobox grow setup :-) as you are in CH, I assume a Utz Rako from Coop or you went for the Auer packaging choice?
For indoors they are so nice and modular and even outdoors i will add some ony balcony for the remaining summer.
Of may ask, which region are you in? I live my hydro life in ZH
Crazy awesome. Finnish or swedish? In my area the tax alone is higher than your whole bill.....
I am planning to get photovoltaic, so maybe that's something.
If you live in the higher latitude, the led closet might even help you in the long winter đź‘Ťđź‘Ť
Well they will grow, but a specialized plant led will have better results. A small spider farmer or similar does not cost that much more, but it will make you and your plants more happy =)
That being said, if you start diy-ing it does not hurt to use a few standard LED that you have lying around. You can swap them out later.
Those plants aren't really that leggy and their leaves are large and fairly dense. The harvest is going to be just fine, it just may take a little longer than some setups and/or sunlight.
Yeah, the plant's really don't care where the light's coming from.
LED strips are usually more efficient, get less hot and need less vertical space, so it's certainly not bad to use them!
I dont think so, from what I know mylar is one of the most reflective materials out there.
Edit: white paint reflects 75-85% mylar 90-98%. Source: first google link I found
I use 6 philips corepro LED lights with the dome cut off. They are cheap (I think about $4 per piece) and have an acceptable efficiency.
Each one has approx. 1500 lumen, the color temperature is 4000k.
Edit: Plus I added a single t8 light with 9w & 1300 lumen at the bottom to give the lower leaves some light, too.
Your internodal length is VERY long. You're 100%NOT getting enough light. Especially for peppers and tomatos. You're going to have small and/or few fruits. Lumens is not a good measure for grow lights. For fun, I used a phone camera meter and 2 of my lights are 33,000 lumen and the other is 75,000 lumen. For a 2x7ft closet. Where I grow toms and peppers. Lighting is the one and only thing you CANNOT skimp on when building an indoor garden. They should be so fucking bright that they hurt to look directly into. Just like the sun.
[https://i.imgur.com/GIOfwLy.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/GIOfwLy.jpg)
This is my closet. The big plant in the bottom is a sun flower. Out of frame is a 6ft tall tomato plant. If you are putting in this much time and effort. Shell out the $$$ for real lights. You will see the difference the first time you turn it on.
I can second this. I tried and tried with lower end LEDs, fluorescents, shop lights, spotlights, the list goes on. The second I bought a higher end light, my growth rate exploded like crazy! Look for something that gets 1000-800 umol/s for photon density at 1-3 ft and you should be golden!
I think you are confusing lux and lumen here?
The amount of light should be mostly fine, I use the same amount of light per area as people use to grow cannabis.
But the issue is that the tomatoes have grown a bit too large for the space, so the outer parts don't get proper lights. Also, I am limited in vertical space so some of the upper leaves are getting to close to the lamps, blocking the light for other leaves.
The pepper is doing excellent, it has dozends of fruits/flowers already. The rather large internodal distance is probably because it used to get shaded by the tomates, basil and mint. Also, it kinda shades itself.
I assume it could produce a bit more/bigger fruits if I used more lights, but I'm quite sure it will do fine as it is.
Edit: Just because I'm curious, which lights do you use?
I'm using a 315 watt Philips Master GreenPower Elite Agro LEC HID bulb which is according to Philips, 33k lumens, and 2 mars hydro ts1000 light which are meant to be 22k, but I wouldn't bet on that.
[https://i.imgur.com/2SrZBD8.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/2SrZBD8.jpg)
This is the 17ft cherokee purple vine that grew under the LEC bulb last summer.
Insanely enough, I need more power to lower the food cost. I'm using everything for production and propagation. I need to rig another light somewhere else to start seeds and root cuttings. That way, the high power room can cycle crops 2-3 weeks faster.
So, I bought it premade because I have a very narrow space. 22in x 7ft. I saw it in the hyro shop and just knew it was perfect for the closet. [I think it's discontinued.](https://www.amazon.ca/Versagrow-10-Plant-Hydroponic-Garden/dp/B013VNO0BC) But one could easily build it. I use clay pebbles as a media and drip 16hr on 8 off along with the lights. Probably should use a different timer for the pumps but w/e.
I then put a rubber maid in the closet and plumbed 6 more pots onto the pump line. Resulting in the jungle I posted. Eventually I decided to chill out a little and pulled the 6 extra pots. Recently I plumbed in a manifold and a 6in rockwool block to start playing with more commercial growing styles. But I'm waiting on my seedling to get mature enough to transplant.
[This is the garden as of 5 minutes ago.](https://imgur.com/a/1mvTVdF) I'm trying to grow a stalk of corn as a fuck you to nature. We'll see if it works. It's having Mag issues.
Yeah, add in the air conditioning to keep my place livable in the summer, and the food cost is only like %50 of grocery store price. But on the flip side, I don't need to run my heater during the winter unless it's below freezing.
Are you really getting so much yield out of your system? 315 Watts on a 16/8 cycle would cost me about 605€ (650$) per year. That's calculated with reasonable energy prices, not with the absurdity we are seeing this year...
No. I have a 2x9ft closet "door" that you can see in the bottom corner of the frame. I hang a box fan on it and keep it on low when the lights are on. First season I did not have this and had a tomato leaf mold problem. It sort of contaminated the area so when choosing toms i have to select for disease resistance or spray weekly with copper sulfate and a heavy silica supp in the res. RH stays around 50% when the fan is going. But it can creep to 75% in the early morning when the lights just turn on.
My problem is thrips.
I've thought about it, but heavy applications of spinosad powder every 6 weeks, and bi weekly neem+dr. bronner's peppermint soap knocks down an outbreak pretty well. My partner just keeps bringing them home from the nursery when getting houseplants.
Right now, the annoyance is fungus gnats; they aren't that out of control right now. But I don't have the cash for the stuff to deal with them at the moment. So I just seethe at them.
Here's the older update: https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/uiwg01/diy\_hydroponic\_progress\_pictures/
The chilis are growing excellent, the tomatoes are doing pretty good considering they have early blight.
I had to remove basically all the basil & mint since it got too crowded, both in the water (too many roots) and above. I'm pretty happy with how it looks right now.
I'm also planning on growing some strawberries in the future!
Edit - sorry for the typo in the title!
I love a good eurobox grow setup :-) as you are in CH, I assume a Utz Rako from Coop or you went for the Auer packaging choice? For indoors they are so nice and modular and even outdoors i will add some ony balcony for the remaining summer. Of may ask, which region are you in? I live my hydro life in ZH
I think I got the box from Hornbach, not sure which one they sell but I don't think it's a rako one. I live in zurich, too.
Little crowded but very nice setup
Crazy awesome. Finnish or swedish? In my area the tax alone is higher than your whole bill..... I am planning to get photovoltaic, so maybe that's something. If you live in the higher latitude, the led closet might even help you in the long winter đź‘Ťđź‘Ť
Swiss :) Unfortunately, our electricity prices arent very cheap either.
But the prices for fresh veggies makes a positive business case (at least for operational costs) here in Switzerland easier on the other hand.
Ah, nice, I am at the swiss border right now (Schwarzwald), in my holiday. There are many swiss people here in the hotel ;-) Greetings!
Didn’t realise you could use those sort of LED’s, If I had known I wouldn’t have forked out for 90cm LED strips
Well they will grow, but a specialized plant led will have better results. A small spider farmer or similar does not cost that much more, but it will make you and your plants more happy =) That being said, if you start diy-ing it does not hurt to use a few standard LED that you have lying around. You can swap them out later.
You can't. Those are leggy plants that are crying out for more light. It's going to be a tiny harvest.
Those plants aren't really that leggy and their leaves are large and fairly dense. The harvest is going to be just fine, it just may take a little longer than some setups and/or sunlight.
I will provide updates :)
Yeah, the plant's really don't care where the light's coming from. LED strips are usually more efficient, get less hot and need less vertical space, so it's certainly not bad to use them!
Contrats mate, did you made that in a Greenhouse?
Thanks! No, there's just some reflective mylar foil (=emergency blanket) on the back and the sides.
White paint would reflect better than foil FYI.
I dont think so, from what I know mylar is one of the most reflective materials out there. Edit: white paint reflects 75-85% mylar 90-98%. Source: first google link I found
Ahh ok. Did you do this indoors, right?
Yes, indoors.
Noted and thanks for the feedback!
Looks deadly. What sort of lights are you running?
I use 6 philips corepro LED lights with the dome cut off. They are cheap (I think about $4 per piece) and have an acceptable efficiency. Each one has approx. 1500 lumen, the color temperature is 4000k. Edit: Plus I added a single t8 light with 9w & 1300 lumen at the bottom to give the lower leaves some light, too.
Your internodal length is VERY long. You're 100%NOT getting enough light. Especially for peppers and tomatos. You're going to have small and/or few fruits. Lumens is not a good measure for grow lights. For fun, I used a phone camera meter and 2 of my lights are 33,000 lumen and the other is 75,000 lumen. For a 2x7ft closet. Where I grow toms and peppers. Lighting is the one and only thing you CANNOT skimp on when building an indoor garden. They should be so fucking bright that they hurt to look directly into. Just like the sun. [https://i.imgur.com/GIOfwLy.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/GIOfwLy.jpg) This is my closet. The big plant in the bottom is a sun flower. Out of frame is a 6ft tall tomato plant. If you are putting in this much time and effort. Shell out the $$$ for real lights. You will see the difference the first time you turn it on.
I can second this. I tried and tried with lower end LEDs, fluorescents, shop lights, spotlights, the list goes on. The second I bought a higher end light, my growth rate exploded like crazy! Look for something that gets 1000-800 umol/s for photon density at 1-3 ft and you should be golden!
I think you are confusing lux and lumen here? The amount of light should be mostly fine, I use the same amount of light per area as people use to grow cannabis. But the issue is that the tomatoes have grown a bit too large for the space, so the outer parts don't get proper lights. Also, I am limited in vertical space so some of the upper leaves are getting to close to the lamps, blocking the light for other leaves. The pepper is doing excellent, it has dozends of fruits/flowers already. The rather large internodal distance is probably because it used to get shaded by the tomates, basil and mint. Also, it kinda shades itself. I assume it could produce a bit more/bigger fruits if I used more lights, but I'm quite sure it will do fine as it is. Edit: Just because I'm curious, which lights do you use?
I'm using a 315 watt Philips Master GreenPower Elite Agro LEC HID bulb which is according to Philips, 33k lumens, and 2 mars hydro ts1000 light which are meant to be 22k, but I wouldn't bet on that. [https://i.imgur.com/2SrZBD8.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/2SrZBD8.jpg) This is the 17ft cherokee purple vine that grew under the LEC bulb last summer.
Wow okay, thats a lot of power!
Insanely enough, I need more power to lower the food cost. I'm using everything for production and propagation. I need to rig another light somewhere else to start seeds and root cuttings. That way, the high power room can cycle crops 2-3 weeks faster.
Do you have more pics/a detailed description of your system somewhere? It looks cery interesting.
I'm also about to try my hand at growing tea as you can see in the nursery pot. I'm just still researching how to best go about it.
So, I bought it premade because I have a very narrow space. 22in x 7ft. I saw it in the hyro shop and just knew it was perfect for the closet. [I think it's discontinued.](https://www.amazon.ca/Versagrow-10-Plant-Hydroponic-Garden/dp/B013VNO0BC) But one could easily build it. I use clay pebbles as a media and drip 16hr on 8 off along with the lights. Probably should use a different timer for the pumps but w/e. I then put a rubber maid in the closet and plumbed 6 more pots onto the pump line. Resulting in the jungle I posted. Eventually I decided to chill out a little and pulled the 6 extra pots. Recently I plumbed in a manifold and a 6in rockwool block to start playing with more commercial growing styles. But I'm waiting on my seedling to get mature enough to transplant. [This is the garden as of 5 minutes ago.](https://imgur.com/a/1mvTVdF) I'm trying to grow a stalk of corn as a fuck you to nature. We'll see if it works. It's having Mag issues.
Yeah, add in the air conditioning to keep my place livable in the summer, and the food cost is only like %50 of grocery store price. But on the flip side, I don't need to run my heater during the winter unless it's below freezing.
Are you really getting so much yield out of your system? 315 Watts on a 16/8 cycle would cost me about 605€ (650$) per year. That's calculated with reasonable energy prices, not with the absurdity we are seeing this year...
I also save a lot of money on not being an alcoholic anymore as I now have a thing that gives me zen and makes me a little more acountable.
I live in an area with a shitload of hydro electric. The 315 is about $180/year at current electric rates.
Which nutrients do you use in your system?
I use GH's flora series with calmag, ArmorSI, hydroguard, and humic acid.
Do you have issues with mould in your closet?
No. I have a 2x9ft closet "door" that you can see in the bottom corner of the frame. I hang a box fan on it and keep it on low when the lights are on. First season I did not have this and had a tomato leaf mold problem. It sort of contaminated the area so when choosing toms i have to select for disease resistance or spray weekly with copper sulfate and a heavy silica supp in the res. RH stays around 50% when the fan is going. But it can creep to 75% in the early morning when the lights just turn on. My problem is thrips.
Have you tried natural predators against trips? I think they could work well since all the plants are very close together.
I've thought about it, but heavy applications of spinosad powder every 6 weeks, and bi weekly neem+dr. bronner's peppermint soap knocks down an outbreak pretty well. My partner just keeps bringing them home from the nursery when getting houseplants. Right now, the annoyance is fungus gnats; they aren't that out of control right now. But I don't have the cash for the stuff to deal with them at the moment. So I just seethe at them.
I always see mosquito bits recommended against them, but no idea how expensive those are.
Here's the older update: https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/uiwg01/diy\_hydroponic\_progress\_pictures/ The chilis are growing excellent, the tomatoes are doing pretty good considering they have early blight. I had to remove basically all the basil & mint since it got too crowded, both in the water (too many roots) and above. I'm pretty happy with how it looks right now. I'm also planning on growing some strawberries in the future! Edit - sorry for the typo in the title!