Growing lettuce inside

One of my experiments this summer when lettuce can't be grown outside because of the heat, was to grow it inside under the new T5 flourescent lighting system. Well it is definetly successful. Here is some romaine lettuce picked ready for dinner. The next two pics show what's growing right now. Running costs are low. The initial investment for the fixture and bulbs was a little high, but should last for many years. The special light spectrum takes seedlings through harvest. For all you northeners, might be pretty neat to have fresh lettuce all winter long.

This lettuce is about 60 days

same here

Bob--thanks for this information. I have T5 light fixtures that so far, I've successfully overwintered and grown herbs from seed. Haven't tried lettuce, but certainly will now after seeing your results.

Bob: Looking great; and why would you need to grow anything inside where you are? LOL Oh, except the summer that is right, it's too hot then; but it's time ya'll to be getting your tomatoes out ain't it? I gotta wait til February and March to start mine.
joy

Hey Bob,
I can appreciate your lettuce under lights, 'cause I have 8 mustard and collard green seedlings, 4 bell peppers and two tomato seedlings under lights right now. Going on vacation this weekend and bought these for when I get back to plant out. Too hot outside. Also, I've incorporated Twiggybuds' waterbed concept and it's working like a charm!

I just put the 4" pots into a drip tray that I fill with 2-3" water. I topwatered each pot once to start the capillary action and those seedlings are taking off! The mustards and collards have fairly doubled in size in a week, and the tomato and pepper seedlings are doing well too. I'm considering using her waterbed theory with some of my eBuckets. Instead of a separate water well, I'm gonna drill holes in the sides and bottoms, and sit em' all in a water bed where they can wick up the water. I'll let the bed run dry between fill-ups, just to ensure the soil isn't staying too saturated. Also, I think this should help with some oxygenation of the soil.

I'll keep ya'll posted.

Linda

Linda: Wow, now that sounds like a great project also, let me know how it goes, you are growing tomatoes in Texas already? I won't be planting mine til February and then will have them in the greenhouse til it warms up. I'll be doing the burying the stem thing that Boca Bob taught us all, as it worked great this past Spring and now, all my maters get that treatment from now on. I'm excited cause I'm going to be growing 25-30 tomatoes this time round, having special tables and have decided to have Tyrus' staking system built right to the tables, of which I can fit 5 EBs easily onto the tables. The rest will go into my self made 5 gallon buckets. My topsy's and revolutionary planters will hold eggplants and peppers this coming Spring and my bloommaster won't contain cukes, it will have strawberries in it instead.

My garden is my fall garden coming up, it will be broccoli, cauliflower (both cheddar and white), cabbage (both green and red), lettuce (a vareity), carrots, beets, onions, radishes and in October strawberries and spinach and in January potatoes. In my EBs I will plant cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, spinach and radishes. In my smart pots will go carrots, beets, onions and potatoes. My bloommaster will hold the strawberries. And I will have flowers in the yard along with spices and garlic to ward off bad bugs this time round.
joy

Joy, I'm dying to hear how your "companion planting" works out! I don't know where you read that chives and nasturtiums repel bugs. Here, they draw aphids ! That is a good things for your other crops. Nasturtiums even drew the aphids away from my chives, when I put them close together. It's been years since I got rid of the Borrage, but I believe that had aphids also. All three of these are pretty plants that will draw the aphids away, BUT... the nasturtiums and borrage self sow happily, everywhere, and I've never seen any other bug on any of them...only aphids. In your part of the country, it may be different...we rarely get down to freezing here. I'm really curious to know how your experiment works out.
Carol

Carol: Well, $20 later and hitting about 4 stores I got quite the seeds to plant, all except for the borage and the peppermint, couldn't find the plant or seed anywhere. Eeks, they have aphids hey? Maybe they will draw the aphids away from my veggies? I hope so anyways. You can tell I'm sick, I went into the dollar tree today was looking for the colander that might fit into the 5 gallon pails that was spoken about on this website and lo and behold I see these oblong type containers, and what crosses my mind? The kitty litter pail and the wind drift bucket I have. Then what crossed my mind? Too bad I didn't have both with me, as I would have carried them right into the store to see if any of the oblong containers they had would have sized up for reservoirs for the two. We are a sick lot aren't we? LOL
joy

BocaBob --- Great idea for our northern friends that can't do anything in the way of gardening because of the climate zone. I assume you are useing your seed planting kit to grow the lettuce because they are just the right size for the job also great for fresh herbs. If I lived up in the cold it would be great to see my lettuce growing while my feet are propped up on my ottoman by the fireplace while the snow is falling. Bet there are other veggies that can be grown under those conditions with the aid of a heat mat. By the way -- are those the standard T-5 flourescents from Lowes?
I haven't been doing anything outside because of the heat. My second heart attack was a wake up call that I am not a young man anymore and can not do the things I used to do. Hope we have a cool winter? My tomato seedlings are doing well and I will be using your fertilizer on the next watering as they still have their cotyledon leaves and useing their own stored food in their seed pods.

Hey Paw,
I'm growing "greens" inside under fluorescents as we speak!

The T5 bulbs (and fixture) are special and can't be found at HD or Lowes. They are found online and at Hydroponic stores. And I also hope this fall and winter are cooler than normal. It has been a very hot summer this year.

Bob: I didn't have BER on any of my tomatoes this year, and I think it's cause I used your fertilizer until they were starting to mature so will repeat that again this year, I think the bury the stem thing worked well too with all my maters they all had strong healthy stems and I think that helped contribute to the tomatoes I had. I did make lots of mistakes; but they have prepared me for a better Spring this time and summer was horrible with the bugs.
joy

Joy,
If you grew what you did making lots of mistakes, I'd hate to see what you could do if you only made 2 mistakes! GEEZ!

You had a SUPERIOR crop for a first timer!

Gymgirl: I hope it wasn't begginners luck, I had fun this past Spring and was delighted. I learned not to do some dumb things like put the drain hole of the HEBs holding corn toward the fence, hard to see if the reservoir was getting filled that way. Same with the cukes. Then I tried to grow tomatoes in a square footer and in topsy's and revolutionary's, they do better in the 5 gallon buckets, bigger reservoir, will use the above planters for peppers, eggplants and strawberries instead and flowers of course.

I planted my beans in the wrong spot and used hanging bags with them, that crop was an entire failure. Used weed cloth instead of ply wood for the melons and the weed cloth disentigrated over the season. Used those cones for stakes/cages on my tomatoes, they wound up looking like leaning tower of pisas. If I use them again, I will take some wire cutters to the bottoms to make sure they fit right into the containers. I'm having a staking system much like Tyrus' added to the yard sale tables before Spring, will make staking indeterminate tomatoes much easier I think.

If I see a bug and it hasn't rained yet; I will spray right away, not wait and get rainy weather for a week and give the bugs a chance to take over again. LOL
Joy

Bob, can you post a picture of your T5 setup?

The fixture is 48", has 4 T5 bulbs in it. The unit is supported by a homemade stand made out of 1/2 inch pvc pipe. A chain allows the unit to be raised and lowered.

Another pic

Thanks Bob.

Bob: In your pics, what do you have planted in the square ones and what is that medium you are using I see white stuff in there, is that a germinating mix or perlite? Your greens look beautiful by the way.
joy

Tomatoes are in the square pots in a 80/20 coir/perlite mix. Greens are in all coir

Bob: When you put coir in the EBs do you mix in perlite with it? And do you use the coir in the smart pots? If so, what mix do you use?
joy

Bob you made my day with the lettuce photos. I have 4 large light carts now and I'm thinking I might be able to switch out one the regular fixtures for a T5. I am always on a quest for growing lettuce all year since I eat salad everyday.

Juanita

joy - I'm using coir in any and all containers I plant in. Also this season all my coir will be a 80/20 mix with perlite.

Juanita - If you can't get the T5 locally and at a good price, let me know.

Thanks Bob. I 've been checking online. I really thought that Indoor Gardening Supply would have them to go on the carts that I have from there. They don't apparently. Was hoping to just switch out some fixtures for T5s, but now I am back to the drawing board. I don't have anymore room for a different set up then what I have. DH will KILL me if I even suggest more plant racks. :0)

Bob I had an epiphany this morning and I figured out how to make the T5 fixture work with my stands. D mail me with an offer if you have one.

Juanita

when i get home from work