does anyone grow vegetables inside?

[evan_fabiani]

i would really like to start some sort of indoor gardening. if anyone has any good information on this that would be awesome.

is it cost effective with the price of keeping hydroponic lights constantly on?

[Tom]

Hi! I've been thinking about your question...

I'm not a very experienced gardener. The only vegetables I've grown inside have been plants I was starting indoors, but moved outside. Once I tried to take cuttings of tomato to grow inside over the winter, but they died because mites were on them.

I don't know how costly it would be to grow them under artificial lights, but you might have to stay with vegetables that have lower light needs such as lettuce. Even most herbs and the dwarf varieties of vegetables for growing in containers usually need direct sun. I didn't expect to get produce from the tomato plants I mentioned above; I had been having bad luck starting my own plants and only wanted to keep them over the winter.

You could try your local cooperative extension for advice, maybe?

[evan_fabiani]

Thanks a lot tom, i am trying to research this as much as possible

[Ludi]

Natrual light is certainly more efficient, and, I'm not personally a huge fan of hydroponics, I guess cuz I just love dirt! If you have a window, you can increase the light near it by putting mirrors or even foil-covered pieces of cardboard around, including on the floor, and/or paint all the nearby surfaces white.

[tanyaviola]

I started tomatoes and mini sweet peppers from seed. They are in my windowsills. Lots of little peppers...tomatoes not doing so well, but that's because I haven't put them in larger pots yet.....but I'm starting to get one or two tomatoes....I'll have to transplant them and put them outside soon. If I had big enough windows to put them in the sun indoors, I would.

t.

[evilvegan]

I set up a little greenhouse in my laundry room and put one of those plant lights in it, but the light looks purple, and my jade is starting to get saggy. I did get a pepper plant to sprout, so I'm hoping it will stay alive. My sand is too sandy to grow anything.

[Washoe]

Just making some back-of-the-envelope calculations, I just don’t see this as being feasible. The cost of the fixtures, bulbs, electricity, other materials, and time would more than offset any financial benefits obtained from growing your own vegetables. Also, if your setup runs more than even just a couple of kilowatts or so, expect a knock on the door from somebody with a badge wanting to know what you’re doing.

[Natalgator]

Hey there,

I read a story in the London Free Press (maybe other papers across Canada covered it too?) about a guy who had an entire vegetable patch growing in the spare room of his apartment. He had lined the bottom half of the room with gardener's mat, and then started shipping in dirt. He installed greenhouse type lighting and temperature controls, the whole nine yards.

I'm not too sure how legal this is, but it is possible to have a quite nice veggie garden in your home! May be costly, but in the end you'll be cutting out your part in CO2 emissions associated with the transport of veggies to grocery stores, among other things.

Good luck,

Natal

[thebelovedtree]

Also, if your setup runs more than even just a couple of kilowatts or so, expect a knock on the door from somebody with a badge wanting to know what you’re doing.



Lol, as a reptile keeper I've gotten the same warning. Apparently several people have gotten their houses searched because their pets take up so much power. My favorite is the cops finding bags in the freezer, thinking it's pot and then discovering frozen mice.


Back to the topic, I've had very limited success even growing herbs indoors here, but I'm also not so great with plants. I would try something small and easy to start before you spend a lot of $ on set up and containers, etc.