LED indoor plant growing project

[Peterae]

Hi Slider

Veg tastes so much better when grown at home, not tried the indoor growing yet, but we had a good crop of potatoes and onions which we only just finished eating from last September pickings, i am still eating pickled beetroot.

One of our most prolific vegetables that i like are runner beans, did you know that they will re grow next year if the bulb under the soil is kept frost free, this would be a great one to try indoors if a climbing area could be rigged up, you can also buy yard long beans, being able to supply a controlled environment could make these really good croppers, i am not sure the Mrs would like things climbing all over the place indoors though.

[Slider2732]

Thanks Peter
Yes, good point about the better halfs inclusion in such experiments. mine hates to see things wither away and so is quite happy that an 8ft sprawling tree of a tomato plant is in that room. This year has seen just 1 room heater used in there, previous years have seen all sorts of blankets, window coverings and heating and such. It's been incredibly mild though - 50's and 60's Fahrenheit mostly....probably just as warm in Centigrade.

All is quite silly, when thinking that the LED plants in the other room could have been kept in that room too ! but, we didn't know about the mild winter.
The big tree (on the left of the LED's pic on the last page) has gone to a friend of my wife's, who has a heated greenhouse, so that's a great forwarding of that one.
The apple tree has gone mad under the LED's and needs to be trimmed. I think it could survive outside but maybe when thicker trunked and such ?
1 of the lemon trees has the traits of the 2ft high one, it's now spreading along the underneath of the LED's.
All in all, everything is better than the lanky traits of last year, with new leaves appearing all over plants. Interestingly, the Harbor Freight lights were set to red, but when changed to white the new growth appeared immediately and strongly..was surprised about that. Those in the red bucket were the ones that survived outside as basically sticks, with a leaf or 2 well into winter.

Finally, no issues at all with powering. The 2 cellphone 5V 500mA chargers are cool to the touch all the time. Maybe all would run with the original 700mA on its own, but that is now in use charging lipo batteries.

[Peterae]

An amazing video here of a guy growing cucumbers in school 191 from one grow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoBde8tTxcw

[Slider2732]

Time to reintroduce the LED growing.

The plants have done well outside even with a couple of cold bouts recently, video attached below.
Now that the weather is properly turning though, it's time to bring some in.
Literal bunches of cherry tomatoes have been a good result, yet the whole project was hampered by not watering the plants enough in the summer !!! it's taken until now for the fruiting to get near to ripening, for the tomato plants especially...oops.
Nearly all will be brought in for ripening under LED's, which worked out OK last year. The plants themselves will be covered overnights, but high temps seem like they'll be only in the mid 60's Fahrenheit at best.
What also hasn't happened, unfortunately, has been the wish to have a multi generational setup going. To have a tomato plant growing from the seed of a tomato that itself came from the huge indoor plant. That original is still fruiting and growing well, it's a year and a half old.

Quick vid for you chaps, showing the outdoor plants and the indoor tomato 'tree'.
(2min 19sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w6O8xKLd7k