Winter growing under lights

Personally I think I'd go for leaf beet (rainbow chard, aka 'chard bright lights' depending on who you buy the seed from) instead of lettuce. It seems to be less fussy than lettuce, and in my opinion it is vastly superior in flavour.

 

If you already have the seeds, it makes sense to give it a go. Remember that there's no rule that says you have to grow a lettuce to maturity before you harvest it. I'd grow in batches as you say, and harvest while they're still very young. Probably available space and light wont be such an issue that way.

 

Our lettuce never reached maturity, we couldn't resist picking those lovely young leaves.

 

Have you got LED (low heat) lights? I found lettuce (and chard) didn't like the heat from the T5 lights in my indoors growlight box, but I might try having another go with some lettuce in the growlight box in my greenhouse.

 

@fat controller , I was thinking of starting a winter growing under lights thread (as I'm now starting up both my indoor & greenhouse growlight boxes) but thought if you tweeked this thread title, everything else could follow on here.

 

I've just taken 160 New Guinea Busy Lizzie cuttings and put them in my indoor growlight box.

Next I'll be sowing Basil, Chillies and mini bush tomatoes. As mentioned above I'll try some winter lettuce and some other stuff that likes cooler temps in the box in my greenhouse.

 

I've got 2 of these I use them quite a lot for seeds. I have panels at the back of polystyrene tiles covered with kitchen foil.

 

7 weeks now since I took the cuttings and those NG Impatiens have rooted and been potted up. They will be used to take more cuttings from to increase the number to what I need for my front garden display next year.

And yes, those are Runner Beans at the front, I'm carrying out germination tests on this year's saved seeds. I might see how big I can get potted French Beans before they go into the greenhouse when the heating goes on in Spring. Same thing with Red Robin min-bush tomatoes I'll be sowing any day now, I'm hoping they will have ripe tomatoes on by April. Then Leeks, Chillies and Cannas.

 

Gobbledegook, gobbledegook, gobbledegook!

Please may we (beginner gardeners) have these posts put in simple terminology? Please?

What's a "grow cupboard"?
What's a "grow light box"?
What does LED vs T5 mean?

What if someone doesn't have a greenhouse (heated or otherwise?) what are their options for winter sowings?

What is the cost of a "grow light" system? What space is needed? Where is it needed? Where do you get them from?

What are the advantages/disadvantages (disadvantages could mean the means to move them from grow cupboard to outside).

Hate to be a PITA but you all seem to know what you are talking about (which is fine!) but not exactly clear to those of us who may be interested yet far less knowledgable

 

Cost of mine. It can be done a lot cheaper, but growing stuff in my hobby and I'm sure lots of people spend more than that on equipment for their hobbies, now there's just the electricity costs, but don't ask what the running costs are as the equipment costs were scary enough, but I use the timers so that as much as possible of the electricity consumption is Economy 7.


EDIT: the quantaties and rates for fan and controller are incorrect, but the costs included are correct

Everything grown under lights that's going to end up outdoors goes via green house & polytunnel. I think it would be too much of a shock to go straight outdoors. By the time I put my greenhouse heating on I've probably got 2 shifts/day in the indoor growbox to maximise output and plants taken to the greenhouse will get boosts from the one in there. It can get a bit hectic swopping stuff around, pricking out, potting up and shifting between greenhouse & poytunnels.

Grow/light cupboard/box/tent are the enclosures plants grow in under lights, the walls of which have reflective surfaces. In my greenhouse more tender plants can be in the box sitting in heated propagators to keep them snug.

LEDs are light emitting diode lights which use less electricity and run coolest, T5s are fluorescent tubes which do not illuminate as far beneath them as metal halide which run the hottest. Mother plants and clones are for other forums.


EDIT: Some number crunching, I can get about 140 x 60mm square pots in my big box and 100 x 60mm square pots, a total of 240. If 50% of those that spent time under lights were there just for during germination and after transplanting to 40 x cell trays for say 8 weeks and everything was swopped over twice a day for 16 weeks I reckon that would be approx. 1,400 plants benefiting from the lights p.a., plus probably quite a few more from just short term boosts of light, so if my equipment last 10 years it will work out at around a few pence per plant. As I also use the propagators outside the lights it's probaly less than 2p a plant.

Life's too short not to have a bit of fun doing what you enjoy, besides it would cost me many ten's of thousands of pounds more to buy a house with a bigger garden that I could put another greenhouse in, and it would still be too dark to grow stuff in through the winter.