Indoor Grow

[oakley]

I grow year round. I've advanced some of my micros by doing that. I do find it is as
simple or complicated as outdoor climates. We all have different 'indoor' environments.

Once our leaves fall soon, I have a deep shelf that gets great sun...so I will keep my
micros in tall 4 inch pots for some time, (started 6 weeks ago). Under simple grow lights
T-5 and some LED's and easy to shift around. They get some good sun when we have it.

I also grow macro-greens and a few dozen dwarf sunflowers year round so I do pay attention 24/7. (a dollars worth of sunflower seed keeps a nice amount of fresh flowers
all winter in every room)...I start a round of seed every two weeks. A tray of 36.

Winter growing can be slow but I don't fret some losses. I'll have some very healthy
plants and some fruit but any early grows will see some outdoor warm early weather in
February giving fruit way ahead of any 'traditional' seed starting for my region/climate.

I learned my winter growing from pot grower forums. Experimenting and keeping any
gnats/fungus from humidity/white flies...watering with mosquito dunk water...

[Tiny Tim]

Oakley, I never thought about sunflowers indoors. That sounds like a lot of fun. I have also learned most of what I know about indoor growing from pot websites. Not much online for growing vegetables or flowers indoors in tents under artificial lighting. I have no south facing windows so everything grows under leds. What variety of sunflower do you grow indoors?

[rhines81]

Fungus gnats - use equal parts in a small saucer of:
1) Water
2) Dawn
3) Cider Vinegar

Place the saucer(s) where ever you notice the gnats. Works great

[oakley]

Lots of dwarf sunflowers available and I keep meaning to try some different varieties.
This will be my third year growing Sunspot, TeddyBear and SunnySmile. I have lots of
seed. Just started another small tray of 36. I should have bloom all through the holidays.
I pot them up into 4inch 'tall pots'. (6inches tall) at about 4 weeks. Last year I put in
3 muscari bulbs per pot when I potted up. (bulbs spent some time in the fridge first).
They grow very well and bloom under LED's. I grow salad year round under lights so I
may as well tend to some other things while at it.

Having at least three varieties with various bloom time works well. Most stay well under
6-8inches with a random 10inch tall bloom. They stay in 4inch pots.

4 micro tomato varieties at F5 through F8 now. Started mid-August. Terenzo hybrid might
be a good winter grow. I might start a few today. It is a smallish bush type. Last year I
started them around xmas. My first fruit last year and lots of it.

[Tiny Tim]

rhines81, I have tried just vinegar in a saucer for fruit flies and it did work great. Thanks for the tip.

[Tiny Tim]

oakley,those plants look happy and healthy. I have a avocado I've started last december. It was doing well, until I repotted in Foxfarms ocean forest. The soil was a little hot and burned the new growth a bit. I may try some sunflowers this year. I did force mini daffodils once. If I recall it was something I picked up at Lowes. I grow my entire vegetable garden in containers on my deck. With an organic soil I build. I even grew sweet potatoes this year and they did very well.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Rhines, I just put a dish of your mixture in with my gnat-infested indoor tomatoes. Hope it works for me. Thanks for the recipe. Also using yellow sticky traps, Mosquito Dunk water, & chunks of Dunks on the soil surface.

[Tiny Tim]

Has anyone with the gnat infestations tried the fungus gnat predator, Hypoaspis aculeifer. Or beneficial nematodes? Steinernema feltiae? Seems like a good alternative to pesticides.

[Nan_PA_6b]

I just looked those up. Seem a bit pricey, but I may get desperate enough.

[Tiny Tim]

Just an update on this grow. They have been in my 2'x2'x4' tent under a QB-135 watt led for about a week now. They are growing fast and putting out lots of blossoms. I had a little bit of nutrient burn at the oldest leaves. Think I over fed a little. New growth looks fine now.

[Tiny Tim]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

I just looked those up. Seem a bit pricey, but I may get desperate enough.

They are pricey Nan. I would try them if I couldn't control the fungus gnats in any other way. My indoor grow is in a spare bedroom. I like keeping the bugs outside.

[HudsonValley]

You folks have inspired me to try more micros (Pinocchio, Jochalos, and my old standby, Tiny Tim) and two dwarfs (Orange Pixie and a developing chocolate cherry from the Teensy line of the Dwarf Project) on my sunny office windowsill this winter. Maybe I'll have tomatoes in late January again! I'm also trying dwarf sunflowers, polka dot plants, and coleus, for some color. Various greens and a container spinach, too. Fingers crossed, and good luck to all!

[bower]

Just getting over a work marathon that kept me from all the garden things, but it's time now to get my winter grow happening.

Sadly for me, I have to start with damage control. I have a bunch of neglected things happening, and sad to see unhappy plants.

I have three pepper plants in my cool room window under a light, that have kept going without aphids since planted back in Feb. But their leaves are a mess. Some miner, some disease. Couple peppers ripening now. And there is basil there in 4 inch pots that has been very generous with me but never got potted up... they are not liking the cool but are doing better in the window than under a LED shoplight in a more sheltered situation. At one point I was tempted to ditch the lot of these outdoors but it didn't happen. Now I'm wondering about pruning down, soaping down, and maybe keep them going. The main concern is not to perpetuate some pests by keeping plants on....

I had aphids in every other room - the upstairs is brighter and warmer, better for all of those, but some window is not tight and insects are getting in. I nearly stomped a parasitoid wasp, when I mistook it for an ant queen on the window where aphid hell took down my other peppers. Whacked the window but missed it, and then I got a better look, the red legs are a telltale for parasitoids vs ants here, oops. Afterwards it disappeared and I guess it got out as well as in. So window needs work. Aphids are still a threat, since they also infested the carrot experiment in the attached greenhouse... grrrrr. Anyway all that needs to be pulled too...

I have a few small celery that I want to get potted up and try them under the shop LED. Greens as well did fine under that and bok choy. I have some poor little brassica plants that have been dried up left in the dark etc until I remembered them off and on the last few weeks. Will probably bolt now even if potted up.

Anyway enough about the sad part of cleaning up my negligence. Will have something to show I hope by mid december. Can't go without vegetables!!

[Tiny Tim]

HudsonValley. It sounds like you'll have your plate full. I wish I had southern exposure in my apartment. Happy gardening.

[Tiny Tim]

Bower, you have your work cut out for you. I was tempted to keep a pepper plant from my container garden. But, I only have a small tent for my indoor grow. I wanted tomatoes this year. I do have a small thyme plant I keep alive all winter. This will be year two it's come inside,container grown on the deck in summer. Your lucky to have the parasitic wasp. My girlfriend likes to kill bugs first then ask if it was a bad one. I use neem oil to spray the plant I bring indoors. It's worked well so far. Your celery sound interesting. I've always wanted to try growing it. Happy gardening and best of luck with the aphids.