Topic: Exending the tomato season

[Leonie]

Yes a greenhouse section would probably be a good idea! But im new too so im not into the swing of it all properly yet, I have seen a few bits on greenhouses on the 'basics' section.

Graham one more question then sorry, did you use the velux and a grow light?  Because if you did and didnt get great result then its probably not worth me splashing out on a good light, i'll just wait until the 'proper' growing season and use my (just being built) greenhouse.

In my dreams you see, i totter off into my greenhouse in march and pick a few toms and a cucumber and sit in the lovely metal halide 'sun' for a moment!  ;) ;D

[graham]

No Leonie - you misunderstand - I literally put the system  on the top landing of the house - no lights no heat but near the top landing window! So you can understand why the results were not too great - although I did grow peppers and chillis, so go ahead with your 'light' plans.  Like you I would like to pop out and pick some veg in the depth of winter but if we don't try it won't happen!  I must confess to having a very posh new greenhouse with two 'rooms' and lots of space and I'm still going through the honeymoon period.  I never grown on a greenhouse before but the results are  pretty spectacular considering where we are.  Three types of tomatoes, with lots of fruit, aubergine, cucumbers, we've already picked around 15 large fruit, peppers, chillies, basil beans the works - we'vve even put in some sweetcorn and root ginger all just bursting out of the ground - as you can hear I can become a bit of a bore about the whole thing.  I just want to keep it coming for as long as I can - the most surprising thing has been how the greenhouse has given us a choice of vegetable for a meal - less of a glut more a cornucopia - w'ere vegetarians so were pretty easily impressed.  You'll love the 'house' when it comes so go for it - oops I hear Bob Flowerdew in the background - speak soon.

[tim]

Graham - you must be very young to smart so easily? If you mean my suggesting an alternative site for hardware,
it was not a 'telling off' - merely a option that might help keep things in logical places. Probably up the pole at that.

In passing, I have brought on lettuce in the kitchen in the winter with just Grolux lights.

My apology. = Tim

[graham]

Hi Tim Nil Problemo - as a matter of fact I have a daughter of 29 so I'm not that young!  I think I'm going to commit to the lights so we'll see how it goes

[Leonie]

Ahhh but which light Graham, MH or HPS, I hope you've done your homework!  ;)

[graham]

You see Leonie - this is how you get sucked into all this.  As I speak (type) I've a copy of Esoteric Hydroponics's catalogue by my side and am toally bewildered by the choice although I did note that you have to change a Halide lamp every year because it can get"volatile'! Now what does that mean - does it explode? It all started with tring to get tomatoes in the winter and I've ended up with WMD!

[Leonie]

Ha ha and im sat here trawling google looking for instances of people growing toms in there 'lighted greenhouses'! If I find any good sites I shall post.

Well from what I can gather re throwing away metal halides after a year, its because the coating burns away and makes the light produce too much heat and not enough light, so it will be costing a lot of money to fuel a light thats not bright enough but will be burning the little plants leaves off!

Another thing to consider, although a metal halide thats original purpose is to light a football field lets say, will make the plants grow, it wont contain enough light from the red spectrum to take the plant through to flowering, but the newer horticultural lights have extra red light added so are better for the all round job.

Apparently its not a good idea to just use sodium either as these dont contain enough blue light and may make the plants 'leggy'

Oh well, thats two lights I need to save up for now!!

[graham]

Basically I think the problem is this - If I wanted to grow cannabis I could email a hydropoic supplier and they would sell me the lot, lights, heat hydroponic units for around £800.00,  I could buy seeds on the internet - freely available and be off and running in a fornight, the investment would be recouped in six months  and running towards profit.  The catch is, I only want to grown some tomatoes and cucumbers nothing complex, nothing illegal, no hassle but I've got to wade through pages of techno -babble when all I want is to swith on a light  and pick an occassional pepper -  o well the best laid plans etc

[Leonie]

Well as you have already got your greenhouse, mine is just in the 'being built' stage, you should build a website and take loads of pictures of your experiment.  Then i'll come along and copy you!

My greenhouse should be built within the month, hubby is just waiting for the treated timber to arrive... I cant wait and then i'll be sharing your excitement. ;D

[graham]

Be careful here Leonie - I have pictures from the foundations to the fruit - you could open the floodgates - imaging other peopleds holoday snaps but about foundations!.  Maybe I'll set up i'll put them on line and you can take yoiur pick, but I would be happy to share experiences and have some joint projects

[Leonie]

Well what are you waiting for, I know i'd love to see your pics at different growing stages and I bet you'd have lots of people on here keen to do the same.  

Im not sure I would be any good to you in the sharing experience side though, im a total newbie!  Until a couple of weeks ago i'd never even seen a pepper on a plant.  I do have to admit though im feeling rather proud of myself as my salad veg is wonderful!

This year i had a tiny plastic greenhouse that was poorly sited but it was still brilliant to nip down there and wonder at the little toms growing.  I wish i'd gotten into this years ago!

[Ozzy]

This is an environlite.. beauty of this is lots of lumens for less wattage and becus it is flourescent based you can hang in a few inches away from you Tomato plants  ;) ;) ;)... really is worth the consideration,  hope this helps?


oh heres a link

http://www.basementlighting.com/Merchant2/4.13/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=1&Product_Code=EL1&Category_Code=GL


almost forgot that.... tsk tsk

Ozzy

 :-* :-*

[graham]

Hi Ozzy
Looks like just the job - I especially like the bit about 'growing in cupboards' very handy for tomatoes on the website.  The nocturnal tomato growers best friend

[Leonie]

Well its too late for me Ozzy, I just bid on a big 400w HID.... im hanging with the big boys!  :o ;D

Oh wait does that mean you had massive bills when you had the HID's??

[graham]

Wait Leonie - what do you mean 'I've just bid.....' are we talking ebay here?  I think you've caught the bug.....OMG what next!!!!

[tim]

Looks neat, Ozzy.

One reason I like my 'Whitefire' is that, with 2 separate 20" 55W double lamps, you can light a long line of plants or a wide rectangle. But it does have a separate, quite large ballast. = Tim

[Leonie]

Graham, yes im winning on ebay!! I sat for ages, then put a bid in but it wasnt enough so i increased it and now im the highest bidder, I kinda danced around for a while...... and thats without anything that may grow in cupboards roflmao!  ;D

Awwww god its too late to tell me now Ozzy, I may win the auction!!  I've stopped doing my 'ebay' dance and im panicking!

One minute yer up and then yer down, gardening eh!  ;D 8)

[tim]

Good to get 'bargains' - and exciting!

But - who will give you free advice afterwards, and where do you get replacement lamps every year or so?? = Tim

[Leonie]

Good to get 'bargains' - and exciting!

But - who will give you free advice afterwards, and where do you get replacement lamps every year or so?? = Tim

Dunno (Leonie shuffles her feet, wishing she'd thought ahead)  :-\ ::)