Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Can anyone point to a resource to grow greens indoors with out shop lights?

I'm familiar with starting plants under lights, but curious about continuously harvesting greens with just passive sunlight indoors.

You just need enough light and heat(*). Ideally a south-facing window. Otherwise, it's the same.

(*) >65F/18C

There are a ton of videos on YouTube about sprouting greens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNUa3MIPG00

It's a large rabbit hole.

What kind of greens? If you mean leafy greens (not micro greens), there are lots of methods and gizmos. Look at old videos of window farms for DIY ideas. Greenstalk gardens are popular, and another thing you could diy with some pots or coffee cans. There are also lots of ideas for plastic bottle gardens in windows if you don't mind all the plastic.

I've grown them in nested aluminum pans with holes in the top one so I can bottom water. There are pics somewhere here, probably in the garden log thread. I prefer baby leaf lettuce when growing indoors because I don't think the lettuce heads up correctly unless it's outdoors. It's also faster.

Thanks everyone.

Probably leaf lettuce as it takes to shearing well.

How much space would it take to get like 4 meal sized salads a week? It's been some years since I've grown leaf lettuce and it was out doors.

Is bolting an issue inside?

Same amount of space as outside. Figure 6 weeks to grow * 4 meals per week = 24 * area needed to grow a meal size whatever that is for you.

Bolting is not an issue since you control a lot more of the temperature/light conditions than outside.

It has been my experience with hydroponics that less space is needed indoors, because you control germination, nutrient flow, light, and pests/diseases to a much greater extent. Still, you would need quite a bit of space to grow 4 meal sized salads/week. I'd guestimate it at about 32 square ft. which could be achieved with something like a large Rubbermaid storage shelving unit with attached LED grow lights.

Would it be cost effective? The funny thing is that it "might" actually be more cost-effective over the long run to grow with hydroponics indoors which are powered by solar panels outdoors, than it would be to grow the produce in the space taken up by the solar panels. It really depends on your alternate uses for the heated, protected indoor space. For example, how much could you charge somebody else to store their "stuff" on the large Rubbermaid rack vs. using it for lettuce growing? Also, this. obviously, definitely does not apply to high-caloric crops such as corn or potatoes. Although it is definitely much less expensive/more efficient to use solar panels for electricity in any given setting than it would be to, for instance, grow potatoes in the same space, feed them to a mule,then use the mule attached to mechanical device to produce electricity. However, if you are already spending money to feed an otherwise useless animal such as a dog, you could try this.

Do you replant, or shear and let it grow back?

Depends on the species/variety. Some I shear. Some I harvest outer leaves. All must be replanted eventually for best results. A hydroponic system requires a lot of inputs, although many of them are very inexpensive. In theory, the system could be more closed for nutrients if the indigestible parts of the plants were processed into a filtered compost tea.

Some large grocery store chains are experimenting with installing grow systems in their produce departments.

I had an indoor hydroponic lettuce "farm" for some time. The only problem I had was tip burn. Growing lettuce takes a lot of time and space.

After research on nutrient density I switched to broccoli microgreens. If I were to restart a microgreen system, I would do an in-tray vermiculture system.

jacob wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:51 am

Same amount of space as outside. Figure 6 weeks to grow * 4 meals per week = 24 * area needed to grow a meal size whatever that is for you.

Bolting is not an issue since you control a lot more of the temperature/light conditions than outside.

How much yield are you getting per sq ft?